If you have a documented vessel, you need to renew its certificate every year. It’s like having a car. You need to register it annually.
When it’s time to renew your certificate of documentation, you’ll get a renewal notice in the mail. The notice will be coming from the US Coast Guard’s National Vessel Documentation Center. You need to update your mailing address so that you can be sure that you will receive the notice, which is delivered to your postal address 30 days before the expiration.
The mail will include a CG-1280 renewal form.
Now, the question is if you can renew it online to avoid the hassle
Yes, it’s now possible for you to renew your boat documentation online. All you have to do is go to their renewal form which can be found on their website. What’s great about it is that you can renew it for up to five years in advanced.
They encourage you to purchase more years in advance. In this way, you’ll get a better discount on your annual fee in renewing your vessel. Now, you may wonder whether you need to pay extra if the annual renewal fee increased in the next five years. The good news is that you don’t need to pay an additional fee.
What if you missed the expiration date?
If you forgot to renew your documentation within 30 days after the expiry date, you don’t have to worry about it. You can still renew it online. The US Coast Guard provides a 30-day period allowing boat owners to process their boat documentation.
However, if the 30-day period has passed, you could no longer renew your boat. Instead, you need to apply for reinstatement. The bad thing about the reinstatement of US Coast Guard documentation is that you need to pay more. It also requires a different form.
The good thing is that you can apply for a reinstatement online as well. You can go to our reinstatement page and fill out the form with the proper details. Make sure that the vessel name, official number, and hull ID are correct.
At USCG Documentation, they have a team of reviewers to ensure that every document and form submitted by our clients are correct. In this way, they can avoid delays in processing the renewal or reinstatement. If your details are incorrect, we’ll notify you by email.
Apart from renewal, we also process deletion of certification, certified copy, preferred ship mortgage, and several others.
