Boating Activity

All vehicles that are currently driving on the road today have to be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles by law. The government wants to keep track of how many cars, trucks and motorcycle are on its roads and it also wants to ensure that everyone driving has car insurance; this is their way of ensuring that. Many people forget to register their boats and find themselves faced with stiff fines when are caught boating without registration paperwork. In fact, so many people are unaware of this that it’s not uncommon for people to get fined because they are piloting a boat that is not registered!

When it comes to boats, there are two types, non-powered and powered; only one of these types has to be registered by law. Any and all powered boats, even boats that are non-powered but have auxiliary power units, must be registered if they are going to be used on any water of the state. “Water of the state” – as in, water the state has claim to – is defined as all rivers, lakes, and streams no matter how big or small and all salt water that’s within 3 miles of land. These boats must go through the boat registration process; failing to properly register a boat will result in stiff penalties.

However, although it may seem like it, boat registration is not really all that difficult – or even that expensive, especially when you think of how much it costs to register some vehicles. For all powered boats, regardless of size, the fee for boat registration is only $24.00. For non-powered boats, the fee is only $10; however, non-powered boats have not been legally required to be registered since June of 2004, so the choice is up to the boat’s owner. It’s good to remember, however, that if you decide to remove your boat’s power source you cannot obtain a refund for the boat registration fee; and if you add a power source at any time, you must register this change with the DMV and pay the new $24.00 registration fee even if you have already paid the $10.00 fee for non-powered boats.

The boat registration process itself is very simple. First, you must complete the DMV’s boat application paperwork, which can be either picked up at the DMV or printed out from most DMV websites. Then, you’ll need to obtain a copy of the boat’s bill of sale or its invoice and have the application fee ready to be handed in. Then, all you do is go down to the office, give them the paperwork and your boat is legally registered.

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