Boat owner search

Looking to find the owner of the boat next to mine in storage. Has been sitting there rotting for the last 4 years. Storage owner has indicated he will not help with personal info. I get it. Plus, he still gets his $65 a month.
We have the registration, “VIN” number, last year it was registered. DNR says talk to DMV ,DMV says talk to DNR. Searches on line have been fruitless. Not sure of what is best way to proceed as never done anything like this before.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Umy wrote:

Looking to find the owner of the boat next to mine in storage. Has been sitting there rotting for the last 4 years. Storage owner has indicated he will not help with personal info. I get it. Plus, he still gets his $65 a month.
We have the registration, “VIN” number, last year it was registered. DNR says talk to DMV ,DMV says talk to DNR. Searches on line have been fruitless. Not sure of what is best way to proceed as never done anything like this before.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Tell the storage owner to give the boat owner your contact info

Umy do you have a friend who is a LEO? Maybe he could help.

MX1825 wrote:

Umy do you have a friend who is a LEO? Maybe he could help.

That could get his friend in a lot of trouble. There was a bunch of these types of things a few years ago where law enforcement was looking up personal information about people (mainly female news anchors) for no reason and they got in big trouble for it. This issue seems harmless, but I would tend to tread lightly on this.

Because of data privacy the DNR and DMV cant give you ownership information. Usually you can call the DNR and they can give the owner a release of information form that releases the contact information to you. But your DNR has to be willing to do that. If you can see the registration though you will have the same info as the DNR and can request the info from them yourself. It’s called a DNR release of personal information form.

MX1825 wrote:

Umy do you have a friend who is a LEO? Maybe he could help.

When my wife worked at a Registrars office, one woman at her office and a man at another local office were fired for sharing this type of info. All it took was someone questioning where the info came from and the computer will tell them who’s accessed the account. Another woman at her office was fired for checking out Prince’s DL and cars and toys registered to him. The system will red flag accounts with heavy traffic.

Thanks all.
A. The storage owner is pretty firm on the “no” ( not really sure why but that’s his business.) He gave me the owner’s name and that’s it. We researched the state websites and came up with several that matched “name-wise” but the boat info, last registration, license etc – none are even close matches. Some are from cities up North but that could be explained in a number of ways so we did not rule that out. The attached info ( registration, license date….) however led us to believe none of them were the right person. A good guy in terms of his facility, access, needs etc. Was my first approach – figured that would be easy – but -no.
B. A note on his boat has rotted away faster than his boat is.
C. DNR is NOT helpful.
D. Have “friend” who is in the business. We talked and would be willing to look but I will not put them in this situation.

Will keep up with the storage owner. Maybe type up a letter ( I could send him a text/email he could forward if he agreed) to send to the party in a pre-stamped envelope.

Guess we’ll see. Nice boat with a 2×4 structure to hold the tarp and the tarp has been gone for over 4 years. Would be a great project for my sons and I to bring back to life. THe hull is perfect, glass, compartments. latches work. 140 and 9.9 kicker that will need to be gone through. Two new trailer tires it will need. It has a hinged tongue which is nice.

Thanks for all of your input!

Sounds like you’ve exhausted all the options to contact the owner. Might be time to start searching the want ads for a boat that’s actually for sale. Maybe consult a mental health professional to address your obsession before you pop a bolt.

Funny Ron – I like it.
Trying to teach my 25 year old to be persistent if he is to get what he wants.
I figured if anyone knew some way to get this accomplished it would be one of you guys on this thread.
I pick up my boat in storage about three times a week. That boat we want just laughs at me every time it seems like.
Gonna keep pressuring the storage owner though and see where it takes me.

Umy wrote:

Gonna keep pressuring the storage owner though and see where it takes me.

He’ll probably tell you to store your boat somewhere else LOL

The storage guy won’t leave your name and number for the person who owns the boat. Then so be it.

Its mine. I will take 10k cash and its yours for the taking.

Cool Jeremy- I’ll be right over

With the new DNR transfer rules you could actually do that if its not a titled boat. Any DNR registered vehicle can now be transfered with a bill of sale from basically anyone, unless it is a titled boat.

You went through this guy’s boat and figured out all his latches and compartments work ? Or did I read that wrong

Bearcat89 wrote:

You went through this guy’s boat and figured out all his latches and compartments work ? Or did I read that wrong

You didnt read that wrong and that is invasion IMH. I wouldnt touch someone else’s stuff regardless of how long it sat there.

Bearcat89 wrote:

You went through this guy’s boat and figured out all his latches and compartments work ? Or did I read that wrong

I thought the exact same thing too. How did he figure all that out?

