Abandoned Hobie's NJ

Whats the process for getting a title and/or registering in New Jersey for Hobie's that have been abandoned?

I just retitled and registered a H18 that used to be mine.

for an abandoned boat, the MVC will need to determine there's no current owner, or the easier way is to produce a bill of sale/title. If there is no current title on the boat, a copy can be requested from MVC if the boat previously had a registration number in NJ.

If not, you may be able to title it as you would a newly purchased boat.
Once you can prove the boat is yours, the rest is surprisingly easy.

I am still amazed how well NJ MVC works these days. Last week I retitled and registered an out of state car (with the orig. title), and retitled and registered the H18... in less than 1/2 hour.

_________________
Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

Thank you,

I'll try to find out who's Hobie cat's these are as they've been sitting here a while. Do you currently sail with another Hobie fleet? I saw from a former post that you used to sail with Fleet 452. That's where I first was introduced into the Hobie experience. It's been a few years but I'm looking for a good used Hobie in that area. I think I'm going to drive over to Trixie's today maybe someone has a for sale sign on a 16' Cat that there looking to get rid of.

Darius

no, I'm not currently with a fleet. In fact, a number of the fleets here in NJ no longer exist... such as 452. as well as some of the dealers.

I've been away from cats since 1994 when I sold my '88 H18. I bought it back last year and am in the process of getting her ready to sail... the other owner was not too kind to her.

for me, fleet 250 in Atlantic Highlands is the closest active fleet, then fleet 65 at Shore Acres, which is where I began in '79. I am currently bowman on a J109, so I have a ride already for racing. for now the cat is for fun with my wife and daugther, who was 4 when I sold it.

let's see... I was with 452 from around 1984 (at Beach Marine/Shore Marine in Waretown) through 1992 at Smitty's, also in Waretown.

I haven't seen any of those guys since then. a great bunch they are.

When were you with 452... who are you?

_________________
Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

My parents had purchased a home near Smitty's about 1990 so I was about 9 maybe 10 years old when you where with 452. So around that time I was first introduced to Hobie's. A few years later (1996) I had purchased a 16' around the end of the season, but unfortunately it was the end of my year as hurricane Andrew landed and picked up my newly purchased hobie and turtled it with the trailer and all. So since then I crewed a few times before heading off to college.

Recently I've been spending more time at the shore, I still have the sails for the 16' I parted everything else out several years ago of what remained and could be salvaged. I've been checking craigslist and such and am just looking for a good used cat to get back out there.

I Recently visited Trixie's in Bayville NJ they have a few nacra's and hobie there on a floating dock. I met bob who I came to learn is extremely knowledgeable concerning Catamarans. I also volunteered my time as a crew member with Dan who owns an 18' so that should be pretty fun while I look for my own.

Apparently fleet 416 sails out of there also. I've tried to check out the Div 11 website but apparently they are currently down (someone forgot to pay for the website)

Anyway,

My name is Darius, I was there almost every summer since 1990 so you may or may not have seen or met me. I'll keep an eye out for you, I should be at Trixies for the July 19 and 20th regatta that they have planned there.

-Darius

on that part of the bay, Trixie's is definitely the best place for expertise and finding a boat to suit your needs. there is a dealer up in Point Pleasant if you need spare parts.

are there any cats left at Smitty's anymore? I heard that Russ passed away a number of years ago. Is the boat rental business still there?

I should have my 18 all ready and tuned up in time for Trixie's, but I may be big boat racing at the time. gotta check the schedule.

