I ask my co-workers, and they all say that this is not an issue based
on their experience in buying used cars.

As long as the boat owner has a title document, other people should not
have a lien on the boat (otherwise, that third party will hold on with
the title). The key is to insist on buying a boat that has a title
document and never buy a boat that doesn't have a title document. If
the owner of the boat claims that he has losed the title, he should go
to the original state that issued the title to get a new title. If he
refuses to do this, I should not buy the boat (in case it is a stolen
property or something like that).

Of course, there seems to be a loop-hole in this procedure. Supposedly,
he can claim that he losed the title, and get a new one from the state.
And then use the boat to get a loan and give the new title to the
lender to secure the loan. Then, he sells the boat to me with the old
title that he claimed to have losed. And the lender will still own the
boat because the old title that I am holding is not valid. Seem like I
must write down the full amount of the sales price in the sales receipt
and on the title; then I can use this to "hopefully" claim the money
back just in case the title is no good. This also means that I need to
pay full sales tax on the boat; but this is OK -- because this is the
right way to do and we are not talking about a lot of money anyway.

Does this sound like a correct procedure to buy a boat?

Jay Chan