buying a used cat

My experience in NC is plan on at least 8 hours (adding up all effort:learning the requirements, phone calls, blah, blah, blah) and several trips to the DMV, local public scale etc. before you can qualify a trailer for what here is an NCX title. I've done it once and never again as in PITA.

Thank you

Here's the situation around my area...several of us live in Tennessee, keep our boats and trailers in Mississippi, and many of the road trips are in MS or passing through Alabama to Florida. As far as I know most of us don't have either the boat or trailer registered. I'm not saying it's correct, but that's what some or most are doing.

Now if somebody's boat gets jacked, I'm not sure how you could prove ownership other than a bill of sale.
(I think I better go try to find mine).

While I am up in NY I always "heard" the same stories saying it was hours and days of torture to register an unregistered trailer. I just did mine which is old and had no current registration. One quick trip to DMV and they advised I register it as home made. Went to a local recycle center which did official weighing and payed them $10. Thirty minutes back and DMV and all is good. We don't have to register non powered boats.

Wow, here in Bama we don't have to register boat trailers, just the boat has to have registration. I just went to the Gulf Coast in Florida and back and had no issues about trailer registration. Only issue I had was that the condo I stayed at didn't allow boats or any type of trailer to be parked on site. That really sucked big time. I tried talking with the HOA there and even though there were numerous empty spaces, they would not budge on their rules. Fortunately for me I had family in the area where I could park my boat. So, heads up, be sure to check where you can park a boat before dragging it to any location. Be advised, Destin West condominiums on Okaloosa Island, Ft Walton Beach, FL does not allow boats to be parked! I really loved that place, but now, not so much.

I wouldn't suggest driving in florida without a plate on your trailer.
Reg/tag is required

you (strongly) risk being pulled over, ticketed and required to leave your trailer where it sits until you have a plate for it (boy would that suck)

The law in Fl has changed over the past decade in regards to boat registration as well
It USED to be any non-powered boat under 18' was not required to have registration (needed title but since no registration was needed/ this was not often done)

NOW the law has changed to ANY boat over 16' HAS to be registered with numbers on the hull

So many of us are screwed. We don't have a title - and certainly can't get it registered without the title - there are only 2 options here 1. go to the courts and prove you own it and it is not stolen 2. go to FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) and ask them to run your serial numbers and prove it's not stolen and you own it

IF they ever start to enforce this law - we are in real trouble (so far they pretty much leave us beach cats alone, since there are 1000's of jerk powerboaters/pwc/large mono-hulls with motors) and fishermen (coolers to inspect for out of season/over limit)

Edited by MN3 on Aug 07, 2017 - 09:37 AM.

martyr wrote: Wow, here in Bama we don't have to register boat trailers, just the boat has to have registration. I just went to the Gulf Coast in Florida and back and had no issues about trailer registration. Only issue I had was that the condo I stayed at didn't allow boats or any type of trailer to be parked on site. That really sucked big time. I tried talking with the HOA there and even though there were numerous empty spaces, they would not budge on their rules. Fortunately for me I had family in the area where I could park my boat. So, heads up, be sure to check where you can park a boat before dragging it to any location. Be advised, Destin West condominiums on Okaloosa Island, Ft Walton Beach, FL does not allow boats to be parked! I really loved that place, but now, not so much.

When out of state and the boat/trailer owner you are OK as long as you comply with the legal requirements for the state of your residency. If you're OCD (like me) just keep your ownership documents (boat and trailer, registration and or bill of sale) in your glove box just like you do for your car. This is really good piece of mind at coastal areas where their is a lot of cat activity and generally high rates of theft. Thieves really like beach wheels so cable them to something.

Beach front/coastal rental properties love to put pics of our boats in their advertisements, but try to launch one from their property and be prepared to be run off.

Thieves really like beach wheels so cable them to something.

Thieves really like boats that come with bill of sale and registration too - perhaps some caution should be used with this

When I got to the condo, I locked up my sails and beach wheels inside my tow vehicle. I also have a padlock on the tounge of the trailer even when hitched up. Anything that can walk away gets locked up.

Edited by martyr on Aug 07, 2017 - 08:19 PM.

When I got to the condo, I locked up my sails and beach wheels inside my tow vehicle. I also have a padlock on the tounge of the trailer even when hitched up. Anything that can walk away gets locked up.

We are plagued with boat theft here in florida - most often it's a power boat on a trailer in a driveway/storage area, then it's motors off boats at marina's - such jerks!

