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Watercraft · Warranty of title
Document your boat sale with warranty protection for buyer and seller. Select your state for its instruction rider and the attorney-drafted warranty boat bill of sale.
A written boat bill of sale with Warranty is legal proof the vessel changed hands: hull, motor, and trailer are described separately, with the Hull Identification Number (HIN), the price for each, and the seller's warranties. Boats are high-value, mobile, and often financed — the paper trail matters.
Boat paperwork splits three ways, and your state rider tells you which lane your boat is in: state-titled vessels (the title assignment and title application do the transfer), registration-only states (the bill of sale is the ownership document), and USCG-documented vessels (the federal lane — Coast Guard form CG-1340, which this kit links rather than replaces).
Where your state gives the seller a transfer notice, the rider links it — that filing, not the bill of sale, is what closes out registration liability. For the buyer, the bill of sale is the proof of ownership and price the DMV, DNR, or wildlife agency asks for at registration — and the warranty record if the boat is not as described.
Each state page shows its exact kit contents before checkout.
The attorney-drafted bill of sale — fillable Word (.docx).
Your state's instruction rider: title and registration steps, real deadlines, tax and gift rules, notary requirements, and how to record a lien when the seller finances the sale.
Links to the official forms this sale needs — the title or registration application, the official bill of sale where one exists, seller notice-of-sale forms, and gift/affidavit forms. Where the state publishes its own free bill of sale, we link it prominently and tell you exactly what it covers and what it leaves out.
Start with the state selector, review your state’s kit page, then download the files after checkout.
Select your state above to open its boat bill of sale kit page.
See the included files, the document preview, and the state-specific notes before you buy.
Complete the one-time purchase and download the Word files immediately.
Select a state to open its bill of sale kit page.
It is the legal record of the sale: what boat, what motor, what trailer, what price, on what date, with what warranties. Most states ask for a bill of sale at registration or titling, and in registration-only states it is the buyer's ownership document. The warranty version adds the seller's guarantees about condition and clear title; the as-is version documents that the buyer accepts the boat's condition.
Seller and buyer names and addresses; vessel description (make, model, year, length); the Hull Identification Number (HIN); registration or documentation number; the outboard motor's serial number; whether a trailer is included (with its own details); purchase price; date of sale; warranty or as-is election; and both parties' signatures.
Most states ask for one — but boat paperwork splits three ways. State-titled boats transfer on the title assignment plus the state's application. Registration-only states treat the bill of sale as the ownership document. USCG-documented vessels use the federal bill of sale (form CG-1340) — our kit links it rather than replacing it. Your state rider names your lane, your agency, the forms, and the deadlines.
The HIN is a unique 12-character identifier assigned to boats manufactured or imported after 1972 — the vessel equivalent of a VIN. It is permanently affixed to the transom and appears on registration and title documents. Recording it on the bill of sale prevents disputes about exactly which boat was sold.
The warranty covers what the bill of sale describes — which is why this form describes the hull, the outboard motor(s), and the trailer separately, with a price allocation for each. If the engine carries a transferable manufacturer warranty, say so in the additional-terms area. The trailer may need its own title paperwork in your state — your rider flags it.
Permanently. Buyers need it for registration and titling, proof of ownership if registration lapses, insurance claims, tax documentation, and any future sale. Sellers need it as proof of the transfer date — the anchor for any later liability question.