How can I find owner by hull number?

[Chris Patterson]

There it is. Frequently I find a boat that interests me, and I was hoping someone here would know how to find an owner by serial number, or maybe registration number. A lady that showed up here on the yard said she found her Island Packet by researching a Coast Guard website, but by the time she was done with her protracted tale, it was all lost on me.
My friends have stopped asking me about the boat, and now inquire about the fleet. I've become like the neighborhood "cat lady", except with me, it's sailboats..
Any help on this, or at least a hotline for the addiction would be most helpful.
Many thanks in advance.

 

[Tim R.]

Easier to do with the hailing port and name as long as the boat is CG documented in the US.

http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/CoastGuard/VesselByName.html

 

[Bill1565]

In florida, you can sometimes sweet talk the clerk's office into the history of an FL number. No addresses or phone # but names and cities.

 

[Freedom77]

There it is. Frequently I find a boat that interests me, and I was hoping someone here would know how to find an owner by serial number, or maybe registration number.

Maybe theres a boatfax just like there is a carfax????

 

[rgranger]

In Virginia you can call the department of Game and Inland Fisheries and they will give you the names and addresses by registration number.

At the marina that I used to keep my boat, the owner would escape to Florida each winter. When he returned in the Spring he would walk the docs, find boats that were not in his files and look up the owner this way. Then send them an invoice.