Forgotten Boats

[AislinGirlII]

Our first boat was a marina orphan around 2002. I think it was the first one the marina had ever gone thru the seizure/sale process with. To my knowledge it was the only one they did back then due to the length and problems of the process. Even tho we had all the paperwork from the process and a bill of sale from the marina it was a headache getting it registered too.

[brackish]

Fairly sure the process is simple in MS.  Boats are generally not titled

Registration Requirements - Registration is required on all  motorized boats and sailboats. Coast Guard documented boats are exempt from registration. Boat registration certificates renew every three years.
Title Requirements - Boat titling is optional in Mississippi except for Coast Guard documented vessels which may not be titled.

I have to sign a two page contract with my marina which has clauses for non payment of debt and abandonment.  As I understand it if the marina is owed money they go to the county courthouse, get a judgement against the owner for the amount of the debt, have the county sheriff's department deliver the judgement or if not available it is published in the paper, then in the stated time period, they can seize and dispose of the boat.

That said, there are about fifteen sailboats at my marina.  Four of them have not left the dock in 3 years and are in a state of serious neglect.  Somebody is paying, based on their average length, an average of $135/month to have them sit there.  A couple of them are currently not worth their annual dock fee.

[Saluki86]

I could have written Archimedes post.....

I too have wondered the same thing about derelict boats. At my home marina, I often walk around and look at the 100-some odd boats in wet slips.  I would estimate that there are a dozen with registration tags 5 yrs old and some that havent been registered in 8-10 yr range. They are dirty, hatches leaking, sheets rotted, etc.   Who continues to pay the slip fees?  Is there some big tax advantage to having a derelict boat or something that I am missing?  And like Archimedes, the marina doesn't seem to care.  Just always a little curious to me.  I can understand perhaps a year or 2 with perhaps job chances or health issues or whatever but a decade??

[archimedes]

I was curious about this so I actually went and asked at the marina office.  They told me that all the boats were actually paid up.  Unbelievable?  If you could see some of these boats,  they have not been attended to in years.  And here in FL the climate takes it's toll quickly on unattended boats. 

Apparently some people are have a hard time letting go of the dream,  even if they never actually set foot on the boat.  But, at least according to the woman at the marina office,  the slip fees keep being paid.

Boaters a strange people.