A used boat changes hands at a slip, a ramp, or a driveway with a trailer hooked up — not at a dealer desk. The hull identification number on the transom, the number on the title or registration, and the number on the bill of sale are three different strings until someone stands there and reads them. Private-party boat deals go sideways when the lines are already off the cleats and the only record is a listing photo from last season.
This checklist is for U.S. private-party buyers and sellers of a recreational boat or other vessel: a runabout, a sailboat, a pontoon, a fishing boat, a personal watercraft when that craft is titled or registered as a vessel. It is a packing list for the dock. It is general information, not legal advice. Record of Sale is software that helps two private parties assemble a structured sale packet. We are not a DMV, not a state boating agency, not the Coast Guard, not escrow, not a dealer, not a lender, not a marine surveyor, and not a law firm. Stripe charges, if you use the product, are a software fee only. We never hold the purchase funds.
How to shoot an identifier, the paperwork, and the handoff is the photo-evidence checklist. What to keep when the money moves is the payment-proof checklist. If a lender is still named, stop and use the lien-release checklist. Same-state versus out-of-state paper, including a titled trailer, is the interstate title-handoff checklist. A hull is not a car, but the habit is the same as the car sale checklist: match the identifier, read the paper, and do not hand over the keys until those files agree.
Match the HIN on the hull, the title, and the bill of sale
The identifier is the hull identification number on the boat, not the stock number in an ad, not the bow registration numbers, and not a number you remember from the listing. On most boats built for the U.S. market after November 1, 1972, the primary HIN is on the starboard side of the transom. A second HIN is often in a hidden spot. Read the plate you can see. A plate that has been painted over, ground off, or replaced is a reason to pause, not a reason to crop the photo.
- Find the transom HIN. Copy every character onto the bill of sale from the plate, not from memory.
- Read the same HIN on the title, the registration, or the documentation certificate. Year, make, and model — or the builder and length those papers name — should agree with the boat in front of you.
- The modern HIN is twelve characters. If this boat is older and the paper names a different identifier, copy that identifier. Do not invent a twelve-character stand-in so the copies look modern.
- Bow numbers are the state registration number. A documented vessel’s official number is a different string. Neither one is the HIN. Write each on its own line if you record it.
- An engine or outboard serial is not the HIN. Keep it, on its own line, for every engine that is part of the sale.
- A single-character mismatch is a stop. Do not “fix” it by rounding a digit so the three copies match.
Write the HIN in the packet and photograph it. A photo is hard to search six months later. A written line next to a readable photo is the pair you wanted. Keep the unedited original. Do not run the image through a filter that changes a character.
Title and registration, without a state-by-state script
Boat paper is not one national form, and it is not the same form as a car title. Some states title boats. Some register them. Some do both. A Coast Guard documented vessel is a third path. This article does not list filing steps, fees, or form numbers. Those live on the office that actually issues the paper.
State title or registration
Read the document the seller is actually holding before anyone signs it. The front is where the issuing state names the owner, the HIN, and any lienholder. The assignment area — often the back of a title — is where a buyer, a date, and a seller signature usually go. Photograph the whole page so the edges and the lien box are in frame. A tight crop of the HIN alone hides the rest.
Wet-ink is the usual way to assign a paper title. In-app signatures on a Record of Sale packet do not complete that assignment. If the state uses an electronic record, that portal lives on the agency’s site. Whether the seller must file a notice of sale, whether the buyer has a deadline, and whether plates or registration decals stay with the seller are questions for that same site. Confirm them before the boat moves.
A documented vessel
Documentation is a federal record, kept through the U.S. Coast Guard National Vessel Documentation Center. It is not a state title with a different letterhead. A documented boat may still have a state registration requirement. The name, hailing port, and official number on the boat should agree with the certificate you are shown. A bill of sale does not, by itself, change documentation. The transfer steps are on that Coast Guard site. Do not reconstruct them from a forum post.
What this packet is not
A Record of Sale packet can hold copies of the title, the registration card, or the documentation certificate. It does not issue any of them, and no agency has to accept the packet in their place. If the title is lost, still at a lender, or in another person’s name, look up that path before you advertise a same-day handoff.
Clear the lien before the money and before the boat moves
A boat can carry a lender’s interest on a state title, or — on a documented vessel — a preferred mortgage recorded with the documentation office. Those are different records. The practical rule is the same: if a bank, credit union, or finance company is in the deal, you generally cannot complete a clean transfer until that interest is released or the lender is part of the closing.
- Read the lien box, or the mortgage notation, before you talk about a handoff time. A blank box on an old photocopy is a different document from a blank box on the current paper.
- A text that says the loan is paid off is not a release. A payoff quote is not a release. Read the words on the letter you actually have.
- The release should name this HIN — or this official number, on a documented vessel — plus this owner and this lender.
- Do not wire the price, hand over the only keys, or cast off on a release that is “in the mail.”
- Record of Sale does not contact lenders, run a title or documentation search, or file a release. We do not hold purchase funds while someone waits.
What to ask for, which copies to keep, and which steps stay on the lender and the agency site is the lien-release checklist. That note is written for titled vehicles. Use it for the habit, then confirm the boat’s own path on the state site or the documentation office’s site.
