Good catch, Fred. But my boat is identified as both State registered and
Federally documented. I have State registered decals port and starboard and no
numbers on the bow (State requirement), and the name of the boat and hailing
port in 4 inch letters on the transom (federal requirement). If I were merely
State titled and registered, the numbers would be on the bow.
It’s still a good catch. You really are a sea lawyer.
From: Frederick G Street via CnC-List
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2018 11:47 AM
To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com
Cc: Frederick G Street
Subject: Re: Stus-List Recent discussion regarding Federal v. State Boat
Documentation
Matthew — as the BoatUS article is talking about graphics, I read the line in
question below (“vessel may only be identified…”) to mean that the vessel
should adhere to either state labeling standards if NOT documented, or federal
labeling standards if it IS documented.
So you should NOT have bow numbers on a documented vessel.
— Fred
Fred Street -- Minneapolis
S/V Oceanis (1979 C&C Landfall 38) -- on the hard in Bayfield, WI :^(
On Feb 7, 2018, at 10:40 AM, Matthew L. Wolford via CnC-List
<cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote:
I reviewed the first two bullet points from the BoatUS recital, and at least
in PA they are not (or may not) be correct:
a.. Vessels may only be identified as either a State Registered Vessel or a
Federally Documented Vessel - NOT BOTH.
Not true in PA. There is a difference between titling and registration.
In PA, Federally documented boats are not required to be titled under the PA
Fish and Boat Code (and, I believe, cannot be State titled). However, they
must be registered. This change was made to the State statute in the 1990s and
became effective on March 1, 1998. Under the old requirements, federally
documented boats were exempt from State registration. Under the new
requirements, federally documented boats used for recreational purpose must be
registered. As far as I know, no one has challenged this scheme, and I doubt a
court would conclude that State registration requirements are preempted because
they are help the State keep track of boats and are not in conflict with
federal law regarding documentation.
a.. When a vessel becomes federally Documented, the State Registration
Numbers and Letters must be removed.
This I don’t know, but I suspect BoatUS is correct. The reason is that
federal law has requirements about how a federally documented boat must be
identified. To get around this issue, the PA Fish and Boat Commission requires
decals (not State registration numbers) to be placed on the boat. Most
sailboat owners place the decal on the mast.
As we discussed in a previous thread about this issue, this is a
complicated and unclear area of law which, not surprisingly, the U.S. Supreme
Court has not addressed. BoatUS would be wise not to give legal advice in
promoting the sale of graphics.
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every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal
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