wanted: E-23 title. you can keep the boat.

Let me explain.......

Several years ago, my family purchased an Ericson 23 from a local marina that was supposedly repossessed for non payment of slip fees. We were given a bill of sale from the marina at the time of purchase. Unfortunately, nothing was done at the time to complete the sale beyond that point. Now in attempting to clean up this mess, I've learned that the Marina failed to go through the proper legal process to repossess the boat and resell it, though they have the right to do so. The Marina is now under new management. They have refused to clean up a mess from the former management. I have attempted to contact the original owners surviving family myself, only to find that they have moved out of state many, many years ago. I have gotten no response from any of my letters. They obviously have no interest in this boat. I"ve been told by the state that there is no alternative but to attempt to sue the marina. That is hardly worth the expense for such an old boat. So, I'm stuck w/ a boat, that nobody wants, and that the state won't let me title, though my family has been financially responsible for it for 5 years now.

Any advice / alternatives here appreciated, but the easy fix to the problem seems to purchase a clean title to a similar boat that is unsalvageable. This boat is pre 1970, there is not even a serial number engraved on the boat. The only way to identify it is through its registration sticker and state records.

Maybe I'm grasping at straws here, but if anybody knows of anything like this out there, I"d be greatly indebted. This old boat is loved by my family. For sentimental reasons, I'd like to restore it, but without a solution soon, it is probably headed for the dump. Better yet, maybe i should just block the driveway with it to the marina that sold it to us. Maybe then they'll be motivated to figure out who owns it.

Title

When I purchased mine in '85, there was only a DNR registration card involved(current owner signed @ sale) Wi. didn't require a title until I renewed in '90, now I have a title.

Didn't you get a registration card when you bought it? I.E. the bow # card. Sounds like things slipped thru the cracks!!! There has to be a hull I.D.# somewhere on the boat, unless it's a "clone/ericson wanabe".

I have no idea what the "abandonment" laws are there, or anywhere, for that matter. You could always GIVE it to a charity and let them figure it out. Perhaps the "powers that be" would be kinder and more understanding to them! HELL, maybe you could arrange to by it back from them for a token contribution, after they cleaned her all up for you! They must have all sorts of similar experiences!

Good Luck

There's gotta be a way...

My state, Oregon, has a procedure in place to file for a "lost title." I would bet that if you talk to the right (!) person... yours does also.
Lots of small (and some not so small) boats have this problem after going thru multiple owners and multiple decades.

The only interest that the state has is preventing the retitling a stolen boat, whether from TX or any other place. I once had to create a new title for a used boat that we bought in BC Canada. It took several letters with my copy of the bill of sale and the survey to convince our Marine Board that I was the lawful owner. Except for an additional letter or two and some time copying documents, I did not mind... after all, why give crooks a break?


OTOH, you may need to do some research with your state's boat titling agency, and find the applicable law and admin rules(s), and find out just who to talk to that will be helpful rather than officious.

Best of luck,
Loren

There isn't necessarily a hull ID number on the boat. Stern numbers weren't required by law until the mid-70s, and before then somebody at the factory may or may not have written the hull number somewhere on the woodwork as they were assembling a bunch of similar boats. And somebody else may or may not have seen fit to make sure that all the pieces with the same number went on the same boat.

My '69 E32 has "112" written on a few interior pieces but that's it--no molded in hull number anywhere. The rest of the boat's history is in paper records passed down from owner to owner.

Numbers and ownership

It is not unusual for owners of early E23 boats to find the hull number (production number) handwritten somwhere on the backside of a piece of interior wood trim. In fact, some boats have it written on several of the pieces, or even on their edges.

In my state, if a boat has been left over a long period of time, the person/business that has "stored" it has the right to sell it at public auction to the highest bidder to recover some of the storage fees. This is something I researched a few years ago, trying to track down the owner of a boat that had been sitting for several years on its trailer. You have to show proof of a bona-fide attempt to contact the previous owner and proof of posting notice of the auction in several locations. I believe also that the length of abandonment of the boat comes into play. As long as you work through legal channels and clearly are not attempting to claim ownership of something that might be stolen, the authorities are relatively co-operative. I believe you have the right to bid at the auction - certainly one of your friends does .

Before we were married my wife bought two new kayaks; however, only one came with a certificate of origin, which is needed to title the boat in Illinois. She tried getting a replacement from the manufacturer and the store, but no one would help. So she tried to title them any way, several times, and they always got rejected. Three years later I decide to give it a shot and went to the DNR and asked to speak to a watercraft titling supervisor. She explained that those types of things occur all the time and that all we needed to do was write the circumstances down and send it in with the application. I know for a fact that would not work, the clerks would still reject it because there are no exceptions in their minds. However, in our case the supervisor offered to take the application and put it through herself. We now have two titles.

You may want to try and find a sympathetic ear in the bureaucracy and see if you can work with them. Titles are lost all the time and boats resold, this is nothing that they have not dealt with before. It may take some time to work your way up through the system to a decision maker, but I'm sure you will be sucessful.

Good Luck.

I think you need to talk to a lawyer to see how Texas handles such events. Here in Penna. we can get a "Mechanic's Title". This allows say, a towing service that tows a car to it's yard, to assume the title if no one claims the car, or pays the service and storage costs. I'm sure that Texas has something along this line. Might want to talk to your local tow guy, but I'm sure you will end up with a lawyer before it's over.

Good Luck