Buying a Boat from Tennessee

[genevatexan]

:?: All, I am about to buy a boat from a guy in Tennessee. He tells me that neither the boat, nor the trailer have a title and that all I need is a bill of sale, which can be augmented with an MSO if available, and a trailer registration. He also tells me no trailers have license plates in Tennessee. This all sounds shaky to me, can someone please comment tonight? This is all supposed to happen tomorrow. HELP! :?:

[NCH2oSki]

RE: Buying a Boat from Tennessee

I live in TN and am selling my boat, are you buying it???? J/K anyway, when I moved here from another state I was surprised to find out you do not have to register your boat, or your trailer with the DMV. You can apply for a title for a trailer, not sure about the boat. Make sure you get a Notorized bill of sale on everything and you should be fine.

Disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, so the information I have given you is used at your own risk. :razz: I am currently staying at a holiday inn express as I type this though. :grin:

[ag4ever]

RE: Buying a Boat from Tennessee

That is one of the reasons most used boats taken in from dealers end up in Tennessee. It makes the paperwork much easier. I think there is one of the largest boat auction sites located there.

I personally don't like it. If you end up with stolen property, and the original owner tracks it down to you and can prove ownership you are SOL.

[82tique]

RE: Buying a Boat from Tennessee

I live in TN....nch20ski is correct. No plates( or titles) on trailers and no boat titles.

I bought my last boat with a hand written bill of sale and registered it with no problem.

Good Luck, hope you have time to visit some of the awesome lakes in Tn when you pick it up.

[east tx skier]

Kent, make sure you print all those title/registration transfer forms for Texas and get this guy to sign them. The ones for the boat are on the TDP&W website and the ones for the trailer are available through your local tax office. They may ask to see bills of sale on that stuff when you transfer everything to Texas.

What are you buying? Swing by here on your way back from TN!

[Batman]

Where in Tennessee are you buying? Tenn. is awesome place to have a boat cause it's CHEAP! We pay tax on the boat 7% only, not the trailer! Register the boat for 3 years at $56 and we do not register the trailer, thus NO TAGS! Stop by anytime in NE Tenn, God's country!

[genevatexan]

Boat is fabulous but need to resolve 3 things

I bought the boat, thanks to all for the advice. I believe the paperwork I have will work, and the dealer who originally sold the boat new brokered the deal for the seller. I put the boat on the lake today and its great. Really super. However, I have 3 needs: 1) the bimini has no zipper cover; 2) the right guide pole is bent; 3) the trailer is damaged at rear left (which made the price really fab). I need to find a trailer repair shop and someone to deal with the bent guide pole. ALso a zipper cover for the bimini. Any help or guidance for Dallas area appreciated.

[DWhitt]

RE: Boat is fabulous but need to resolve 3 things

If it's Prestige Trailer those guys have excellent customer service. Just give them a call and talk to Bobby in parts. I just replaced the fenders on my trailer (apparently the previous owner had some issues loading the boat on the trailer). They have been great to work with and have very reasonable prices on parts.
http://www.prestigetrailers.com/p/contact_us.php

[jjackkrash]

Glad things worked out. I don 't know about the trailer, but if you call Buxton Marine in Lewisville I bet they could point you in the right direction.

Which lake do you go to? Are you a skiier?

[genevatexan]

I'm an average slalom guy that was skiing with a friend at the course on Mustang Canyon last year. They got shut down this summer and I decided that I would move towards wakeboarding. We were skiing on a 1998 Ski Nautique closed nose with 185 hours on it. Beautiful red and white boat that we sold on Ebay. We are now starting to focus on Wakeboarding. Gernally on Lake Lavon, sometimes on Lewisville or Grapevine, and occasionally at the river.
You?
Kent

[genevatexan]

Hey Jayjackkrash,
another Prestige trailer question for you: My output jack on the bottom of the car has no connection for the reverse lock out wire into the trailer. We just had our first experience of uphill trailer backing and found out that the disk brakes lock up in reverse unless the car is sending the lockout. Since it is not (its going to the shop on Monday), we looked for the manual lock out to allow uphill backing and found a tab on the bottom of the trailer ball head. We depressed this and it did nothing. We then had to back it by hand. (There is no slide bar for reverse lock out like there is on a Dorsey). Is this little tab supposed to do something, or is ours just broken?
K

[NCH2oSki]

You can turn your trailer connection wire plug around if you have the flat 4 connector. Then turn on your parking lights and it will activate the soilenoid. Hope this makes sense.

[genevatexan]

The connector on the boat is a flat 5, the socket on the car is a round 7. I use a converter between the two. Will this still work? Since the ground is the last pin, wont you have a dead short with a positive going to the ground if I turn it over?

[NCH2oSki]

Yes, it will still work. Its just a matter of getting power to the brake solinoid to make it lock out the brakes. You wont hook up ground to +, iirc the grounds dont hook up, its been a while since I have had to do this, but it will work.

Another solution since you have a round 7, is to go to an auto parts store and get a 7 to 5 adapter, and then your set. You wont have to do anything but put it in reverse and go.

[genevatexan]

Exept for the fact that when Uhaul installed the hitch and their little converter box, they did not connect the blue lead to the reverse lights. In fact there is no additional output for the blue lead from the converter box that they stashed behind the left taillight. It looks like they will need to change the converter box to one with a brake solenoid output and run the wire to the jack on the back of the car. The jack has no feed for the blue line and the converter box is not attached to anything. I have a wiring guaranty from them and will make them go back and do it again. My previous trailer did not have this feature so when the hitch went on, they probably asked about it and installed a setup with no lead for the lock out solenoid anywhere. In the meantime, I'll try reversing the plug!