USCG documentation of R-21EC

[station 21]

Can you help me get my R-21EC documented with the USCG? The gross tonage off the boat is the issue.

Thank you,

eric christiansen

 

[walldog]

The R21 does not meet the qualifications to be documented. It does not have enough displacement. I believe that 5 tons is the minimum.

 

[JamesTXSD]

Yep. Some things just aren't going to happen. Getting a boat less than 5 gross tons documented is one of those things. What gain would you expect by documenting an R-21EC? Documentation is often required by lending institutions on larger boats to determine ownership (beyond state registration). Going into some foreign ports can be less of an issue with US documentation vs state registration; probably not an issue with a Ranger 21. Some people think you can get out of paying state sales tax and/or registration, but that's not the case in most states... they want their cut, too.

 

[Nellie Too]

I sure agree with Jim. There used to be a tax advantage to documenting your vessel but that no longer exists. By this I mean that the vessel was subject to Fed tax (a small fee) and exempt from state tax (a large fee), no longer, now you would pay both. Our Monk vessel, Mimi, was documented for the time we owned her but there is no way I will do it for our R-29, nothing to gain and more to pay.
Bob

 

[rt11002003]

One other positive item about documentation. One doesn't need to put state registration numbers on the bow, in fact one isn't supposed have both the state and documentation numbers on the vessel. Usually the state registration tag/sticker can be mounted on windows in the helm house resulting in a nice clean bow area.

gene

 

[JamesTXSD]

One other positive item about documentation. One doesn't need to put state registration numbers on the bow, in fact one isn't supposed have both the state and documentation numbers on the vessel. Usually the state registration tag/sticker can be mounted on windows in the helm house resulting in a nice clean bow area.

gene

That is all fine and dandy until you are operating in a state that doesn't see a lot of documented vessels (most of 'em not along a coast). After being stopped repeatedly for "not having state registration" with a sailboat we had, we dumped the documentation and registered the boat. No, there was never any ticket involved, just lost time and inconvenience. Since that time, it seems that most states have discovered registration of boats "without numbers" as another revenue source.