Bill of sale fields both sides should keep
A boat bill of sale is the private contract: who sold which hull to whom, for how much, on which date, in what condition, with which trailer and gear. A Record of Sale packet is that contract plus the HIN photo, the title or registration copies, the payment record, and the handoff note. It is not a title, not a registration, and not a Coast Guard form.
Write these fields before anyone signs, and read them against the boat and the paper:
- Legal names of the seller and the buyer. Match the title, registration, or documentation certificate, or bring the authority document that office asks for. If the person on the dock is not the name on the paper, stop.
- A current address and a reachable email for each party.
- Date of the sale, and where the boat is sitting when you sign — slip, ramp, or driveway.
- Year, make, model, and a plain description: length, hull type, and whether the engines are inboard, sterndrive, or outboard.
- HIN, character for character with the transom and the title or registration. Registration number or official number only as its own line.
- Each engine or outboard serial, and the hour-meter reading if a meter is on and readable. Do not convert hours into miles.
- Purchase price, any deposit already paid, and the balance that must clear before the keys or the boat move.
- As-is and where-is. Most private used-boat sales are. No implied warranty unless you actually write one. Record of Sale is not a warranty and not a survey.
- Known damage and non-working items: gelcoat cracks, a soft deck, a leak, a non-running engine, electronics that do not power on.
- What is included, in a list: keys, the title or registration, the trailer, and named electronics. “The boat” is ambiguous. The list is not.
- What is excluded: a spare outboard, a dinghy, a mooring, a slip lease. A slip is a contract with a marina. This bill does not assign it.
- A line that state title, registration, and any Coast Guard documentation steps are separate and are not completed by this bill.
- Both signatures, the same day, on every page that carries a term.
Both parties leave with a copy. If two documents disagree — the bill says one HIN and the title shows another, or the price on the bill is not the amount that moved — fix the writing before you rely on either page.
Photos: HIN, walkaround, engines, trailer, damage, and the dock
A written HIN is necessary. Photos of this boat, on this day, are what make the writing hard to argue with. Shoot them at the handoff, in enough light to read a plate and see a crack. Listing photos stay in the listing.
- HIN plate on the transom, close enough that every character is readable. Glare, a thumb, and a wide shot of the whole boat are the three ways this photo fails.
- Walkaround from the dock or the trailer: bow, stern, and both sides, so a later viewer can tell the profiles belong together.
- Each engine or outboard serial plate. On a twin, photograph both. Do not substitute one serial for the HIN.
- Hour meter, if equipped, with the display on, in the same sequence as the HIN photo.
- The trailer, if it is part of the sale: the frame VIN or serial, both sides, the tires, the winch, and the lights. The trailer plate is not the boat’s HIN.
- Damage you are disclosing — each defect tight, and again wide enough to locate it on this hull.
- Dockside condition the day of the handoff: how the boat sits, what gear is visibly aboard, and the lines if it is still in a slip. A photo of an empty slip after the boat is gone is a different fact.
- Title, registration, or documentation certificate, whole page. Crop sensitive data on any copy you share publicly. Keep the full images in the private packet.
Both parties should leave with the unedited files, not one compressed thread. What to shoot of paperwork, and how to keep a written time zone with the set, is the photo-evidence checklist.
Payment proof to keep
The purchase price moves between the buyer and the seller. Record of Sale does not hold it. A software-fee receipt, if you paid one, is a different charge. It is not proof the boat was paid for.
- The amount on the bill of sale is the amount that moved, including any deposit you write as a split.
- The confirmation, check image, or receipt names who paid, who was paid, when, and this HIN if the memo or note allows it.
- A cashier’s check is worth a call to the issuing bank. A personal check is not a completed sale until it clears.
- Do not hand over the only keys, the title, or the boat on a payment that is still “submitted.”
Wires, cashier’s checks, and app screenshots each leave a different artifact. Which file to keep, and what stays on the bank’s site, is the payment-proof checklist. For a boat, the extra rule is simple: the money file and the HIN have to name the same hull and the same price. If the trailer is a separate price, write that split. Do not bury a trailer in a hull total you cannot reconstruct.
Dockside handoff: who signs, what transfers, who watched
The last set is the one people skip because the buyer already wants the lines off. It is also the set that answers whether the boat had already left. Take it while both parties are still at the dock, the ramp, or the driveway.
Who signs
The seller who can legally transfer, and the buyer, sign the bill of sale the same day. The person who signs a state title or a documentation transfer is the person that office will accept — usually the owner named on the current paper. Do not sign a line you have not read. If a spouse, an heir, or an agent is signing, the authority for that signature is a question for the issuing office, not a line you invent on the dock. An electronic portal, if one exists for private parties, is on the government site.
What transfers with the boat
- Keys, counted against the bill of sale: ignition, cabin, lockers, outboard, and any spare. Photograph them with the boat, or with the HIN written on a note in that set.
- The signed title, registration, or documentation papers the buyer needs to apply for the next record. The seller keeps a full copy before any original leaves.
