On my lake, like previously stated, just an excuse for DNR to pull you over and you still have to pay personal property tax. I run numbers for my state.

Pluck, is that still true here in KY or is it just a reduced tax rate now?

I live in northern KY. it's a reduced rate. I used my parent's Ohio address as my renewal USCG address (free every year). Had the port of call as Cincinnati, OH. KY didn't know I owned a boat. No sales tax, no state registration fees. No KY property tax. No problems ever with USCG, DNR, Sherriff on the Ohio River.

Every state handles boat titles, trailer title, registration fees, sales tax, documenting differently. I suggest talking to someone who is familiar with where you are. The documentation fees can be worth its weight in gold. All depends on where you live.

My parents have a place in Michigan. Boats still need to be state registered, regardless of USCG documentation. Saves you nothing there.

side note- Some lenders require boats to be documented. A federally titled boat is more secure for them than all these states doing their own thing.

As said before, for me it wasn't worth the hassle of getting stopped and checked by PD and Coasties as well as the paperwork and time to do it.

Quick story:
I was making a lunch run up to NYC one day a couple of years ago. We were running a conservative 60mph +/- and were well in the shipping channel away from any sensitive areas. About 2 miles out from the Verrazano Bridge, were greeted by a low flying black chopper who ran parallel with us for about a minute. The guy was clearly running the reg. numbers on the bow of the boat. At the same time a Coast Guard RIB boat was on an intercept course. Finally the guy in the chopper looked directly at us in the cockpit, smiled, gave the thumbs up and peeled off. At the same time, the CG boat changed course away from us. I was very happy to have had clear numbers and a clean record that day!

On our end of the Ohio River, no numbers on the side and you are almost guaranteed to get pulled over.

My boat was documented. However, Texas Parks and Wildlife pulled me over 10 times a summer because I didn't have "TX numbers" and a registration sticker on my boat. 30 minutes of explaining, producing documents,etc. explaining WHY I didn't need them just was too much hassle. I even got a ticket once with "I don't have time to listen to this crap, tell it to the judge and he can dismiss the ticket if you're right". Because I often had passengers who might have sipped a beer on the beach, (wink) I found it just easier to give it up---put on state numbers and registration sticker, and be done with it. I haven't been stopped in 5 years.

From Ft Lauderdale to West Palm Beach they will stop you over and over again. You would assume the US coast Guard Doc would be typical here but it just creates a reason to stop you. My boat as well as friends center consoles... Just not worth the pain in the azz.

In OH I bought a boat that was already documented out of Cincinnati. All I had to do is pay the transfer fee and I was good to go. I took the documentation letter to ODNR and they gave me the registration sticker, no numbers just the sticker. I was never hassled. And I boated on a lot of small lakes where a Formula 311 sticks out. Ohio is trying to pass a law where they can't pull you over without reason, it's called the Ohio Boaters Freedom Act, I believe.

I'm buying a 38 Donzi this weekend. I am going to try and document as it currently isn't. The sales tax was a benefit back in the day when documentation first came out, but the USCG claims you are still responsible to pay the state sales tax.

When I lived in Ohio I did not bother documenting. Suck it up, pay your sales tax once and then it's only the $65 sticker every three years. In KY they charge property tax annually for the state registration sticker. Roughly 1% of the value of the boat EVERY YEAR. No matter when you sell, if you owned the boat Jan 1st of the year, you owe property tax for the entire year.

I owned my last boat for 4 years. By paying a $600 documentation fee once it saved me $3000 in sales tax and $2000 in KY property taxes on a $50K boat. That's a lot of gas in the tank!

Can you do both? Document to avoid sales and property taxes then state register with a state that doesn't have all the property taxes associated with registration? A lot of states have that little disclaimer that if a boat spends x amount of time on their water it has to be registered in that state. So you obviously don't have to live there to register there.

I understand why some people feel better about having state numbers. I'd pay the Ohio $65 every three years for that, but not KY's property taxes.

I know they say that, but when there is an abstract of title (federal title) and no state title, who is going to charge you sales tax?