Applying for a MARAD Waiver

While buying and owning a boat might seem pretty straightforward to you when you are seeking to do it for the first time, you should know that there are many rules and regulations that you need to know to make sure you register your boat correctly. This is especially important when you are getting a ship to use for commercial purposes. Even if you have just a small boat that you are planning to use for your business, regulations set forth by the Jones Act need to be heeded. Otherwise, you risk getting fined or even having your ship impounded or seized. You need to follow the laws, but you should also learn about a MARAD waiver, if you qualify, and what it can do for you.

A Waiver for Small Boats

MARAD stands for the Maritime Administration of the United States. The Jones Act sets forth rules that only ships built in the United States can be used for commerce along coastal waters. This act was put in place as protection for the U.S. manufacturers and the shipping industry. However, a small boat waiver does exist that can allow for foreign-built vessels to be used. Vessels must meet stringent criteria to qualify for an exemption. This includes that the ship must have been constructed in a foreign country, or the origins of the build are unknown.

Criteria for a Waiver

As stated above, your vessel and business must meet the criteria before applying for a MARAD waiver. First, you must be a United States citizen or a U.S. organization. The ship itself must be at least three years old, and its sole purpose can be for carrying passengers. Boats used for fishing, salvage, or other businesses will not qualify. To stay within the “small boat” category, the vessel cannot hold more than twelve passengers when it is in service. If you believe you meet all the criteria involved, you can then apply for a waiver with the Coast Guard. To do this, you must fill out the appropriate application, provide supporting documents, and pay the application fee.

Assistance with the Waiver

Since obtaining a MARAD waiver can be a crucial part of your business, you want to be sure that you fill out everything correctly and the form gets expedited to the Coast Guard as quickly as possible. Here at Vessel Documentation Online, we can help with all of that and so much more. Not only do we offer you easy access to the application so you can fill it out on your computer screen instead of printing it out and mailing it in, but we allow you to upload your supporting documents and use our secure system for your payment information. Once we receive the form, we check it over to make sure there are no mistakes that can slow you down before we send it to the Coast Guard for approval. If you have any questions or need help with the form, you can always phone us at (866) 981-8783, and our staff will be there to help you out.

The Importance of Coast Guard Vessel Documentation and Safety

Coast Guard vessel documentation is important. When you’re in compliance with it, you can go out on your boat with peace of mind. Whether you’re on the water for commercial reasons or recreational ones, you’re free to do as you please. However, no matter what reason you’re on the water, you have to be safe. That’s true during every season, but it’s especially important to keep in mind during the autumn months. Sometimes, it can still feel like summer, and then, very quickly, it can feel like winter. There are some things to keep in mind.

The Air May Be Warm, but the Water May Be Cold

You go out on your boat on a gorgeous late September, early October day. The sky is blue, the air is warm, and the changing color of the leaves is magnificent. You decide to go in the water and — it’s frigid. The truth is that the water can get much colder than you might think, particularly during the fall. Spending just a bit of time in the cold water can lead to serious problems. Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with swimming, but you always want to be wary of hypothermia.

Make Sure You Can Contact the Land

You might read the heading of this paragraph and think: “of course. I have my phone.” But, depending on where you are on the water, you might not be able to get reception. Having an air horn is a must, of course, but there’s nothing wrong with having a VHF radio, either. The truth is that fewer people are out on the water during the autumnal months. It’s even entirely possible that your vessel will be the only one out there. That’s why it’s all the more critical to make a boating plan with someone on land before you go, have your phone as well as alternate methods to contact land if need be.

Remember: Daylight is Fading

There are incredibly gorgeous days during the Fall when you almost have to go out on the water, just to experience them. Keep in mind, though: those days are getting shorter and shorter. Daylight isn’t nearly as long in the fall, and if nightfall catches you by surprise, you wouldn’t be the first boat owner that’s happened to. Having lights on your boat as well as on your person is imperative. But, keeping track of when the sun sets on your body of water is always a good idea for safety, too.

Coast Guard Vessel Documentation During the Winter and Beyond

Many vessel owners take care of their vessel documentation during the winter months. The truth is, for vessel owners that don’t get out on the water during the coldest months, filling out vessel forms can actually be aspirational. It can remind them of warm, wonderful spring and summer months to come. No matter when you decide to fill out your forms, we can make it easier right at our site. For more: (866) 981-8783.

Our Vessel Documentation Service Makes Life Easier

Paperwork can feel like the bane of our existence today. Even though we live in what is called the “Electronic Age,” everywhere you turn, you get more paperwork that you need to fill out, type up, and send to someone or somewhere. Not only does all this take time and effort, but a lot of what you need to do can be confusing or hard to understand. Boat documentation and registration definitely falls into this category. Ask any current boat owner what they think about the process, and they likely have some horror story about dealing with the Coast Guard. If you do not want to struggle with paperwork with the Coast Guard, here at Vessel Documentation Online, we have created a vessel documentation service that will make your life better.

Avoid Documentation Mistakes

When you make use of our service, it will be much easier for you to avoid registration mistakes that can cost you time and money. One of the issues many people have with the Coast Guard process is that it can be challenging to understand the applications and what is required. This confusion leads to mistakes being made or omissions on the application. When the Coast Guard receives something that has errors or omissions, they send it back to you so you can begin the process again. This can quickly lead to frustration on your part. When you use our service, we have professionals on staff that will look at your forms before we send them to the Coast Guard. This eliminates the potential for mistakes that can slow the process.

A Secure Service

Security is something that is paramount to everyone today. Mailing your personal information and payment data to the Coast Guard can put things at risk. Your letter can get lost in the mail or stolen, potentially leading to identity theft and fraud. Our vessel documentation service security system at Vessel Documentation Online is designed to put your mind at ease. We offer all applications in electronic versions so you can fill out everything on your computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. We use the latest encryption technology to keep your information secure from start to finish, so you never have to worry about your paperwork.

Give Our Service a Try

If you are buying a boat for the first time or you are a veteran owner that needs to do something with your boat registration, make use of our vessel documentation service here at Vessel Documentation Online. You will see that we offer you the safest and most efficient way to take care of all your paperwork going to the Coast Guard. Head to our website today so you can get started with what you need. If you have any questions or need assistance with something, do not hesitate to phone us at (866) 981-8783. You can speak with a member of our staff and get the help you need so you can accomplish your goals and spend more time enjoying your boat.

Get Your USCG Vessel Renewal Done Fast

When you first purchased your boat last year, the excitement of getting out into the water may have been the only thing you thought about. You had everything in place with your paperwork, equipment, and safety protocols, and all you worried about was how much time you could spend with friends and family using your vessel. Now that the first year is almost up and you have accomplished many of your goals, you do not want to get lost in the excitement and forget what you need to do to keep your boat in the water legally. If you went through the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and got your vessel documented and registered, you will need to renew registration now. Here at Vessel Documentation Online, we can help you get your USCG vessel renewal done fast.

Renewal Happens Every Year

Once you register with the USCG, if you want to keep your boat federally registered, you will need to file renewal paperwork each year. Much like you need to do for your automobile, motorcycle, or another vehicle, registration is required. If you allow it to lapse and continue to take your boat out, you run the risk of getting caught operating without valid certification. You can receive fines for this that can cost you hundreds of dollars. Worse, repeated offenses can lead you to have your boat impounded. It makes much more sense for you to do what you can to file your paperwork each year and save yourself from potential headaches.

We Take Care of Renewal

At Vessel Documentation Online, we have set it up, so your USCG vessel renewal is no problem for you at all. We offer the renewal application in electronic form on our website. All you need to do is: fill in your boating information, personal information, payment information, and we take care of the rest for you. You can transmit it all to us in just a few minutes, and our system is secure, so you have nothing to worry about. We send your form on to the USCG for you, so you have nothing to think about except when you get your renewal in the mail. We can even set things up with you, so your renewal is handled automatically for up to five years, so you never have to think about it all.

File for Renewal Today

If you know you are due for USCG vessel registration renewal, head over to our site at Vessel Documentation Online so you can take care of it quickly. You can fill out everything and have it sent in no time at all. Our professional staff will check it over before we pass it to the Coast Guard so you do not have to worry about any mistakes that might cause delays. You can save time and money with the help of our website. That way, you can just keep enjoying your boat with family and friends without fretting about paperwork.

