Purchasing a boat can be an exciting time in your life. The prospect of setting sail on the open water, and the newfound feeling of freedom that you’ll experience, are unmatched pleasures in life. As you’ve no doubt shopped around, you’ve learned that a boat is a major investment, and as such there is a booming used market. With many dealers and private sellers offering pre-owned boats, it’s important that you do your homework. You want to be aware of any encumbrances or past structural damage, and if the boat you’re looking at is in the vessel registry, you can get this information by acquiring transcripts and/or historical research.
How You Can Get Started
While not every vessel requires registration in Canada, you’ll find that many owners choose this option for recreational boats, as it’s a boon to financing, insurance, and safety needs. Having a vessel documented also allows for eased foreign travel, and many owners get for this reason. As Transport Canada keeps a registry of documented vessels, you’ll be able to search out the boat you’re looking at. Whether you’re interested in getting historical research, or the transcripts belonging to a registered vessel, you will need the name of the boat as well as its registration number.
What Information Can You Find Out?
Typically, a transcript for a vessel will provide general information on a vessel and its transactions. You should note that this cannot be obtained online for vessels in the small vessel registry, which also doesn’t allow for mortgages or assignments. Historical research, which provides information from the Ship Registration Computer System Database going back to 1984, as well as microfilm if the vessel was registered prior to that. These tools allow you to learn about a boat’s past, its mortgages or liens, as well as damage that may have taken place.
Let Us Help You Learn about Your Potential Purchase
If you’ve got your eye on the vessel of your dreams, but you want to make an informed purchase, Canadian Vessel Registry Center can help. Take a moment and explore our Transcripts and Historical Research pages. You’ll see that if you have the vessel’s registry number, name, as well as some other basic information, we can help you perform the background search that you need to be confident in your investment.