Certificate for Deletion of Vessel Documentation

[EllanVannin]

Hi All

Hopefully someone from the US may be able to help me on this one. We purchased our yacht in New Zealand from a NZ citizen, who had purchased it from a US citizen who sailed it here.

In order to document our vessel here in NZ before departing the country we must obtain a copy of a Certificate of Deletion (or its equivilent) from the US.

I have trolled the forum and got the links through to the USCG, so I have searched and the yacht is no longer on the database which makes sense as it has been in NZ for at least 4 years that we know of. I can just make out on the hull the original name and port of origin, but no serial numbers etc. (Yacht had a name change with last owner) The vendor we bought off has no information from the US owner.

Does anyone know how I would go about obtaining the documentation required? I have read the FAQ's on the USCG National Vessel Documentation Center website and not found anything for a retrospective search. From that website I gather the owner must apply in writing for a certificate of deletion ($15.00) but I can't ascertain a way for me to get a copy if one exists.

Help......please

Thanks in advance Clare

[bobsadler]

I'm a NZ'er who bought a boat in the US and had it deleted from the US registry. There are two forms of evidence of deletion.

The first is simply a photocopy the original USCG "Certificate of Documentation" stamped with "DELETE" and signed by the issuing USCG documentation officer as a "true copy".

The second, which may be more useful to you is a letter, issued by the USCG, entitled "Evidence of Deletion from United States Documentation". This letter states "The records maintained by this office indicate that the vessel named above was deleted from documentation on 12 December 2007").

The USCG Documentation not only has the vessel name recorded but, amongst other things: the "hailing port" (i.e. port of registration), the "IMO or other number" (in my boat's case this was the manufacturer's hull number) and the names of the US documented owners.

I found the USCG Documentation Center easy to deal with and if you supply them with as much info as possible that may well be able to track down your vessel in their records.

They apparently maintain files on "deleted" vessels (tho these won't show on the internet accessible database.

[EllanVannin]

Fantastic thanks for that! Great to hear it is possible. I will contact them with all I got and see how it goes.

Really appreciate your input:-)

[UWOA]

Originally Posted by EllanVannin

Hi All

Hopefully someone from the US may be able to help me on this one. We purchased our yacht in New Zealand from a NZ citizen, who had purchased it from a US citizen who sailed it here.

In order to document our vessel here in NZ before departing the country we must obtain a copy of a Certificate of Deletion (or its equivilent) from the US.

I have trolled the forum and got the links through to the USCG, so I have searched and the yacht is no longer on the database which makes sense as it has been in NZ for at least 4 years that we know of. I can just make out on the hull the original name and port of origin, but no serial numbers etc. (Yacht had a name change with last owner) The vendor we bought off has no information from the US owner.

Does anyone know how I would go about obtaining the documentation required? I have read the FAQ's on the USCG National Vessel Documentation Center website and not found anything for a retrospective search. From that website I gather the owner must apply in writing for a certificate of deletion ($15.00) but I can't ascertain a way for me to get a copy if one exists.

Help......please

Thanks in advance Clare

Item 2 - Registration / Documentation:
Registration or Documentation papers must be on board and available. Documentation numbers must be permanently marked on a visible part of the interior structure. The documented boat's name and hailing port must be displayed on the exterior hull in letters not less than 4 inches in height. To be documented a boat must be 5 net tons or greater.

[EllanVannin]

Thanks for that info.

Have identified the original name which is vaguely visible still on the hull and a portion of the port of origin.


The only numbers inside the hull that we have found are the Beneteau Beureau Veritas serial number and hull number.

Will try USCG with that and see where we get too.

Thanks for your help :-)

[bobsadler]

One more thought: if the boat was imported into NZ then NZ Customs will almost certainly have records on her as duty would have had to have been paid. Since the importing owner was an American it's like the boat was USCG registered and that documentation may have been presented to NZ Customs.

Couldn't hurt to ask them.

[EllanVannin]

Yes, Bob - Good thinking I will follow that avenue up on Monday.

Many Thanks

[bobsadler]

Let us know how you get on