Selling a boat

[P-3 Guy]

Originally Posted by Kamper

I suggested above, that you retain the original registration document because there are a lot of people who do not grasp this. The vessel is legally not registered until the new owner gets the chore done. Not giving the buyer the legal document removes any chance for a claim that the sale was not final yet, or still subject to sea-trial.

On the back of the Boat Registration document, at the bottom, is a space to record "Date of Transfer," "Transferred To," "Owner's Signature," and "Owner's Address." My assumption is that 1) when the boat is sold, this information needs to be completed by the old owner (the seller), and 2) the original document with this information filled in needs to be presented by the new owner (the buyer) to the proper authority in order to get a new registration form in the new owner's name. Is this not correct?