Documentation trouble

[kthoennes]

... They're not supposed to give you a title, however they do because they have no clue what the US Coast Guard is about and what the US Coast Guard does. New Jersey gave me something that seems like a title ,maybe it's not but just looks like one, and I told him they're not supposed to .....they really don't care.

Yep, what he said. I'll bet 99% of the Fish Game and Parks officers who enforce state boat laws at our marina don't even know what federal documentation is. I keep waiting for a ticket for failure to display my state numbers but they haven't cited me yet. And my banker might be very friendly and helpful and she knows banking and lending very well, but I'll bet she doesn't have the foggiest idea what the CG really does or what federal documentation is all about. Parallel universe. And if psneeld runs into that in New Jersey, where salt water actually breaks on the state shores, then certainly nobody on the prairie, about as far as you can possibly get on the North American continent from ocean water, will have any idea what federal documentation means.

Heck, when I registered -- and titled -- my 10' inflatable dingy here because it had a motor, the DMV clerk (well, county treasurer clerk here) refused the registration at first, didn't think inflatables had to be registered or titled. Then a supervisor told him to take it, then I got a refund in the mail from the state capitol a few weeks later because they said it didn't need to be registered or titled since it was something I could (theoretically) blow up with my lungs -- so back to the treasurer's office I go because I don't want a ticket from F&G as I motor around the river in my 4HP dingy. And here's a kicker -- as a way to control the spread of zebra mussels, the state has now created what they call a "local registration" where they'll waive mussel inspections if your boat is used exclusively on a single body of water. Another sticker, two state registrations, a state title (legitimate or not), a certificate of federal documentation, then of course there's my MMSI number and my FCC ship station license and...

Of course my documentation certificate has me at 21 tons when in fact the boat is 21,000 pounds bone dry and empty, and they have my draft at 7 feet when it's almost precisely half that, but I've written them twice and the letters simply disappeared so I've given up. Makes me feel more manly to have a 21 ton boat anyway.

 

[psneeld]

Documentation tonnage and disacement eweight are 2 different things.


USCG tonnage is a number based on cargo volume.... ( Simple explanation)

 

[kthoennes]

Documentation tonnage and disacement eweight are 2 different things.

USCG tonnage is a number based on cargo volume.... ( Simple explanation)

True, but either way not close. I even sent them this form when I asked for a correction: https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/...e/CG-5397_10-17.pdf?ver=2017-11-15-070703-783

...and by the vessel gross tonnage calculators I've seen I still don't get 21 (46 CFR 69 Subpart E, simplified measurement) but oh well. But then tonnage calculation on odd shaped things like recreational boats with flybridges and steps and multiple levels (where I really can't use the rubrail as a nice horizontal boundary for hull height ("depth") like say a Boston Whaler) is slippery I know. Who knows, maybe they got that tonnage from Mainship and it is right.

Uh oh, major thread drift.

 

[slowgoesit]

Wow! This thread is more amusing than watching NetFlix!

 

[BandB]

True, but either way not close. I even sent them this form when I asked for a correction: https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/...e/CG-5397_10-17.pdf?ver=2017-11-15-070703-783

...and by the vessel gross tonnage calculators I've seen I still don't get 21 (46 CFR 69 Subpart E, simplified measurement) but oh well. But then tonnage calculation on odd shaped things like recreational boats with flybridges and steps and multiple levels (where I really can't use the rubrail as a nice horizontal boundary for hull height ("depth") like say a Boston Whaler) is slippery I know. Who knows, maybe they got that tonnage from Mainship and it is right.

Uh oh, major thread drift.

21 tons GRT sounds reasonable to me. Factor S would be .67, K would be 1, L around 34', B around 12', D around 6.5'. Taking those would give you .67*1*34*12*6.5 so that's very close to 18 without even adding the deckhouse. The deckhouse maybe 10*8*6 would be nearly 5 so I come up with around 23 just guessing.