do boats have to be registered
 

I was just wondering because im buying a boat from someone who bought it second hand. The boat was not registered under the 2nd owners name because he never got around to it also because he lives right at the lake. So what happens if i register this boat and i use the bill of sale the 2nd owner gives me but its last registered to the 1st owner who is long gone.

Not 100 percent sure what you are asking so Ill answer for either way. When you buy a boat there are two things you need to do. First, you need to register and put a license plate on the trailer. The second thing, if the motor is over 9.9 HP you need to make sure it has a pleasure craft number (this is a service Canada thing). You know it has a number if there are 3 inch or bigger letters and numbers off the bow of the boat visible on both sides. If there are these numbers you just have to go to the nearest service canada center and change the ownership. If no numbers, you need to fill out as they had never had the numbers. There is no charge for getting these numbers and there is no harm to the previous owner if he hadn't change ownership. I'd recommend going to the feds website and printing off that application though while you are around the boat. Hopefully this answers your question.

I don't think you need to register anything under 10 HP. If it's over then you just need to fill in a form available online from the Feds and drop by the office in either Edmonton or Calgary and they will assign you a number (not too sure if you can do it online or via mail). I kept the same #s as the oroginal registrant (he's dead) and there was no problem with a hand written bill of sale. Near as I can figure the previous owner never did get the registration in his name before selling to me.

The certificate you get at the end of this process has long been lost so I have no idea how I would prove the numbers on the side of the boat are correct...not too sure who would care either.

In hindsight I wouldn't have bothered with the registration; BC provincial govn't used the Federal registration data to track that a boat registered to a BC address was now registered to an Alberta address and they sent me a letter demanding the provincial tax (taxation is something the BC govn't is good at). They had no idea how much I paid but they knew I owed them something. :mad0100:

Zeke

Any Canadian federal office in a town of more than 10000 people can do this for you. Sadly, can't be done online and not sure on mail. The certificate is to be kept in the boat but I've never been asked for it. The theory is that if people find a capsized boat they can track who owns it. Its nice they don't charge but a bit of a pain as it usually takes some time waiting in line.

i live in grande prairie and im not going anywhere near calgary or edmonton any time soon. can i do this at any license center?

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/c...us/boats.shtml

That's the link for the information you are looking for (if you are talking about the boat and not the trailer).

Suite 100 at the Towne Centre Mall in GP will have a Service Canada centre there. They will be able to accomodate you there.

Kris

Sorry to derail....has ANYONE ever been asked to show your boat license to anyone?

Nope. Never been asked. I've never been asked about the card either though. I suspect there is some politicking going on when feds are trying to get provincial guys to enforce the federal practices... Just my guess mind you.

Kris

The RC's and Warden's were asking at Slave Lake last week. First I've heard of it.

I've heard when you register a boat you keep that registration # for your next boat, like a trailer plate. Got the same issue here, gotta register a boat I've owned for years ( had numbers on the bow) but have no bill of sale anymore. Better check it out soon. :sign0176:

boat licence
 

To clarify, you don't 'register' a boat unless it's over something like 20 tonnes.

You need a 'licence' for anything 10hp and over. The licence is associated with the numbers on the bow of the boat, which DO NOT EVER change. A boat originally licenced in BC and sold to 30 different owners and ending up in NFLD will have the same numbers on it as the day it came off the dealer's lot.

If you don't have the bill of sale they'll likely just look up the last owner on record and if there aren't any claims against it they'll give you a licence as the most recent owner.

Never been asked to show the boat/trailer registry but do recall that I need to carry the trailer registry with me (as in a car registry) at all times while using it.

Only been checked to see if I have all the safety equipments on board, esp # of life jackets per person on board.

Yes boat registry/license thing is free at government place. Go there and they'll ask you which province you like the # for (at least she asked me) and then they'll assign you a number for that province. Take that to the registry and they will assign you that province's license plate for your trailer. Then I went back to my boat stealership and they put the license and make the number for me and stuck it to the bow of my boat on both sides. Quite ugly IMO.

Check out the boating regulations at boaterexam.com or something. I remember they mention about registering/licensing. 9.9hp sounds like right.

This might be of some help to you..

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/s...urecraft.shtml

Hate to revive an old thread but...
 

I am a little confused, I have a PWC (seadoo) that has numbers on the side. I know I need to get those license numbers registered to me through service Canada.

My question is, that doesn't seem to have anything to do with Title. So do I need to register it (like a trailer)? I am in AB, but will be mostly using it in BC.

The numbers on the side are part of a federal registry. They are not the same as what you need for your trailer. You are supposed to register it as part of the federal registry. Hope that helps...

I have been asked, I did not have the numbers on the boat, cause I had just purchased it and had not gotten an opportunity to buy the numbers yet, but I had the form from the gov with the new number with me and all was good.

You can get new numbers for your boat as I recently did that buying a used boat. I wanted alberta numbers as opposed to another province and it was no big deal

I believe the license has to be renewed now every ten years or something.

They charge ya 10 bucks now. And that number stays with the boat no matter how many owners. So if it has a number the actual certificate must be in the boat, if not, you can get a copy.

you mean boat operaters license yes in bc never in alberta? was not aware alberta has boating laws,with the performances i have been wittness to. having worked on and ran a charter boat in bc I fear for my life dealing with the flatland navy. I have not seen or heard of any official presence on alberta water ways.

Personally, every I time am in my boat in BC, I fear for my life, there are times when I actually have my son by my side, just in case i have to toss him overboard. I have not been hit yet, but have come very close many times from some dufus not knowing what the hell they are doing. So you can throw your flatland navy synopsis away or include BC in your scientific studies. As for official presence on the water, you don't have a clue what your talking about

Numbers on the boat
 

Just wondering, does anyone know what you do for numbers on an inflatable type of boat, like a zodiac style, if it has larger than 10hp engine,
and it is deflated at times etc???? The stickers just won't work I believe.
Anyone here have experience with this?

You can get the vinyl 3m stickers. Usually a company can make them up for you. I have a card here somewhere if you were interested, I could try and dig it up if interested. Quite reasonably priced and he can tell you if it will work on an inflatable

Sure, that would be great, I've been running my boat for 3 seasons now without any numbers, and I didn't want to paint numbers, cause of fear of damage to the material. Thanks
BIG JIMMY

register
 

10 HP and over has to be registered. This is why 9.9 became so popular with Johnson and Merc. I have an older Johnson 9.9 which I had bored. It is roughly about a 13.5 hp. I am looking for a 15 hp carb which would boost the 9.9 to roughly around 18 hp but the carbs are pricey, around 250.

Hope that helps

Niceman