Hailing Port

[truant2]

We moved full time from Middle River, MD to Hutchinson Island, FL, and brought our 42' documented vessel to FL. We registered it in FL, and changed the hailing port on the transom to our new location. Now I believe I either have to pay a large fee to USCG to officially change the hailing port or change the transom back to Middle River. Am I correct in this assumption?

 

[rslifkin]

Yes, if the boat us USCG documented the hailing port on the transom and the hailing port on the documentation MUST match.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

For one thing, nobody cares and nobody checks.

But.. if you want to officially change your hailing port, just wait until your next renewal comes due for documentation and change the location. I don't remember doing mine but I don't think there was a charge, if there was, it was just a couple bucks.

pete

 

[psneeld]

Yes they do care...not always checked but not good if caught.


The basic form (1258) is $80 fee


from the NVDC website...


HOW DO I CHANGE THE NAME OR HAILING PORT OF MY VESSEL?

The name and/or hailing port may be changed by filing an application for change on form CG-1258 with the appropriate fees. If your vessel is subject to a mortgage of record, you must obtain permission from the mortgagee on form CG-4593.
Top of Page

 

[Shrew]

I assume you checked the USCG registry to make sure you can modify the hailing port? In other words, there is no other documented vessel with the same name in that hailing port already?

 

[Comodave]

They will let you change the hailing port to where you keep the boat now. There is an $80 fee to change it whether you do it now or if you wait until you renew the documentation. So why wait, do it now because your boat is out of compliance and you could get cited. You most likely will get cited if the CG stops you. It is never wrong to be in compliance. The fee is just one of the costs of moving to a new location.

 

[psneeld]

Or like many do...me included...just never change the hailing port because no one but you would care anyhow as long as it is a recreational vessel.

 

[Woodland Hills]

If you think an $80 fee for a boat is a large expense you are in for a rude awakening sometime in the next year or so....... That’s less than an hours worth of a boat techs time.

 

[Frosty]

I assume you checked the USCG registry to make sure you can modify the hailing port? In other words, there is no other documented vessel with the same name in that hailing port already?

I thought that was not true for our recreational US documented vessels? I do understand that some other countries have that stipulation (UK SSR I believe, for example).

 

[denverd0n]

The fee is just one of the costs of moving to a new location.

Minor point of clarification... It does not have to be.


The Coast Guard does not care one little bit if your hailing port matches the location where you are keeping the boat, or not. So you always have to option of just leaving it as it is when you move to a new location.


Of course, in this case, the OP has already repainted his transom. So now he will have to do something.

 

[Comodave]

I don’t believe that I said that you had to change the hailing port just because you moved the boats location. But the hailing port on the documentation should match what is actually on the boat. If he has changed what is on the boat then he must change the documentation in order to be legal.