_________________
Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

Don't know if you were successfull in titling your hobie cat, but let me tell you the hell that NJ Motor Vehicle put me through was one of the major reasons I left that horrible state for good. Now things might have changed in 10 years, but I was not successful in trying to title a 1973 Sunfish in 1997. I bought it from the original owner with a bill of sale and the serial number intact. NJ did not become a title state until 1986 so no title was ever applied for with NJDMV nor did it have to be registered. The boat was put in storage just before this and I bought it 11 years later. Now NJ is the only state that I know of that makes you title and register an overglorified wind surfboard. But being the law abiding citzen I am I attempted several times without success and was actually thrown out of the Eatontown DMV by the police due to my fustration with the morons that work there. The cops were actually sympathtic! The bill of sale was not adequate to prove ownership and obviously there were no records of the sale to the original owner since the Sunfish dealer went out of business years ago. I went to the NJ State Marine cops with the boat and they checked the serial number and gave me a statement that the boat had no record of being stolen. With this and the original owners bill of sale I went back to NJDMV and they still would not title the boat. The original bill of sale from the dealer he purchased it from was lost years ago. Come on, its a 24 year old boat by this time! I started to get upset with the DMV guy and and ask to speak to a supervisor. "He's not available" was his reply. So I ask point blank, "Why don't you stop telling me what I can't do to title and register this boat, and start telling me what I can?" No response, so I said, Are dumb looks and facial expression all you are capable of? Thats when I got thrown out. I have to go to Trenton (the capitol) and speak to some higher level official who finally told me that I have to see a superior court judge from my county (Ocean) and prove my ownership in a court of law. If I won, (No guarantees) he would write a court order petitioning the DMV to issue me a title. How much is this going to cost? $250.00 in court fees! Plus all the fees for titling and registration! I only paid $175.00 for the boat!!!! I told him to screw himself, I wasn't going to title or register the boat and that they could ticket me for all I cared! For the next 5 years I used that boat on the Toms River and Barnegat Bay and was never stopped or harassed. I left New Jersey forever in 2003 and now reside on the west coast of Florida and lauch my Sunfish on any beach I really want and no one bothers me. Try that in NJ! BTW, what does this have to do with Hobie Cats? I also had a Hobied 18SX. Good luck and I hope to hear you were successful.

Minuteman048

Ohio isn't much better. It's probably easier to bring an out of state boat into ohio than it is to buy a boat in ohio without the title.

The out of state boat requires them to run the HIN to see it's not stolen, when they realize it's not they make an ohio title and charge too much.

An ohio boat in ohio without a title is a nightmare...similar to NJ.

As a former resident of NJ for 17 years I see the error in your ways-

You finally decided to ignore DMV, that works, or just put some outta-state numbers on it.

But first, you needed to remember where you were living. A nice, but lesser amount of $ placed in the palm of a resident whose name ends in a vowel would have likely solved your problem. Fuh gedda bout it

_________________
Alan
'86 H16, Sail #89057

As a former resident of NJ for 17 years I see the error in your ways-

You finally decided to ignore DMV, that works, or just put some outta-state numbers on it.

But first, you needed to remember where you were living. A nice, but lesser amount of $ placed in the palm of a resident whose name ends in a vowel would have likely solved your problem. Fuh gedda bout it [/quote]

I was not successful in getting a title or even the forms to register the boat. Apparently it has become an epidemic as people who can't afford there boats are just abandoning them where ever they can park them.

Here's an articule from May 28, 2008 http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/184/story/165497.html
The DMV or as there called now the NJ Motor vehicle Commission explained that I have to be the actually owner of the property to register an abandoned boat.

So I asked how I could find this information out and would they provide me with the paper work to find the owners of both the property and Hobie

She was pretty rude when I asked that question. As if she had something more important to say or do on a wed morning.

Similarly I have to go to the police to fill out a report and then maybe I might be able to get a special title as she said on the phone. I asked maybe? She was like yea maybe.

I'm just going to look for a used cat get a title and then go from there. If I could remember that old Commodore from fleet 452 I'm sure he could direct me to who the owner is possiable.

Happy Sailing,
Darius[/url]

Darius,
2 guys come to mind from fleet 452 that were former Commodores-

Frank Brearley, lives in Barnegat.
Dave West, lives in Waretown.

haven't seen either in years, so I cannot guarantee they're still there.

_________________
Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

I used to sail at smitty's in barnegat bay back in 1983 but i live in cape may, NJ now and sail in the ocean in stone harbor. I have a couple of nice hobie 16's for sale with titles, both are 1982 boats and neither has had a bottom repair. I bought a new boat for racing so my older one '96 is going to replace my '82 beach boat and the other is a boat from PA (lake sailed) I bought for a friend who wants to sell it do to some health problems. I will be at the Barnegat regatta at Trixies, my name is Randy or you can call me and look at the boats (day) 609-408-0841

FWIW - I bought my boat from Randy. Nice guy, fair deal.