(a)  No person shall operate a vessel on the waters of this state for which a certificate of title is required, without having the certificate of title.

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(b)  No person shall fail to surrender or otherwise dispose of a vessel for which a certificate of title is required without delivering to the purchaser or transferee a certificate of title, or a manufacturer’s or importer’s statement of origin, or master carpenter’s certificate as required by this chapter.

(c)  No person shall fail to surrender to the department any certificate of title upon cancellation of the certificate of title by the department for any valid reason set forth in this chapter or regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

(d)  No person shall steal, mutilate, destroy, alter, forge, counterfeit, or falsify any certificate of title or a manufacturer’s statement of origin or importer’s or master carpenter’s certificate to a vessel.

(e)  No person shall alter or falsify any assignment of a certificate of title, or an assignment or cancellation of a security interest on a certificate of title to a vessel.

(f)  No person shall hold or use a certificate of title to a vessel nor hold assignment or cancellation of a security interest on a certificate of title to a vessel knowing the certificate of title to have been stolen, mutilated, destroyed, altered, forged, counterfeit, or falsified.

(g)  No person shall use a false or fictitious name or address, or make any material false statement, or conceal any material fact in an application for a certificate of title, or in a bill of sale or sworn statement.

(h)  No person shall procure or attempt to procure a certificate of title to a vessel, or pass or attempt to pass a certificate of title or any assignment thereof to a vessel knowing or having knowledge or having reason to believe that the vessel has been stolen.

(i)  No person shall have possession of, buy, receive, sell, or offer for sale, or otherwise dispose of a vessel on which the manufacturer’s or assigned hull identification number has been removed, destroyed, covered, altered, or defaced, knowing of the destruction, removal, covering, alteration or defacement.

(j)  No person shall destroy, remove, cover, alter or deface the manufacturer’s or assigned hull identification number on any vessel.

(k)  No person shall possess, buy, sell, exchange or give away the certificate of title to a vessel which is abandoned, junked, salvaged, or destroyed.

(l)  Any person who applies for a certificate of title for a homemade vessel, and who is assigned a state assigned hull identification number to the vessel shall permanently affix the number in accordance with this chapter and/or regulations under the federal Boat Safety Act of 1971, 46 U.S.C. § 1451 et seq. Failure of the vessel owner to affix the state assigned hull number to his or her vessel shall be a violation of this chapter.

(m) Penalties.  Any person convicted of violating any provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of up to five hundred dollars ($500), and/or a sentence of one year imprisonment, or both.