Uk Ssr To Uscg Documentation

[deepthought]

I planing to purchase a boat from the UK currently it has not been registered anywhere. And its on its 4th owner. I would like to get it documented with the USCG as I am a US citizen and plan to take it abroad. The USCG told me I would need every bill of sale from when it was built in 1979 till now and they would all have to be notarized by a US notary. Unfortunately I dont think we can find all the previous owners.

They also said if it was registered then I would just need a bill of sale from the current owner and to get it undocumented.

So my plan would be to ask the current owner to register it with the UK SSR then once we make the deal have it unregistered.

Anyone have any experience or suggestions on this?

Thanks.

[JeanneP]

USCG documentation is primarily a certificate of ownership of a vessel by a US citizen. Notification of any liens and encumbrances are part of the document. For that reason the CG requires documented proof that the vessel has been legally conveyed to you by the owner of the vessel.

You need UK professionals to certify that this UK vessel is owned as it is represented to be owned. It's for your protection, of course, and so I think you are right to go the route of documentation.

There is no shortcut around this as far as I can see.

Good Luck

Jeanne

[HandyBilly]

Off topic but...I had the impression that a USCG documented vessel couldn't have been registered in another country. I just looked it up on the USCG site and I'm wrong. It doesn't even look like the boat has to have been built in the US (another thing I thought was true) if it will not be used on commerce.

Thanks for the topic! it got me thinking.

[JeanneP]

For others who might be interested in obtaining US Federal documentation, here's a link to the CG's FAQs