I also don’t quite understand what the point of trying to figure out who the owner is. Its his/her boat. They can do whatever they want with it, including allowing it to rot away. As long as they’re paying their storage fee, how they treat it is their business. Just to be clear, I would never do that to my boat.

As a hail mary slap a laminated note on the boat stating your interest to buy with ur contact info.

The owner might not be around but he may know others who are and will forward the info.

MX1825 wrote:

Umy do you have a friend who is a LEO? Maybe he could help.

Sorry I didn’t explain this idea on how this works. I have done this in the past and there is nothing illegal if done the right way. I’ve only done this on vehicles that were assumed to be abandoned.
Have your friend run the registration AND the serial number and see if they match. If they do, have the LEO contact the owner with your info and have the owner then contact you if he is interested.

Leave a note and if there’s no response, I’d just forget it. If I was the owner of the storage business I’d honor the owner’s privacy too and wouldn’t want to get stuck in the middle of it.

There aren’t enough hours in my day to chase leads on an unused boat that may or may not be for sale. Good luck if you do get ahold of the owners though

buckybadger wrote:

Leave a note and if there’s no response, I’d just forget it. If I was the owner of the storage business I’d honor the owner’s privacy too and wouldn’t want to get stuck in the middle of it.

There aren’t enough hours in my day to chase leads on an unused boat that may or may not be for sale. Good luck if you do get ahold of the owners though

Until then stay out of some one else’s boat.

Jeez give the guy a break.

I work for storage places some times. People keep sending that check for some wild stuff that is basically just all garbage. There is never a dumpster because that hurts business. Once you see a bunch of it, it gets dumber and dumber. A stupid POS abandoned boat would be gone shortly after people quit paying their monthly bill. That thing is a paycheck that never quits.

Couple last thoughts.
NEVER got in the boat OR on the trailer step. Touched the glove box and opened it, able to reach a side latch and it worked. Just to see if they were fused shut or anything.
The laminated note I left weathered away.
NOT IN THE BOAT going thru it –
It is nice, seemed harmless at the time to try and find an owner and see if they were interested in selling it. Why not?!
As I said earlier, storage owner gets paid regardless and quite honestly not his problem. No Issue with him.
Simple question- got answers and some leads that may or may not pan out.
Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

Umy wrote:

Couple last thoughts.
NEVER got in the boat OR on the trailer step. Touched the glove box and opened it, able to reach a side latch and it worked. Just to see if they were fused shut or anything.
The laminated note I left weathered away.
NOT IN THE BOAT going thru it –
It is nice, seemed harmless at the time to try and find an owner and see if they were interested in selling it. Why not?!
As I said earlier, storage owner gets paid regardless and quite honestly not his problem. No Issue with him.
Simple question- got answers and some leads that may or may not pan out.
Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

I didn’t mean to come off as a dink or Johnny law or the neighborhood watch. But I know I would never teach my kid to go through some one else’s property if they wanted it and liked it or not. Not unless they had permission. That’s just straight trespassing. I wouldn’t go through a neighbors vehicle because it was unlocked on the road for a month or what not.
Like I originally said just tell the storage guy you are very interested in the boat if he could give the owner your contact info. If that doesn’t work then so be it. Rummaging through his glove compartment is no different then sitting in the boat.

Sounds like a very secure “storage situation”… a 2×4 frame with tarp cover ? Is this thing just parked in an open area or ???

Got it Bearcat – Not a dink – – Stood on the ground outside/off the boat/ trailer and could open the glovebox knob to see if it worked – no rummaging. You can see everything by looking over the edge. I’m 6’2″ so don’t need a stepladder.
Even if I find him I still need to get in it, check out the floor, the transom and lots of other stuff inside the boat – can’t do that right now.

That’s what I shared with my son. Not ours, we can look and try to find the owner but does not belong to us.

Yes Big- G Fences and barbed wire and secure gate but not under a roof. The tarp rotted away. NEVER been back to check it or likely would have covered it.

Guys, if I were driving down the road and saw this I would not give it a second thought. Seeing it 20 feet away multiple times every week from April to October it just got me thinking. I take care of my stuff, at least I would make sure the cover was good but hell, for all we know the guy is dead. There are 2 boats in a similar situation in my mother in laws yard so I understand how some people think ( she sees nothing wrong with letting them rot and did not want to sell the one I originally tried to buy about 10 years ago – nice Lund – should see it now) but that’s another story.

Chapter/ thread done

Do you know if the plug is still in the boat? If it is that floor is rotten for sure. I sure hope its raised in the front too!

Plug is out
Front is raised
Can see in from the back and no standing water

Give the storage guy your contact information. Ask if he will pass it along to the boat owner.