Boat Purchasing Nightmare

[Blockheadboater]

Hi everyone. My name is Chris, 31, hailing from upstate NY! My motivator to join this forum stems from the nightmare I'm enduring today. Also I realized I'm quite foolish when it comes to boats. Wish I would've come on here and conducted much more extensive research on the subject

I picked up a cheap boat off of letgo. Name of the maker on the side is Carini. The deck needs to be cleaned. The wooden benches were soaked and need replacing. And the boat would benefit from some painting.

Nightmare began when I realized I might not be able to register this boat and trailer. Trailer had no VIN, didn't realize this till I got home. The boat has a HIN and was registered in the state of NJ, so was the trailer. I demanded the man refnd my money to which he refused. Short of calling the police, I feel fairly stupid at the moment, and hopeless Im out $550 for a 13ft boat and a 15ft trailer I can't use.

Any advice?

 

[Maclin]

Welcome! Sorry for your bad luck.

Audition for Judge Judy. Seriously, might try small claims court. Even with an as is sale, in some states with vehicles it implied that there is a valid title with verifiable chain of custody.

Good luck.

 

[ondarvr]

Call the local agency that you need to register it with and see what you need to get it done, sometimes you need stuff you can't get easily, and other times it's not that hard.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

I only wish my poor decisions only cost me $550.00. I would call it a head ache certainly not a Nightmare. Add a zeros or two and you have a Nightmare.

You need to go to DMV and ask what you need to do as suggested by Maclin. At least it was once registered so I don't know what legal recourse you have. Here in Ontario Canada we tell the Ministry of Transportation the trailer is home made so it will not have a VIN #. If it was registered in NJ it should be on record. Actually in Canada a boat with less than 10 HP doesn't need registration. A few States I presume as well, thus the 9.9 HP rating. My Uncle in Western NY has had a little 12' boat for 30 years with Ohio numbers on it. There are few things I might do but giving quasi criminal advise here is frowned on a tad. Based on the description you are about to spend more money once you do register it. We like pictures, you need to post 3 or 4 times before you can add a pic.

 

[tpenfield]

Welcome to iBoats . . .

All is not lost. As suggested, see if you can find out procedures for getting the boat registered, even though you don't have clear documentation. Sometimes you can register the boat in another sate (NH, MA for example) that don't require full documentation for a boat of that size (13 ft). Then you can re-register it in NY.

Where there is a will there is a way.

 

[ThomW]

I am from upstate NY as well...way upstate. In NY, if there is no VIN on trailer, you can simply take the trailer (without boat on it) to a garbage station or scrap yard and weigh it. Take that receipt showing it's dry weight to the DMV and register the trailer as a home made trailer. You can do that for trailers up to 2000 pounds or so.

As for the boat, as long as you have the HIN number and a bill of sale you should be able to get a new title. Did he give you the old title, signed over to you or not? In NY, registrations for trailers are transferable, but boat registrations are not. NY titles are transferable, but if the old title was from NJ, that might not be transferable to NY anyway. I would go to the DMV with the HIN for the boat and the bill of sale, tell them the old title is lost or gone. If you have the old registration number, you can bring that to show the DMV it was titled in the previous owner's name. You pay a sales tax and title fee, and should be all set. Fingers crossed you get someone who is somewhat friendly and helpful at the DMV. Good luck!

 

[roffey]

As mentioned in this thread, here in Ontario Canada as long as the boat has not been reported stolen you can register it.

Good luck with the boat, love older wooden boats. Did you get a motor with it?

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Bang on Roffey. With all the red tape we face everyday dealing with all levels of Government registering a boat with zero paper work in Canada is a relatively simple procedure compared to many States south. Some truly sound like a Nightmare. Somewhere I once read as well as here that Canada has the highest number of unregistered boats in the World. We have more people that have the boating operators card than registered pleasure boats.

 

[Blockheadboater]

Hey everyone. First, thank you for all your advices. Specially the trailer advice. Unfortunately my ignorance of law has placed me in a pickle. I will try registering the trailer first this weekend, there's a certified scale around the corner I will attempt to weigh it and see what happens at the DMV. As it is the trailer needs some love. In its current state it's too short for the boat, the hull hangs off 2 - 3 ft off the back. I'll probably have to cut the metal branch holding the winch and hull support and move it back a couple feet, weld it again, and extend the wood rails out a little bit.

I did some research on the boat HIN, it was manufactured by the Stur-Dee Boat company in April of '83. They still make the same model today. It's a flat-hulled skiff-style?

After seeing their boats, it motivated me to try and get this fella registered and refinished. I was able to get pallets from work I'm going to use to make some new sturdier benches. And going to pressure clean the deck, then I will paint it. Anyone recommend a good primer to fill and even out the pores the algae and moss developed on the deck? I got some oil-based primers I thought might do a good job. I'm also looking at outboards for it. Idk what the power range would be for this vessel. Not too sure about the transom either. It has two holes or punctures on the deck side of it. It's wet in there which can't be good. The outside has a part reinforced with diamond steel plating.

Again, thanks for the help, advice, support, etc. I'm looking forward to making this vessel into a project my boy and I can work together into our fishing boat.

 

[tpenfield]

Just use your best poker face at the DMV and hope for the best . . . been there done that . . . :thumb:

 

[Blockheadboater]

As mentioned in this thread, here in Ontario Canada as long as the boat has not been reported stolen you can register it.

