Does anyone know a good way to find/locate the legal owner of a boat in
New York State. I was going to try the DMV to see if they can do a
title/registration search. Any other suggestions? Thanks. Tom.

If it has state registration number then you should be able to get the
information from the DMV.. May cost you a few bucks..

If it has no bow numbers and it Port is US then the USCG would be the source
of that information. Unfortunately the only web site where you could search
has been shut down..

Steve

Really? Works fine right now...
http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/commercia...g_vessel2.html to search by
name.
http://www.st.nmfs.gov/commercial/la...g_vessels.html to search by Fed.
ID number.

"Steve" wrote in message
...

If it has state registration number then you should be able to get the
information from the DMV.. May cost you a few bucks..

If it has no bow numbers and it Port is US then the USCG would be the
source
of that information. Unfortunately the only web site where you could
search
has been shut down..

Steve

Great! Thanks for the correction.. I stand corrected..

The last time I tired it, about 6 mo ago there was a notice that they were
discontinuing it because the USCG wasn't providing them with 'timely data'
or word to that effect..

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Tom, if you have a valid reason to need that information ( It's parked
in your yard, you damaged it somehow, etc.) a local police agency should
be able to help you.
If you are "just curious" it is unlikely that a search will be done for
you by either the DMV or the Police because of privacy restrictions.

Good luck and good boating,
Jim

wrote:
Does anyone know a good way to find/locate the legal owner of a boat in
New York State. I was going to try the DMV to see if they can do a
title/registration search. Any other suggestions? Thanks. Tom.

Jim Brinson wrote:
: Tom, if you have a valid reason to need that information ( It's parked
: in your yard, you damaged it somehow, etc.) a local police agency should
: be able to help you.
: If you are "just curious" it is unlikely that a search will be done for
: you by either the DMV or the Police because of privacy restrictions.

: Good luck and good boating,
: Jim

In some states, they'll give you the owner of the boat from registration
numbers and inform the owner of your search. In California, we found a
sunk boat once and wanted to salvage it. For a fee, the Dept. of Motor
Vehicles gave us the information and notified the owner of our request.

So, ya'd need to contact the department that registers boats in N.Y. to
see if they provide such a service. There are websites that claim
to search this information also (search "boat registration search" in
google.com for example. Yes, there are scam businesses there too.)

The bank was rather happy the boat surfaced (literally when the level of
the lake lowered).

b.

I bought the boat and have a Bill of sale, but there seems to be some
confusion about who actually has the transferable registration. This
boat has changed hands about three times without the paperwork following
it, once through a boat dealer. I am going to try the DMV, there are
some websites but they have been no help thus far. I may also try the
local police department. Tom.

Good luck..here in TX, I had to have my seller go back to the original
seller and get the proper TX forms signed or I could not get a title. The
confusion was not with the boat, but rather with the trailer! I hope
everyone was friendly or your state has more lenient laws.

A dealer that sells a boat/trailer with an non-transferred original title
ought to have some responsibility to be sure the line of ownership is
clear...but probably does not. I'm sure everyone did what they did to avoid
paying taxes, but someone always pays in the end.
RG


wrote in message
...
I bought the boat and have a Bill of sale, but there seems to be some
confusion about who actually has the transferable registration. This
boat has changed hands about three times without the paperwork following
it, once through a boat dealer. I am going to try the DMV, there are
some websites but they have been no help thus far. I may also try the
local police department. Tom.

I bought the boat and have a Bill of sale, but there seems to be some
confusion about who actually has the transferable registration. This
boat has changed hands about three times without the paperwork following
it, once through a boat dealer.

At this point, you have a disputed ownership interest in the boat- at best.

"About" three times? Are there people in the chain you don't know about?

Fortunately, the fix isn't all that difficult.
You won't need all the intermediate parties to sign off on the title or
registration because they never legally owned anything. As far as the state is
concerned, the guy who sold you the boat didn't own it. You will need to track
down the last party who had the title and get them to sign off. Just hope you
don't discover that the boat was stolen out of the last registered owner's
driveway.......

You can also thank your lucky stars that there was a dealer involved with one
of the transactions. Is he/she still in business?
They may be sitting on the title, having overlooked doing the transfer. If CA
is like WA, the dealer's chestnuts could be roasting on an open fire if he/she
sold the boat without valid title. I would think the dealer would have a
sincere interest in helping you solve this problem with as little attention
from the state as possible. :-)

The boat came with a trailer, and the trailer has a legal state title
from the guy I bought it from. I spoke with the dealer and he is
looking into his record(file) of the transaction, he seems friendly
enough, hopefully he will have the registration. I'm just wondering,
could the last owner could have had the registration suspended or
confiscated for some reason? Like DUI or a lien or something else? (I
did find a couple of bottles of liquor in the boat) Because the guy
really didn't want to talk about it. Any ideas?