[intakexhaust]

I'd say first walk into a Sec. of State office with the seller and all documents. It might save some future aggravation.

Thru the years I've had two really weird situations regarding boat documents. Both case's were such a waste of government resources.

The first one was a purchase of a used Formula of which I had a clean title, owned and enjoyed it for a a few years. I then later re-sold it without any issues. So...... EIGHT years go by and one morning I get a knock on the door from two suited guys in a black car who wanted to ask some questions! Taken by surprise and I asked for I.D.'s.... they were FBI. No kidding here.

They mentioned I was hard to find -LOL- and left me wondering whatever that meant, but anyhow they wanted to know about that particular boat and about the individual I purchased it from. My memory was fuzzy but enough to recall a description of the seller and lucky enough, I still had copies of the boat's records, title and transaction, receipt, etc.. They appreciated the records and then proceeded to pull a photo out of the guy I purchased the boat from which matched my description. Turn's out that seller had another boat - apparently stolen and tried to pawn it off. They told me the scumbag fabricated a story of me trading that particular boat towards the legite Formula! They knew he was liar, the guy had some similar prior's and were making a case against him. Really a weird ordeal to me and as a word of advice, it's a good idea to keep copies of transactions.

Another ordeal was a boat I purchased out of another state, all legite including that state issue title. When I wanted to transfer the title ownership to myself and showing a sales receipt, my state would not accept it and claimed the serial number was incorrect?! I countered and verified both in writing and phone, so they sent me another form. Filled it out and they returned it as non-legite vin! But I did have my temporary applied from the license service company to use the boat for 30 days until the full document's / new title arrived. But by now, I was losing some boating season because the area I use the boat in REQUIRES actual proof of ownership to get the sticker permit for that water usage. I was screwed as it took five months for the state to confirm it was in fact the correct serial and title!! Nobody from the Sec. of State would bonafide the serial number! So I resorted to taking a blank piece of paper and rubbing a lead pencil over the entire manufacture plate including the serial number showing the imprint and sent the paperwork in. (Photo's were not accepted!). Only then was I finally issued a title. Ridiculous.