Good luck with the boat, love older wooden boats. Did you get a motor with it?

It didn't come with a motor. Idk what power rating the boat could handle. I'm looking at an 85 hp mercruiser though. With that motor, I'll have to make and install a steering console though, install steering, throttle, gauges, but the guys selling it for dirt cheap. Runs good but wants to get rid of it.

But I'm totally ignorant on this subject. Any suggestions? As of right now, i use a Minn Kota 30 from the 80s lol still puts along nicely. It works well for the reservoirs around my area that only allow trolling motors. I'm looking to upgrade the trolling motor as well.

 

[Blockheadboater]

I am from upstate NY as well...way upstate. In NY, if there is no VIN on trailer, you can simply take the trailer (without boat on it) to a garbage station or scrap yard and weigh it. Take that receipt showing it's dry weight to the DMV and register the trailer as a home made trailer. You can do that for trailers up to 2000 pounds or so.

As for the boat, as long as you have the HIN number and a bill of sale you should be able to get a new title. Did he give you the old title, signed over to you or not? In NY, registrations for trailers are transferable, but boat registrations are not. NY titles are transferable, but if the old title was from NJ, that might not be transferable to NY anyway. I would go to the DMV with the HIN for the boat and the bill of sale, tell them the old title is lost or gone. If you have the old registration number, you can bring that to show the DMV it was titled in the previous owner's name. You pay a sales tax and title fee, and should be all set. Fingers crossed you get someone who is somewhat friendly and helpful at the DMV. Good luck!

Tomorrow I will try to do some of this. I got my nephew to help me release and hold the boat into a river next to my house so I can ride to that scale. The trailer needs new lights and wood rails so I could go out and buy those to have some receipts too.

I tried calling NJMVC to speak to someone about the Jersey tag on the trailer. I wanted to make sure this wasn't a stolen trailer but after holding for about 15 mins I got tired of waiting and hung up. I'm gonna try again tomorrow before I do anything.

 

[trailking82]

I have a feeling what you are going to find is a rotten deck and stringers, especially if the transom is bad as described. Boats rot from the bottom up, usually accelerated by poor maintenace and storage conditions. If its truely rotten then its salvageable, for more info browse over to the Restro/repair section here on iboats.

Also considering the trailer may not fit the boat why not just sell it or scrap it and buy a trailer that fits and one you can easily register? As far as that 85hp motor, no absolutely not on a 13' boat. At max it may be rated for 15hp. That would put you in a tiller steer and no need for a console and remote stearing.

 

[Blockheadboater]

No Title

That's what I figured. Guy says it's perfect but I didn't think so.

The boat is a Stur-Dee Amesbury Dory. That boat is an example of what I wish it looked like lol

 

[NYBo]

No title needed for a boat that small or that old.

https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/register-boat

 

[southkogs]

85HP on a 13' Dory? That sounds a bit gutsy. Dory hull is designed to plow through water more than plane over it, and I'm guessing that boat is made for maybe 20HP at a high end - more like 10-15HP.

Welcome aboard.

 

[Blockheadboater]

85HP on a 13' Dory? That sounds a bit gutsy. Dory hull is designed to plow through water more than plane over it, and I'm guessing that boat is made for maybe 20HP at a high end - more like 10-15HP.

Welcome aboard.

Thank you. And yeah that's what I figured. I've been looking at outboards on letgo for the last 3 days. Found a couple. One needs a new magneto and prop for $250 Force 5 hp. The other is an Evinrude that needs a carb kit and some good cleaning for $175 7.5hp. What should I look for as far as used outboards? What are some tell tail signs of serious issues being disguised by optimistic owners with creative descriptions? Lol example, with cars, you'll see descriptions like "white smoke coming out the exhaust, no idea why" or "oil leaks into antifreeze" can usually be a blown head gasket.

 

[ondarvr]

The Force should be free, or they pay you to take it, it has no value if it's not running, and little even if it does. The Evinrude might be good, that's if this is all that it needs, which is rare, they normally need more than first thought.

 

[ezmobee]

Parts aren't readily available for Chrysler, Force or Gamefisher motors so avoid those. Older Mercurys have spotty parts support as well. Johnson/Evinrudes are excellent.

 

[EchoNovember]

I have a feeling what you are going to find is a rotten deck and stringers, especially if the transom is bad as described. Boats rot from the bottom up, usually accelerated by poor maintenace and storage conditions. If its truely rotten then its salvageable, for more info browse over to the Restro/repair section here on iboats.

Also considering the trailer may not fit the boat why not just sell it or scrap it and buy a trailer that fits and one you can easily register? As far as that 85hp motor, no absolutely not on a 13' boat. At max it may be rated for 15hp. That would put you in a tiller steer and no need for a console and remote stearing.

They also rot from the inside out. Everything on the surface will look fine, but if it flexes at all and you don't think it should, take it off and look at the back of the wood. I will just about guarantee it's rotted.

For the benches, don't use pallet wood unless you just want something temporary. Use high grade wood and seal it with epoxy to make it waterproof. For the transom, marine grade plywood with a couple coats of West System epoxy will give you a transom that will last long after you sell the boat. To save money on the plywood, BCX exterior plywood works as well. I used marine grade when I redid the transom on my aluminum boat. I'm fairly confident it is just shy of bulletproof, though I have plans to take the scraps to the range just to check out of curiosity. :laugh: