Posting this for a friend.

Has anyone ever heard of a title search and ship mortgage required by a loan underwriter for boats over 26 feet. The boat in question is a used 33 eliminator. They claim it is for homeland security. Thanks.

Coast gaurd documentation check maybe?

Correct, an abstact of title and first preferred ships mortgage are for Coast Guard documentation. Many banks require documentation on any boat that qualifies, typically 26 or 27 feet and above.

The title search relevant to the CG documentation is much like the search of an abstract of title for a piece of real estate. It will show history of the boat and any liens that may exist, or the clear title of the boat. There are company's out there that deal in this and most often it will cost $100 - $150 to have this search done, well worth the money to know you own a boat that is yours free and clear of any old baggage. My experience has been that this has always been the norm when financing over $100K, more so than boat size, but things are different these days, banks are more cautious than a few years ago.

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully this will answer my friends questions. I'll post back if there are more.

It is not required by Homeland Security and anyone telling you that should not be financing boats. They are either not tellingyou the truth because Documentation is much more expensive or do not know what they are doing. The reason a bank would want Ships Mortgage is because it is administered by the US Coast Guard. In most case the Mortgage/Coast Guard Documentation gives the bank a much better security interest in the boat. Generally it is much easier to repo and allot harder to transfer to a new owner. Just bank security. What rate are they giving you?