If you have been thinking about buying a boat, there has never been a better time than now. There are still plenty of warm Canadian days left in the season for you to get out on the lake with your friends, family, and loved ones. Buying a boat, though, is not typically a decision that is arrived at lightly, and this is due to a couple of factors. For one, there are a wide variety of different boats on the market that are available for purchase, and you will need to determine what best suits your needs. For instance, do you just need a small fishing vessel, or are you looking for a larger, more luxurious boat? The other factor that you will need to contend with is price. Even at the floor level, boats can be expensive, and on the higher end there really are no price limits. With this in mind, it is often worth exploring the secondary market, as there are certainly great deals to be found. Regardless of what you choose to purchase, though, you may also need to fill out an application for a pleasure craft license (PCL) before you start making waves.
When you buy a boat, you can potentially give yourself a new lifelong hobby. You are also, however, inheriting a fair amount of responsibility. Even small boats can be dangerous when improperly operated, so you need to have a baseline level of competency for safe sailing. One way you can get started is by obtaining a boating license, which is officially called a pleasure craft operator card (PCOC). You can get your PCOC by taking a basic educational course and completing an exam. You may also need a boat license, which applies to your vessel itself. This document is officially known as a pleasure craft license, and you can work with an online service such as ours to get yours over the web.
What is an Application for a Pleasure Craft Licence?
So, how do you know if your boat needs a PCL? Well, the rules here are fairly straightforward: if your boat is used for leisure purposes and it has an engine of 7.5 kW or more, it will need a license. Any boat can obtain a PCL, though, and many boat owners enjoy the peace of mind they afford. The reason for this is that a PCL will assign your boat a registration number that must be displayed in characters of at least three inches in height on both sides of your boat’s bow. This can greatly aid authorities in locating your boat in the event that it goes missing or is stolen.
You can apply for your PCL using our simplified web forms. Simply select the PCL option from our navigation menu and you can complete your application with just a few clicks.
Use Our Web Forms Today
No matter what sort of Transport Canada documentation your vessel needs, we can help. Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page to learn a bit more about our services. You can also explore our site to get a feel for our forms.