Getting Onto the Coast Guard Vessel Registry for Busy Professionals

Have you been procrastinating on taking care of your vessel documentation? Does it seem practically impossible to fit “getting onto the Coast Guard vessel registry” into your busy schedule? If so, you aren’t alone. You have work, your family life, your commute, and anything else going on in your life vs. filling out vessel documentation. Of course, the former is going to be the priority at all times. As busy vessel owners ourselves, we know how hard it can be to fit everything in. That’s why we made a site where completing vessel documentation can be done quickly and easily.

Initial Documentation (and Renewal) in Just Minutes

We know how it’s somewhat less than fun to fill out vessel documentation forms (to use an understatement). That’s why we’ve laid out our forms in such a way so that you can fill them out quickly. To use our “Initial Registration” form as an example, click on it, and you’ll find that there are only three steps. Then, you’ll get the “small print” that you need to know. However, we understand that you really need to know it, so we’ve put it in all capital letters. Then, we’ve marked the parts you need to complete with an asterisk. In seconds, you have all of the info you need to fill out the forms, which you can do in just a few minutes.

Re-Upping for Years to Come

One of the most annoying parts about your vessel registration is that you need to renew it year after year. It’s not like you can take a year off – you’ll lose your documentation. We wanted to make that easier for vessel owners, too. So, you can actually renew your vessel documentation for years to come. Instead of having to do it year after year, you can actually renew it for up to five years. That way, you have one less thing to worry about. We can help you get onto the Registry faster, and we can help you to stay on there easier, too.

Better than “Spell Check” – Document Processors

You can run a “spell check,” you can read everything out loud as you type, and yet, there might still be errors. Unfortunately, they might be the kinds of errors that get your forms returned to you. That’s why we employ the best document processors in the business. They’ll go through your forms just as meticulously (if not more so) than the Coast Guard will. That way, they can catch errors before your forms move on.

Someone At Your Side

Have you ever sat down to work on your vessel documentation and thought: “I wish someone would help me with this?” Perfectly understandable. That’s just one of the reasons we have a helpful staff who’s ready to step in. You can email us or give us a call. We can answer the questions you might have about these forms and even walk you through them. For more: (866) 981-8783.

An NVDC Vessel Search Can Help You

The last time you and your family were driving out to the beach or down past the marina, you saw a boat that you fell in love with right away. Everything about it from the outside seemed perfect to you, and you could not help but notice the prominent ‘For Sale’ sign that was posted on the vessel. Finally, your curiosity got the better of you and you copied down the phone number. When you contacted the owner, you found the asking price was affordable to you, and the temptation to just pull the trigger without knowing anything else was strong. Before you rush into anything that is a large purchase like this, you want to be sure it is the best deal for you. Taking the time to find more information is helpful and conducting an NVDC vessel search can be the best first step to take.

What is an NVDC Search?

NVDC stands for the National Vessel Documentation Center. This is the division of the Coast Guard responsible for handling the certification and federal registration of commercial and recreational boats in the United States. The NVDC keeps a database that includes pertinent information regarding every ship that is registered. This list is available to the public so that you can look for boats you know of or have an interest in. That way, you can find out more details about them.  Using this database can be extremely helpful to you before you buy anything.

Conducting a Search

There is some information you will need before you can conduct an NVDC vessel search. First, you need to know the name of the boat or have its documentation number. The owner may provide you with the documentation number if there is one. You then must find a website that offers the search engine of the database. If you only have the name of the boat, you may get several results since some ships use the same name. You can look at the results and find out when the vessel was built, what type of engine it has, how big it is, when it was last registered and much more.

When You Own a Vessel

If after your NVDC vessel search, you decide to buy the boat – congratulations! You are now a boat owner! You can now make use of the services we offer here at Vessel Documentation Online. We provide owners like yourself all the forms you may need to send or file with the Coast Guard and the NVDC electronically so you can fill things out faster and transmit them to us. We have experienced professionals here to look submissions over to make sure no mistakes exist that can impede processing. We then send everything to the Coast Guard for you. All you need to do is sit back and wait for the arrival of what you need so that you can get out there on your boat with your family.

