Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 23, § 3305 (2026)

Subchapter 002 : VESSELS

• § 3305. Fees

  (a) An individual shall not operate a motorboat on the public waters of this State unless the motorboat has a valid marine document issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection or any successor federal agency or is registered in accordance with this chapter.

  (b) Annually or biennially, the owner of each motorboat required to be registered by this State shall file an application for a number with the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles on forms approved by him or her. The application shall be signed by the owner of the motorboat and shall be accompanied by an annual fee of $31.00, or a biennial fee of $57.00, for a motorboat in class A; by an annual fee of $49.00, or a biennial fee of $93.00, for a motorboat in class 1; by an annual fee of $80.00, or a biennial fee of $155.00, for a motorboat in class 2; by an annual fee of $153.00, or a biennial fee of $303.00, for a motorboat in class 3. Upon receipt of the application in approved form, the Commissioner shall enter the application upon the records of the Department of Motor Vehicles and issue to the applicant a registration certificate stating the number awarded to the motorboat and the name and address of the owner. The owner shall paint on or attach to each side of the bow of the motorboat the identification number in such manner as may be prescribed by rules of the Commissioner in order that it may be clearly visible. The registration shall be void one year from the first day of the month following the month of issue in the case of annual registrations or void two years from the first day of the month following the month of issue in the case of biennial registrations. A motorboat of less than 10 horsepower used as a tender to a registered motorboat shall be deemed registered, at no additional cost, and shall have painted or attached to both sides of the bow the same registration number as the registered motorboat with the number “1” after the number. The number shall be maintained in legible condition. The registration certificate shall be pocket size and shall be available at all times for inspection on the motorboat for which issued, whenever the motorboat is in operation. A duplicate registration may be obtained upon payment of a fee of $3.00 to the Commissioner. Registration fees shall be allocated in accordance with section 3319 of this title.

  (c) A person engaged in the business of selling or exchanging motorboats, as defined in subdivision 4(8) of this title, of a type otherwise required to be registered by this subchapter shall register and obtain registration certificates for use as described under subdivision (1) of this subsection, subject to the requirements of chapter 7 of this title. A manufacturer of motorboats may register and obtain registration certificates under this section.

  (1) A dealer motorboat registration number may be used:

  (A) for the purpose of testing or adjusting motorboats in the immediate vicinity of his or her place of business;

  (B) for some purpose directly connected with the business of purchasing, selling, or exchanging motorboats by the dealer;

  (C) for demonstration when the prospective purchaser is operating the motorboat and is not accompanied by the dealer or his or her employee, but not for more than three days;

  (D) for the temporary accommodation of a customer whose motorboat, because of crash or wear, is disabled and is left with the dealer for repairs for not more than 14 days;

  (E) for the private business or pleasure use of the dealer and members of the dealer’s immediate family residing in the same household; and

  (F) for the use of those motorboats at regattas, marine parades, or water festivities where no charge is made for that use.

  (2) The word “dealer” for the purpose of subdivision (1)(E) of this subsection shall include the principal officers of a corporation or dealer and those partners in a copartnership registered as a dealer as are actively and principally engaged in the motorboat business, but shall not include directors and stockholders nor inactive and silent partners.

  (3) An application for a dealer motorboat registration and registration number shall be accompanied by the following fees:

  (A) for the registration and first number applied for, $42.00; and

  (B) for each additional number applied for in the current registration period, $12.00.

  (4) The Commissioner shall issue a registration certificate of number for each identifying number awarded to the dealer in the manner described in subsection (a) of this section, except that a motorboat shall not be described in the certificate. A dealer’s registration certificate expires one year from the first day of the month of issuance.

  (5) A dealer’s identifying number shall be displayed as required by subsection (a) except that the number may be temporarily attached.

  (6) A dealer or representative of a dealer shall not use a dealer’s identifying number for any purpose other than those described in subdivision (1) of this subsection.

  (d)(1) Registration of a motorboat ends when the owner transfers title to another. The former owner shall immediately return directly to the Commissioner the registration certificate previously assigned to the transferred motorboat with the date of sale and the name and residence of the new owner endorsed on the back of the certificate.

  (2) When a person transfers the ownership of a registered motorboat to another, files a new application, and pays a fee of $6.00, he or she may have registered in his or her name another motorboat of the same class for the remainder of the registration period without payment of any additional registration fee. However, if the fee for the registration of the motorboat sought to be registered is greater than the registration fee for the transferred motorboat, the applicant shall pay the difference between the fee first paid and the fee for the class motorboat sought to be registered.

  (e) If an agency of the U.S. government has in force an overall system of identification numbering for motorboats within the United States, the numbering system employed under this subchapter by the Commissioner shall conform with that system.

  (f) Every registration certificate awarded under this subchapter shall continue in effect as prescribed in subsection (b) of this section unless sooner ended under this chapter. The registration certificate may be renewed by the owner in the same manner provided for in securing the initial certificate.

  (g) The owner shall notify the Commissioner of the transfer of any part of the owner’s interest other than the creation of a security interest in a motorboat numbered in this State under subsections (a) and (b) of this section or of the destruction or abandonment of the motorboat, within 15 days after the transfer, destruction, or abandonment. The transfer, destruction, or abandonment shall end the certificate of number for the motorboat except that in the case of a transfer of a part interest that does not affect the owner’s right to operate the motorboat, the transfer shall not end the certificate of number.

  (h) Any holder of a registration certificate shall notify the Commissioner within 15 days if his or her address ceases to be the address appearing on the certificate and shall, as a part of the notification, furnish the Commissioner with his or her new address. The Commissioner may provide by rule for the surrender of the certificate bearing the former address and its replacement with a certificate bearing the new address or for the alteration of an outstanding certificate to show the new address of the holder.

  (i) No number other than the number awarded to a motorboat or granted reciprocity under this subchapter may be painted, attached, or otherwise displayed on either side of the bow of the motorboat.

  (j) The Commissioner, by rules adopted pursuant to 3 V.S.A. chapter 25, may provide for the issuance of temporary registrations of motorboats pending issuance of the permanent registration. Motorboat dealers may issue temporary motorboat registrations. The dealer’s fee for the temporary registrations shall be $6.00 for each registration purchased from the Department of Motor Vehicles. Temporary registrations shall be kept with the motorboat while being operated and shall authorize operation without the registration number being affixed for a period not to exceed 60 days from the date of issue.

  (k) The Commissioner shall enclose with every permanent and temporary motorboat registration and registration renewal certificate issued pursuant to this chapter a statement, based on current aquatic nuisance threats and spread prevention methods, regarding the danger of aquatic nuisances, how aquatic nuisance species are spread, and how spread of aquatic nuisance species may be controlled. (Added 1983, No. 212 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1985, No. 90, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1986; 1987, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 1989, No. 65, § 2; 1989, No. 265 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 3, 4, eff. March 1, 1991; 1993, No. 52, § 1; 1995, No. 16, § 1; 1997, No. 62, § 52, eff. June 26, 1997; 2001, No. 75 (Adj. Sess.), § 10; 2001, No. 102 (Adj. Sess.), § 30, eff. May 15, 2002; 2001, No. 143 (Adj. Sess.), § 56; 2003, No. 163 (Adj. Sess.), § 24, eff. June 10, 2004; 2009, No. 46, § 5, eff. July 1, 2010; 2009, No. 50, § 59; 2013, No. 57, § 7; 2015, No. 50, § 4; 2015, No. 159 (Adj. Sess.), § 49; 2021, No. 76, § 13; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 425, 426, eff. July 1, 2022; 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 318, eff. July 1, 2024.)