To stay compliant with maritime regulations in the United States, you must keep your boat documentation up to date and valid at all times. This proves compliance, nationality, ownership, the purpose of your vessel, and much more. Your vessel number is one way to identify your boat and is used when you renew or update…
You must have a solid understanding of yacht documentation if you are the owner of a USCG vessel. Documentation is the only thing that can establish that your vessel is registered with the United States Coast Guard and that it complies with all of the rules that are currently in effect. If you do not…
As a boat owner, there are several processes that you may need to do to document your boat properly with the United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has a division dedicated to vessel documentation called the National Vessel Documentation Center, or NVDC for short. The NVDC handles all the paperwork involved in documentation of…
Do you own a boat that you’re considering registering with the U.S. Coast Guard for the first time? If you’re new to filing for documentation with the National Vessel Documentation Center, it may seem like an intimidating process. The truth is, however, though there is some paperwork involved, the overall rewards of registering your boat…
The cost will depend on the kind of boat you want. An inflatable one is around $35. It includes tax and paddles. A tandem kayak can go around $900. With this boat, you can travel some river or go fishing. If you wish to obtain jet skis, however, you need to have a budget…
If you own a boat, you know that there’s a lot of paperwork that must be kept up to date to legally operate your vessel. That naturally leads to questions that you may need to be answered. One of the most common is whether a boat certification counts as proof of title ownership. Vessel documentation…
When you first receive your Merchant Marine Credentials (MMC) so that you can captain a commercial vessel, it is a momentous step for you and can open up some great career opportunities. Once you have your credentials, it is important that you do everything necessary to maintain them and renew them when you need to…
Are you wondering if your vessel qualifies for USCG documentation? Does it seem like the rules about which vessels can be documented and which vessels have to be documented seem contradictory at best? Vessel owners have felt that way for many years. While documenting your vessel is important (particularly if you’re in certain fields) it…
Understanding the U.S. Coast Guard requirements and staying familiar with them is an important part of owning a boat. If you happen to get stopped while out on the water, which is usually a routine check, you will be required to produce documentation for your vessel, much like you do when pulled over on the…
Understanding all that goes into boat ownership takes time, and you may want to look at all the regulations and nuances involved before you finalize a sale and become a boat owner yourself. Things may seem confusing as you start looking into things like registering your boat versus getting documentation. Depending on your state of…