When you see a boat listed for sale that you’re interested in, your heart immediately jumps at the prospect of owning a boat you’ve only dreamed of in the past. You can imagine yourself out on the water, enjoying the ocean air, the sights and sounds of the sea, and all the adventures your boat can take you on. Before you get too far ahead of yourself, you want to come back to reality for a minute and make sure you do your due diligence on the boat you want to buy. Getting the important background information on the boat should be your first step, and performing a USCG vessel search gives you important information you need to make the best decision about your purchase.
A Listing of Documented Vessels
When you go to the U.S. Coast Guard website, you can search their database of documented vessels so you can get information about the boat. There is some basic information you will need regarding the boat to perform a good search — you may want to obtain this information from the current owner so you can look up the boat. Once you enter the information on the website, you can get the background regarding the documented vessel that may be important to you.
Finding Out the Facts
A USCG Vessel search can give you several bits of information that may be useful to you. You will find the chain of ownership of the boat so you can see how many times the boat may have changed owners, and if there are currently any liens that you need to be concerned about on the vessel. The information can also be helpful to you so you can get financing for your purchase from a lender. Typically, lenders want to see the background of a boat before they will agree to any financing.
Come to Us Once You Buy
If you go through a USCG vessel search and everything looks good to you, you can move ahead and purchase the boat for yourself. Once you own the boat, you should consider what you need to do to transfer documentation to yourself as the new owner. Here at Vessel Documentation Online, we can assist you with the process and get the forms filed for you. You can see the services we offer and file your application right on our site to make the process of getting documentation easy and painless.
