Sunday, December 10, 2017

Annual Coast Guard Documentation Renewal

Lee Anderson, Jack Robert 37VT17

All of our boats, a total of 3, have been Coast Guard registered vessels and this is true for Jack Robert.  Just getting the registration transferred when we purchased him was an ordeal but that is another story.  I only bring it up so that you might think I would pay attention to the renewal date and take care of getting the Document of Registration renewed on time.  There it sits prominently displayed in a frame right in the wheel house where I can see the date easily…but didn't.  When I did finally notice that I was out of date it was beyond the grace period.  So now what?

I went on the Internet, did a search and went to what I thought was the Coast Guard document center to the document renewal page.  I was so frazzled and in a hurry, I did not really look at the site closely.  The  pictures below of the site I went to and the current USCG site.  



You will notice the Internet address for the site I went to is not a .mil site but a .org site.  The colors match the USCG site and it looks pretty official.  I thought I was where I was supposed to be but I really did not look closely enough.  It cost me big time.

I went along working feverishly to get my document renewed without paying any attention.  In the past I had always gotten a renewal notice in the mail and it was free.  Things had changed.  The USCG no longer sends out an annual renewal and now renewing has a fee attached to it.  I did not know what the fee was.  I was absolutely floored when I saw it was going to cost me $86.  The actual USCG fee is $26 but I was not on the Coast Guard site.  I was actually on a third-party site that did documentation submittals for the unwary.  For the extra $60 I got nothing extra that I would not get going directly to the Coast Guard site.  I found out later that the USCG has changed their site to try and reduce this from happening to other people.  The new site is much easier to navigate than the previous site.  There are two lessons I have learned.  First, take my time when on the net and make sure I am where I actually want to be.  If I don't, it could cost me.  The second lesson I have learned is to use my calendar app to put in a reminder to do the renewal a couple of weeks before the expiration date.  This will provide a reminder in time to get the renewal processed.

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