08/13/2024
Boat Buying 101 - Letter to CA DMV Dept Head & CA Governor:
I have had three phone calls since yesterday with respect to the attached letter received by vessel owners (I have redacted owner info). Please help me get to the correct person who authorized of this. Vessel HIN guidelines may have gone into effect in 1972; however, most vessel manufacturers did not fully comply until the late 70s at best. More like the early 80s. Also, the DMV directly issues Hull Numbers that do not conform to the set standards. Especially if a boat is coming out of USCG Documentation and going into DMV registration – the DMV will issue the Official Number as the Hull Number.
Where is the personnel going to come from that is going to handle ALL the boats that have 30 days to become ‘compliant’ when California is in a budget deficit and overtime for DMV employees is not allowed. According to the attached letter sent out to what I can only presume are THOUSANDS of vessel owners, DMV is going to reissue ‘compliant’ hull numbers with new registrations and titles to all of the ‘non-conformers’?
Also, foreign built boats do not have to comply with US Hull Numbering standards, although most do.
Please tell me who was responsible for this complete waste of Taxpayer funds, I would be more than happy to speak with them.
