Buying "Abandoned" Boats

[spareparts]

I've tracked down a few motors here in SC, there was allways property taxes owed on them, between DNR and the tax office, they have given out the names of previous owners so I could contact them about the taxes, in the end I payed the taxes myself(at lot easier)

[tsubaki]

And if there is a trailer involved, besides the bill of sale/tag receipt (possibly notary needed), you must first take the trailer to your local police precinct (with all paperwork) have it inspected (on certain days of the week and certain hours of those days), once passed/approved, then you may apply for a tag at the tag office.
The biggest saving grace is like spare was pointing out.
Both the County and State want to collect revenue and will do what is needed to keep income flowing. They would rather have you own and pay taxes on it than the other guy not paying.

[phatdaddy]

i've tried to pick up a few in florida under similar circumstances and found it almost impossible. tax collector's office always tell me i have to go back to the owner who registered it last and aquire a clean title. that is why you see "clean title" in so many fl ads. i've heard of locals taking the boats to alabama & registering them there(all you need is a bill of sale) and then transfering them to florida. i think this more of a "myth" than a way to get a boat registered in fl. i have a cousin whos family owned a marina with stack storage and wet slips. a guy comes up in a 20' sailboat and ask to tie up during a storm. they say yes and he stays a day or two, then disappears. boat sits for a week or two and starts taking on water. they lift it with the fork lift and set it on stands. he went back to texas and abandoned the boat. they tried to get title for 2 years against storage leins, no go. finally just crushed it and put it in a dumpster..

[tsubaki]

And whatever you do DO NOT use the word "salvage".

[randlemanboater]

NC has a proceedure to claim abandoned vessels.

http://www.ncwildlife.org/License/do...VesselForm.pdf

[phatdaddy]

there is your answer bradford, haul it to rmb's yard & leave it for a couple of months, and the re-claim it.

i wish it were that way in fl...

rmb, how big is your yard?

[bcmarinamanager]

We had a boat like that here at the marina one time. People just left it, quit paying their rent for several years. When we finally got a hold of the owner and told them how much they owed us before they could get the boat back, they laughed and said it was more than the boat was worth, which is true. In our case, we had to list the boat in the newspaper for sale for rent owed for 30 days before we could get it regestered as a marina boat. I guess "finding" one is a lot easier to do.