I just gotta say.....
The DMV is one seriously
operation when it comes to registering a personal pontoon boat for use with an electric motor.
I ended up with THREE different stories from three different ladies. The first two just couldn't grasp the concept that these inflatable pontoon boats don't have a title and kept telling me I needed to produce a bill of sale so they would know how much to charge me for property taxes. The third lady seemed to have some experience with this so she took over. She walked outside with me to "inspect" the "hull identification number"(HIN) and when I told her these little boats don't have HIN's she just seemed perplexed. Finally she understood that she needed to assign a new HIN to this boat and assign it a set of registration numbers.
After an eternity of confusion and delay I finally got the stuff I need so I can run a small electric motor on my pontoon. Oh yeah, and it cost me
$55.00 to do it. What a joke this state's taxes are. It cost's as much to register an inflatable boat with a value of $500 as it does to register a full size ski boat.
What has been the experiences of other BFT'ers when getting this done?
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Your story sounds very familiar to what several others have reported on here over the past couple of years.
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I'll add my story as well. 15' canoe, with 2 HP gas motor, DMV wants property tax of $91 to register. I only paid $500 for the stupid thing 5 years ago. Its manual propulsion for now.
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i had almost the same story with my pontoon. but the way i look at it is, when you turn your trolling motor on. it is worth every penny.
just my 2 cents worth. after the first year, the renewal price drops at least half.
later [cool]
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Been there had that done to me,almost got arrested when I raised my voice a little.Finally told them that if they could not register it,I would just tell the park rangers that.Once you get it licensed,they will send you the right paperwork each year.It is a tax rip off[
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I agree!! $137 to register a 2005 Cheve truck and $230 to register a 2003 Triton bass boat.... Go figure??
What gets me is a cop must have probable cause or at least reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed or about to be committed before he can stop a vehicle. But you can be stopped anytime for a boat inspection regardless of whether or not there is reasonable suspicion of a violation. Now there is drivers license requirements & insurance requirements. The point is: If they want to treat boats the same as motor vehicles then the driver/owner should have the same expectation of privacy that they would have in a motor vehicle.
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Interesting subject : here a law pertaining to it.
first congress 1789, section 1, chapter 8, page 52; articles of confederstion, actticle 4-3-1,1781;mc38, title 18, section 241,242,,USC title 42, section 1983, 1985, 1986, to unhampered use of all navigable waters and all Common highways,roadways and btways, which are used for transport, either private, public or commerce,anywhere in these United States. Said vehicle-operator is sworn in obediance to protection of the Constitution for the United states and may only be detained only upon sworn complaint of an injured party as per the bill of rights,Article 4.
Does any one know if this law still stands or was it taken out of the bill of rights and Constitution by now. You know the whole home land security thingy, Just wondering.
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I have some sympathy for you, let me tell you my experience. I returned from Michigan, after my dad passed away lat October, with his 12 foot aluminum boat with a trolling motor. Since purchased a 4hp motor. I went to the DMV to register it and boy was I in for a rude awakening. In Michigan they do not title boats, but luckily I had already changed over the Michigan registration into my name. Thinking this was goig to be a piece of cake, I got up to the window and because my boat did not have a HIN # on it the lady told me I was going to have to have it inspected by an officer. My thought was okay, I am golden because I am a state park officer. I asked the lady then if I could do it myself and she said no. Damn it. I got the necessary paperwork and went home and filled it out and called a Roy City police officer. He shows up at my house and tells me that they don't need a HIN #. I explained to him the laws on boats and who I was and would he please just sign this stupid piece of paper. He did. I then return to the DMV and had to wait for 20 min. to be helped and then I didn't get the same girl and had to explain everything to the new girl. After about 15 min. of explanation I finally was able to register the boat. This whole process took me about 1 - 2 hours so with this I now can sympathize with all of you when you have to go through this.
I am actually surprised that she even knew that the pontoon boat even had to be registered. I hear that alot from guys who put a motor on a pontoon that the DMV said they don't have to be registered.
Jeff
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I've put on here before that all you have to do is ask me and I'll get you numbers, fees, info on what you have to do and I'll get it done. True, the CSR's at the DMV are not rocket scientists and neither am I but I am the support for these guys and all I can say in their defense is that sometimes info that gets hashed out at managers meetings doesn't trickle all the way down to the employees at the counter. If you have any questions, just have them call "Branch Support" or shoot me an email and I'll do what I can to make the process as painless as possible for you... the only thing I can't do is take the pain out of your pocketbook. [cool]
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