A Fresh Start With the Release of Mortgage Online Form

There’s an old saying: “the two best days in boat ownership are the day you buy the boat and the day you sell it.” That might be a bit harsh, but the logic is sound. The idea is that those are the two days that you have the most to look forward to, the most to dream about. When you purchase a boat, you can see everything in front of you: spending time on it with your family and friends, warm days and nights, or even making money with it if you’re going to use it in a commercial capacity. Perhaps ironically, the same goes for the day you sell your boat, too. You can dream easily then, too. To do so, it may require a “Release of Mortgage form.” We can help with any vessel documentation online.

Purpose of the Release of Mortgage Form

If you’re like many vessel owners out there, you have a mortgage on your boat. There’s nothing wrong with that. Indeed, it’s great – it’s how so many can enjoy the boat of their dreams. That mortgage, of course, is a lien. It’s a payment that has to be made over time. This form, then, is a way to show the Coast Guard as well as anyone else that you’ve paid off the mortgage. Instead of them having to take your word for it, this form can show that you’ve definitively paid off the mortgage.

Why You Need It

Simply put, if you don’t complete this form before you sell your vessel, there could be fines. Selling a vessel to someone with liens on it is a terrible idea. Vessel owners have been fined thousands of dollars for failing to live up to their contractual obligations. Moreover, even if you do somehow go through with a sale, the next owner will struggle to get Coast Guard documentation. This can lead to legal issues and worse. The truth is that the best course of action is to pay off the mortgage and then fill out this form.

An Easy Way to Get It

The good news is that this form isn’t hard to find. In fact, we have it right here at our site. You can fill it out anywhere, so long as you have an internet connection. Just click on “Satisfaction/Release of Mortgage/Lien” and then just fill in the blanks. Many of our vessel owners do this in one sitting, but you can also spread it out throughout the course of the day, too. That way, you can better fit filling out these forms into your schedule.

All of the Other Forms You’ll Need With Your Boat

If you have completed this form before selling your boat, if you’re like most vessel owners, you can’t wait to get your next boat. When you do, we’ll have all of the forms you need to stay in compliance with the Coast Guard. Our staff is happy to answer any questions you might have, too. For more: (866) 981-8783.

The Fastest Way to Process Your Coast Guard Documentation

Are you tired of waiting for your Coast Guard documentation to get processed? Does it feel like you spend so much time laboriously filling out forms only to have to wait and wait for you to get the documentation you need? We felt the same way. Those are major reasons why we started our online vessel documentation site. Here, we make it possible to fill out the Coast Guard forms you need and get back the proper documentation faster.

Completed Forms in Minutes

Really, that’s how long it takes to fill out our Coast Guard forms: minutes. Click on any of the forms on our site and then fill out what you have to. You’ll note that some of the questions have a little asterisk next to them. Those are the ones you absolutely must fill out. The others you can fill out, but you aren’t required to do so. Halfway through one of the pages and feeling like you want to give up? That’s OK, you can come back later. But, to see how close you are to the end, just look to the top: they’ll be a bar letting you know how far you’ve gone as well as how much is left. Many of these forms have only one to three steps, so you’re never far from the end.

Fastest Processing of Coast Guard Documentation

If you go to our home page, you will see at the very top it says: “The Nation’s Fastest U.S. Coast Guard Online Processing Firm.” We didn’t leave any wiggle room or space for interpretation. We didn’t write “one of the nation’s fastest U.S. Coast Guard online processing firms,” or “among the nation’s fastest U.S. Coast Guard online processing firms.” Instead, we made a bold, declarative statement about how we are the absolute, A-number one fastest. For us to say that we have to back it up. If you look at our site and our track record, you’ll see that we stand by our statement.

Rush Processing Where Applicable

Our regular service makes sure that your forms are processed quickly. However, we understand that there are some vessel owners who need to get their forms back even faster. They’re willing to do what it takes to go to the front of the line. To that end, with some forms, we offer a “rush processing” option. There, you can put your forms at the top of the queue, thus getting them back that much faster.

Help Every Step of the Way

For many vessel owners, what slows down their documentation isn’t the Coast Guard but rather the forms themselves. To help with that, we employ a staff of knowledgeable, experienced professionals. They’re more than glad to answer any questions you may have about the forms, even walking you through them, step by step. No one should have to wait for their documentation to get back to them. You can expedite the process by using our site or calling (866) 981-8783.