Government Silliness (Warning: Contains Bureaucratic Nonsense)

For six months or so I've been attempting to get Velorum federally documented with the US Coast Guard.  It's not a requirement, but I've always documented the larger boats I've owned for a few reasons:

• The boat needs to have the documentation numbers permanently affixed in 2 places and it makes the boat a little easier to identify if stolen.
• You don't need to sticker with state numbers (although you generally still have to pay for the state registration).
• Makes it easier to check into customs when arriving in another country. I currently only have Canada on my radar, but dare to dream!

So the process is just slightly more streamlined now than when I last did it in 2007 or so, but only because you submit paperwork online instead of through the mail.  Unfortunately, it still takes them up to 60 days for each submission (and each subsequent re-submission and re-re-submission).  It's a whole lot of waiting around.  

My attempts began last June when I submitted the original application.  The application included all the general boat specification details along with a bill of sale and title.  I paid my ~$200 and hit submit thinking how easy it is now that you can submit online.  On August 20th I received and email from the National Vessel Documentation Center (NVDC) and found no Letter of Documentation and only an attached 'Letter of Deficiency'.  Apparently, I submitted a new application, but what I didn't know was that the boat had been previously documented as 'Morning Star' in the 1990s, so I had to submit a transfer application, pay another fee (just for documents this time) and reapply.  

In September, I got another email from NVDC.  Another 'Letter of Deficiency'.  This time they rejected the application because the title did not have clear chain of custody from the originally documented owner to me.  Since the previous owner who was listed on the title had passed away and had willed the boat to his friend, the NVDC needed something legal that showed that the boat was 'willed' to his friend (who sold the boat to me).  

Fortunately, the previous owner's widow was kind enough to supply me with her husband's Last Will and Testament so I submitted that as proof that the boat's ownership was transferred legally (along with another filing fee). Wishful thinking, because about a month later I received yet another Letter of Deficiency.  The new reasoning for denial was because and I quote:

Our office is in receipt of the Last Will and Testament of xxxxx; however, a will by itself does not transfer property.  If the will went through the probate process and an executor or personal representative was appointed by the court, please provide a copy of that document. The document must be certified by an official of the court.

I am not a lawyer and do not play one on TV, so I really had no idea what that even meant.  I asked the previous owner's widow and she couldn't find any probate documentation.  And just to really stick it to me, the NVDC needed the bill of sale to be notarized as well (why didn't they tell me that after the first submission).  At this point I thought I might be reaching a dead end and would have to settle for state registration and give up on federal documentation. Except....

In the last paragraph of the three page Letter of Deficiency there was the following sentence:

Please note if the vessel is state registered or state titled in the name of (Me) you may forgo submitting the above document and submit the state registration to start the chain of title. 

So as a last ditch attempt, I contacted the friend (of the deceased owner) who sold me the boat and asked if he could meet me and re-sign the bill of sale and get it notarized.  He was more than happy to help and we met up at the Hanover NH town hall on an afternoon in late October and had a notary witness our signing. 

The next day, I went to the NH DMV and registered the boat under my name with the bill of sale and paid another fee (~$150).  The clerk at the DMV was confused as to why I would want to register a boat with only a few month left in the year when the boat wasn't even in the water. I just told her it was a legal thing and I had to do it. She really didn't care as long as I paid my money and showed identification.  I went home and uploaded the notarized bill of sale along with the new NH registration on the NVDC site and hit submit thinking that I had probably wasted close to $500 for something that was never going to happen.

Fast forward to January 5th, 2026 and low and behold, I got a real letter in the mail from the NVDC.  Before I opened it, I figured they were just sending me a real letter telling me to stop bothering them and to stop submitting things to them.  However, when I opened it, there was just a single page... The Federal Documentation! No explanation, just the actual document.  Anyway, it's all just silly that the NVDC allowed a state registration to trump everything else even though it really didn't prove anything other than the fact that I drove to the DMV and paid them money, but I'll take it.