Titling a hull as home made

[no_boundaries]

Many times over the years i have had people tell me that they have done it and it's simple. Never dug deeper because it was information in passing. Now my curiosity is piqued about the subject as gas is through the roof and i think a $100 14' Lee hull would be a fun solo project and there is a plethora of them sitting in yards, without titles.
Has anyone here done this?
TIA

 

[RidgeRunner]

titling, sorry that word looks odd. I had to read the title 3 times before I figured out what you were trying to do. LOL
I imagine a google search should detail it step by step for you??

 

[Baddog 0302]

Webster.com

 

[Bowhntr6pt]

If the hull has ever been titled, which it probably has, you would be committing title fraud, a Felony in Florida.

Years ago there used to be a process to obtain a title on an abandoned hull, I did it one time, and it was called a "provisional title". It's my understanding that process is no longer offered. Double check with your Clerk of Courts.

Do people do it? Sure. Do they get away with it? Sure. But it only takes one incident to open up a can of worms.

I'd research FSS 328.05 first.

 

[Bowhntr6pt]

Here's my experience...

Back in 1989/90 I bought a boat from the local Pawn Shop. The Pawn dealer could not find the title but gave me the guys information who lost the boat due to not paying off the pawn.

Prior to contacting the guy I asked the Clerk of Courts what could I do to get the boat registered. The lady said I had two choices... 1) submit an application for a homemade boat, which she openly admitted wasn't really "legal" but it was "no big deal" (I was kind of shocked she recommended this) or 2) I could go through the process to obtain a "Provisional Title" good for one year before being converted to a standard title.

The process was:

1. Send a certified letter to the name/address of the last owner of record. If the person responded, they would need to request a replacement title, and then sign it over to me once they received it.

2. If the certified letter was returned unclaimed, I had to take the UNOPENED returned letter and include it with a title application.

After I realized fudging an application for a homemade boat was a felony, I went the other route. I ended up getting the certified letter returned to me so I was able to get a provisional title. Florida probably leads the nation in boat thefts thus we have some pretty strict title laws.

 

[oneshot]

I may be able to tell you more about how it works later to day just picked up one and going in a little while and learn. I have come up with a title, have been told if it has the numbers on it you can work from that, will know more later.

 

[Bowhntr6pt]

I may be able to tell you more about how it works later to day just picked up one and going in a little while and learn. I have come up with a title, have been told if it has the numbers on it you can work from that, will know more later.

That's promising... all of what I posted could be wrong.

About six months ago a co-worker tried the provisional title route and told me it was a no-go. I never followed up to see what his work around was. Problem is... I forgot who the heck it was lol.

 

[Bowhntr6pt]

Just spoke to the Tax Office, they said the certified letter process no longer applies.

All you need to do is submit a letter to the Tax Collector's Office with the boat information and hull ID number along with an explanation as to how you acquired the hull.

They will do the research, and if no contact is made with the last owner of record, you can apply for the title. Seems they do all the leg work.

Keep in mind... this is the information MY local office just provided... should be standard state wide.

 

[DixieReb]

Many times over the years i have had people tell me that they have done it and it's simple. Never dug deeper because it was information in passing. Now my curiosity is piqued about the subject as gas is through the roof and i think a $100 14' Lee hull would be a fun solo project and there is a plethora of them sitting in yards, without titles.
Has anyone here done this?
TIA

I’ve made up serial numbers for boats long time ago (in Alabama) to get them registered, just fishing boats I’m talking about , jon boats. And was actually lawful to do years ago. Alabama still does not require boat or trailer titles but if you buy a boat now that is not registered or doesn’t have a serial number on it, then you have to fill out a form and take a picture of the boat and mail it to Montgomery. Then in a few weeks a State Trooper will come to your house and assign a new serial number to the boat, he’ll stick a decal on boat with new number, then I’ve made a new metal tag to attach to the boat. Done this several times. I’ve lost a few sales to prospective Florida buyers that were interested in bass boats and ski boats I’ve owned once they found out I didn’t have a title on any of them, but I’ve also sold boats as well to Florida folks that said it wasn’t a big deal to get the boat titled

 

[Grits1/5]

I have also been told by the DMV/tax office that it was pretty easy to register and title a boat as a homemade boat. I haven’t done it yet, but I intend to. In my case, I have a few vessels that I want to title, 2 are kayaks and one is a row boat. I want to register them because I want to motorize them. Because the vessels were not originally built to be motorized, they never had titles. I did extensive work in modifying my kayaks to be motorized. And my row boat is an 18ft fiberglass row boat, but it was practically destroyed in a hurricane and I had to rebuild the entire boat, including several large holes and rebuild the boat with fiberglass and gel coat. So in my mind, I would consider them homebuilt and the tax office agreed with me (Escambia county). I just haven’t gone in to do the paperwork yet.

 

[Duckyou]

The titillating tale of titling the titanic.

 

[no_boundaries]

titling, sorry that word looks odd. I had to read the title 3 times before I figured out what you were trying to do. LOL
I imagine a google search should detail it step by step for you??

I know...every time ive googled it ive second-guessed my spelling.

 

[no_boundaries]

If the hull has ever been titled, which it probably has, you would be committing title fraud, a Felony in Florida.

Years ago there used to be a process to obtain a title on an abandoned hull, I did it one time, and it was called a "provisional title". It's my understanding that process is no longer offered. Double check with your Clerk of Courts.

Do people do it? Sure. Do they get away with it? Sure. But it only takes one incident to open up a can of worms.

I'd research FSS 328.05 first.

Which is why im here with you fine folks. I talked to someone within the past year who told my that theyve done it many times and it's a breeze. I cant for the life of me remember who that was.