Since there is not a huge resale market, nor black market for 20 year old catamaran, it's more often vandalism that hits a beach cat as far as i have seen (not to say i haven't heard of cats stolen)

On most weekends when i leave my cat on the beach, i will secure items like blocks, cross bars and hiking sticks,even rudders in my car and they go home with me - I take my rudders so they don't get kicked in the dark (despite being international orange) and/or damaged by an unexpected higher tide or wave

Wow, here in Bama we don't have to register boat trailers, just the boat has to have registration.

I just want to get this straight - so you have no licence plate on your trailer?

Mississippi too, no trailer reg required. This may not be up to date

In VA trailers are titled and tagged. Non powered watercraft of our sizes are not titled.
I have titled and tagged two cat trailers as homemade by applying, through the mail, for a VIN number from the DMV and having a state trouper come by the house and confirm the mounting of the VIN plate. The cost was reasonable.
By the time a couple of crossbars and a mast support or two has been grafted on an old factory built trailer it looks home made.

I thought for sure anything on a highway had to be tagged/registered, in any state. Maybe I should move, I hate the tag office

No, I do not have a tag on my trailer. Alabama does not require boat trailers to be registered or titled. The boat is required to be registered and that's all.

interesting

ec wrote: Hello, I have been in the market for buy a 18 ft or 19 cat and have found some great deals except for one thing, the trailers or boats do not have titles. From what I read bits and pieces about that subject is that it is difficult at the tag office to get a plate.I live in Georgia and I believe its difficult to get the boat and trailer registered. Should I just stay stray from this idea and just make sure the boat is road ready? Thank so much and safe sailing. E C

Georgia is actually a state that is very friendly in this regard. Georgia does not title the boats, so you simply need a bill of sale to complete registration. You register online and then have the boat inspected by a DNR official to make sure the HIN numbers add up. There are multiple dates a year you can do this without an appointment at a number of different launch ramps. I may or may not know of a number of boats that were registered in GA and then transferred and titled in SC.

https://vessel.gooutdoorsgeorgia.com/Vessel/CustomerLookup.aspx

On the trailer, I do not know. We do not title trailers here in SC, most states offer avenues to get titles when purchasing a trailer from a non-titling state.

MN3 wrote: I wouldn't suggest driving in florida without a plate on your trailer.
Reg/tag is required

you (strongly) risk being pulled over, ticketed and required to leave your trailer where it sits until you have a plate for it (boy would that suck)
Edited by MN3 on Aug 07, 2017 - 09:37 AM.

Do it all the time in FL with SC tags on the truck.

I grow tired of people suggesting that old boats and trailers without titles are likely stolen. This has caused some real pain to those of us who live in states that do not title these items. Be aware that state laws are different across the board and a trailer without a title (unless its large) is anything but shady here. We also all know that many of these beach cats are older than the titling laws that now exist on the books, nothing shady there.

tnell wrote: Mississippi too, no trailer reg required. This may not be up to date

For the record, trailers like ours are required to be registered (license tag), but not titled in MS. The boats are also required to be registered, but not titled. I don't know anyone who's titled a small trailer here...not even sure you can. The only folks I know that title their boats are larger power boats with expensive outboards. That's probably wise in case of theft of the boat and/or outboard motor (motor ID numbers can be recorded on the title).

That said, I don't know anyone who's been ticketed for lack of or an outdated trailer tag. It's probably more common that they just add on that violation if stopped for another reason. I do know folks who have been fined for lack of/improper boat registration, but I know a lot more who are getting by without it.

To me, these things are cheap insurance against drawing unwanted attention from the authorities and could come in handy if the boat (or I) come up missing. My trailer tag is like $20 a year and boat registration is $15 for three years.

Thanks Jerome, I guess I'll look into what the rules are in TN. It's odd for us since we mostly keep the boats in mississipi

Well I looked it up....again.....TN requires boats to be registered that are primarily used in Tennessee (not me) and does not require boat trailer registration. I guess I'll just be careful out there in MS, FL, and AL

Edited by tnell on Aug 09, 2017 - 06:14 PM.

As long as your boat is registered in the state where you live, in accordance to the laws pertaining to said boat and trailer, then you should be fine. I'm telling ya, I just hauled my boat from Alabama to Florida and while in Florida, hauled it from Niceville to Ft Walton Beach, back to Niceville, then back to Ft Walton Beach and then back to Alabama and had no issues with registration at all.

The previous owner of my boat lived primarily in Nashville, Tennessee, but kept the boat at his beach house in Florida. The boat had a Tennessee registration when I got it. I hauled it home from Florida to Alabama with it registered in Tennessee, but I did have a bill of sale showing that I had recently purchased the boat.

Edited by martyr on Aug 09, 2017 - 09:43 PM.

Thanks to everyone!!! You helped me alot