On Wed, 02 May 2007 22:04:42 -0400, Larry Weiss
wrote:

We are about to launch the boat over the next week or two. Today I went
down to the marina to check out our boat slip (we've had the same one
for years), and there, tied to the dock in our slip is someone's
fiberglass dinghy "floating" mostly submerged just at the water's
surface. It actually looks like a nice little boat and it appears that
it is submerged only because it is filled with rain water. It also
appears to be abandoned. There is no motor on it and from its submerged
state I am unable to see whether it has any registration numbers. The
slip is in a municipal "township" marina, not a commercial boatyard, so
there really isn't a dockmaster or manager or owner to go to about this
- just bureaucrats and civil servants who won't have a clue. The
question is, if I refloat and remove this dinghy (which will take some
doing, and which I'll have to do anyway to get my boat in), is it then mine?

At the risk of being called a jerk, I would say that it you can't find
a registration or id on the boat, it's yours for all intents and
purposes.

Years ago, I found a fiberglass pram style boat sitting alongside the
road - had registration numbers, but the sticker was out of date for
three years.

Went to the registry and they had the following procedure - I had to
send a registered letter to the address listed in the last
registration stating that I had the boat and would the owner like it
back. If not, it was mine.

The letter was returned as undeliverable, the registry said it was
mine.

I would imagine in this case, if the hull doens't have a vin or MSO
number on it, then it's yours - nobody can claim it isn't.