- The trailer, its keys or hitch lock, and its own title or registration, only if the bill says the trailer is included.
- Electronics you listed: chartplotter, fishfinder, VHF, stereo. Hardware in the photo is not the same thing as a subscription or an account login. Write whether those transfer.
- Anything else you listed as included. If it is not on the list and not in the photos, do not assume it goes with the boat.
Witnesses and the time
- Write the local date, time, and time zone. A 4:00 p.m. handoff in America/Los_Angeles is a different clock than the bank that received the wire.
- If someone else watched the signing, write their name. A name on a note is a witness you can find later. It is not a notary. Some offices require a notarized or acknowledged signature. That requirement is on their form.
- Write who has possession after. “Buyer is taking the boat from the slip today” and “keys handed over, boat stays until Saturday” are different facts.
- Both parties keep the bill of sale, the photos, the payment record, and copies of the title or registration.
Insurance for the trip, and any required safety gear for the waters you are on, is the buyer’s to have in place before they leave. A handshake is not a policy. Record of Sale does not bind coverage and does not certify that the boat is seaworthy.
If the trailer is part of the sale, it has its own identifier
A trailer is often a separate titled vehicle that happens to be towing the boat. Including it in the price does not make its VIN the HIN, and it does not make the boat title into the trailer title.
- Find the trailer VIN or serial on the frame. Copy it onto the bill of sale on its own line. Read it against the trailer title or registration.
- Year, make, and any brand on the trailer title should agree with the trailer in the driveway.
- If a lender is named on the trailer title, clear that lien before the trailer leaves. A boat payoff letter does not release a trailer loan.
- Write whether the trailer plate stays with the seller. That answer is on the motor vehicle agency’s site for the state that issued the plate.
- Photograph the trailer the same day, hitched or staged, so a later viewer can see it belonged with this hull.
Trailer title steps are vehicle steps. The packing list for that paper is the car sale checklist, and the out-of-state version is the interstate title-handoff checklist. Do not paste the boat’s HIN into a car VIN field and call that the hull. A HIN is not a vehicle identification number.
The filing still happens on a government site
Handing over the keys is the private close. The public close is the filing the state — or the Coast Guard, for a documented vessel — still expects. Record of Sale is a private packet only. It does not title the boat, register it, document it, release a lien, surrender decals, or issue a permit.
- Seller: file any notice of sale, release of liability, or documentation transfer the office publishes, on that office’s site, inside the window it publishes.
- Buyer: apply for title, registration, or documentation the way that office describes, and pay the taxes and fees it lists.
- Both: keep copies until the new record issues — and after.
Official forms open on government sites. Security-paper titles stay there. A software product should not pretend to generate them. A sealed SHA-256 hash of a private packet is an integrity mark on the file you assembled. It is not a blockchain title, and no agency has to accept it. In-app signatures do not replace wet ink on the title.
A one-page boat list
Before you meet
- Photo ID, emails, and addresses for both parties
- Title, registration, or documentation certificate in hand — or a documented path if it is lost, electronic, or at a lender
- Lien or mortgage release if a lender is named; price and payment method in writing
- A written list of the trailer, engines, and electronics that are included, and of anything that stays
At the boat
- HIN on the transom, the title or registration, and the bill of sale — character for character
- Engine or outboard serials, and the trailer VIN or serial if the trailer is included
- Title or registration read before anyone signs; walkaround, damage, and dockside condition photographed
- Payment record names this HIN and this price
Before it leaves
- The person who can legally sign has signed; the seller has a copy before any original goes with the buyer
- Keys, documents, trailer, and listed electronics are accounted for
- Local date, time, and time zone are written; a witness name is written if someone else watched
- Payee has confirmed funds, not only a “submitted” screen
- Title, registration, or documentation filings still open on government sites
Start from a packet if you want the slots already laid out
If you would rather not invent the folder on the dock, start a Record of Sale packet. Write the HIN, the year, make, and model, and — if a trailer is included — the trailer’s own VIN or serial, on the bill of sale both parties sign. Keep the transom photo, the engine serials, the title or registration copies, the payment record, and the handoff note in that same file. A boat is not a car: do not paste the HIN into a vehicle VIN field and treat that as a vessel title. The default Full Packet is $49 and is built around photo evidence; there is also a $29 Record of Sale tier and a $79 Interstate Plus tier. See Pricing. The fee is software only. You still move the purchase funds yourselves, still sign the state title, the registration assignment, or the Coast Guard documentation the way that office requires, and still file on government sites.
Read this as a checklist, not as counsel
This article is general information for U.S. private-party sales of boats and other recreational vessels. It is not legal advice, not a DMV or boating-agency filing service, not a Coast Guard documentation filing, not escrow, not a dealer disclosure, not a lender, not a marine survey, and not a law firm. It is not a promise that any state agency or the Coast Guard will accept a private packet in place of an official filing. Title and registration documents often require wet-ink signatures, and those rules vary by state and by how the vessel is recorded. Official forms open on government websites. Confirm the current rules before the keys move and before the boat leaves. Product questions — not title or documentation questions — can go to legal@recordofsale.com.