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Marina, Storage and Repair Lien Sales of Vessels (State Self-Help Sales)

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Marina, Storage and Repair Lien Sales of Vessels (State Self-Help Sales)

Asset page (vessels — non-judicial and administrative channels). Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-10-16.

What it is

Most forced sales of recreational boats in the United States do not involve a court. A marina, boatyard, repairer or storage operator holding a state-law possessory lien gives statutory notice and sells the boat itself; separately, law-enforcement agencies remove, and sometimes sell or destroy, derelict and abandoned vessels under state administrative regimes. These sales are fast and cheap, but they occupy a narrow space: a state cannot create an in rem admiralty proceeding (madruga-v-superior-court-1954), and a maritime lien “can be executed and divested only by a proceeding in rem” (barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018, quoting Vandewater v. Mills). The central buyer question on this page is therefore: what does a state self-help sale actually convey, and what survives it? Hub: vessels.

The key buyer risk: what survives a state lien sale

  1. The state statute itself may preserve prior perfected liens. Florida: “Unless otherwise provided by law, a purchaser in good faith of a vessel sold to satisfy a lien provided for in this section takes the property free of any claims other than a prior lien perfected under state or federal law” (Fla. Stat. § 328.17(11)). A preferred ship mortgage recorded with the Coast Guard, or a security interest noted on the state title, is “a prior lien perfected under state or federal law” on the statute’s face. North Carolina conveys title “free of any interests over which the lienor was entitled to priority” (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-6) — the buyer takes subject to interests that outrank the lienor.
  2. Federal maritime liens are outside state power to extinguish. The Adeline held that a state-court sale of a boat as perishable property under a state statute did not extinguish a prior maritime lien for supplies (the reporter’s headnote states it “does not extinguish a maritime lien for supplies advanced prior to the proceedings and sale”); the court adopted Chief Justice Taney’s statement that such liens “will adhere to the vessel in the hands of the purchaser, and of those claiming under him” (the-adeline-1918, 252 F. 953 (N.D. Fla. 1918), https://static.case.law/f/252/cases/0953-01.json , retrieved 2026-10-16). If a court sale under state law cannot divest them, a private lienholder’s sale with no court involvement cannot either (an inference, not a retrieved holding); the Second Circuit observed that “[t]raditional admiralty principles suggest that only a federal admiralty court acting in rem has the jurisdiction to quiet title to a vessel conclusively by extinguishing its maritime liens” (in-re-millenium-seacarriers-2005, 419 F.3d 83 (2d Cir. 2005) (Sotomayor, J.), https://static.case.law/f3d/419/cases/0083-01.json , retrieved 2026-10-16). No primary decision applying this rule specifically to a Florida § 328.17 marina sale was retrieved (needs_verification).
  3. The Coast Guard will record the transfer — but records are not a lien release. The NVDC accepts passage of title “by operation of State law” on the statute, an affidavit, evidence of substantial compliance and a bill of sale from the acting party as agent; its note states: “State law authorizing a marina to dispose of abandoned vessels is an example of passage of title by operation of law contemplated by § 67.91” (46 CFR 67.91, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-46/section-67.91 , retrieved 2026-10-16). Recorded mortgages are removed from the record only on a court order or other instrument listed in 46 CFR 67.263 or a satisfaction under 67.265 — a marina bill of sale is not on that list.
  4. Government lost-property sales are expressly subject to liens. Florida’s agency sale notice for lost property “shall include a statement that the sale shall be subject to any and all liens,” and the agency “shall provide a bill of sale clearly stating that the sale is subject to any and all liens” (Fla. Stat. § 705.103(2)(b)2., (3)).

Net effect, as far as retrieved authority goes: a state self-help buyer acquires the former owner’s title and cuts off liens junior to the selling lienholder, but takes subject to (a) recorded senior liens (including a preferred ship mortgage) and (b) unrecorded federal maritime liens. Whether the marina’s lien itself outranks a previously recorded preferred mortgage — which Florida’s proceeds rule makes the hinge (“provided the marina’s lien has priority over all other liens,” § 328.17(12)) — is a federal/state priority question not resolved by a retrieved primary source (needs_verification).

Florida — Fla. Stat. § 328.17 (nonjudicial sale of vessels)

Source: Fla. Stat. § 328.17 (2026), http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300-0399/0328/Sections/0328.17.html , retrieved 2026-10-16 (history through ch. 2014-70).

ElementRule
Purpose”any nonjudicial sale of any vessel held for unpaid costs, storage charges, or dockage fees, or any vessel held for failure to pay removal costs pursuant to s. 327.53(7), be disposed of pursuant to the provisions of this section” (1)
LienA marina (as defined in § 327.02) has a possessory lien “for storage fees, dockage fees, repairs, improvements, or other work-related storage charges, and for expenses necessary for preservation of the vessel or expenses reasonably incurred in the sale,” attaching when the vessel arrives or first occupies rental space (4)(a); and a lien for removal/disposal of a “wrecked, junked, or substantially dismantled” vessel abandoned at the marina, with any shortfall “recoverable against the owner”; suspended 60 days after a named-storm damage date (4)(b)
Who gets noticeOwner, by personal delivery or certified mail, plus posting at the marina and on the vessel (5)(a)1.; each holder of a security interest on DHSMV title records, each holder of “a preferred ship mortgage or … claim of lien with the United States Coast Guard Vessel Documentation Center,” each UCC secured party, and each judgment-lien-certificate holder (5)(a)2.
Required searchesDHSMV or other registry ownership records; “an abstract from the United States Coast Guard” for a documented vessel; current UCC search; current Florida judgment lien certificate search; reasonable lien search in a foreign or other-state registry (5)(a)3.–4. A good-faith failure to find a foreign or non-Florida lienholder “shall not prevent the sale” (5)(a)3.
Notice timingAt least 60 days before any sale (5)(a)5.; presumed delivered when deposited certified, properly addressed (6)
Notice contentsItemized claim and due date, vessel description, demand for payment, conspicuous statement that unless paid the vessel will be advertised and sold at a specified time and place, marina contact (5)(b)
AdvertisementOnce a week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation; sale “no sooner than 15 days after the first publication”; if no newspaper, posting in three conspicuous places at least 10 days before (8)
MannerMust conform to the notice and be “conducted in a commercially reasonable manner, as that term is used in s. 679.610” (9); alternatively the marina may remove the vessel at the owner’s expense (7)
RedemptionBefore sale, owner or lienholder may pay the lien, reasonable expenses and late interest “and thereby redeem and take possession” (10)
Buyer’s titleGood-faith purchaser “takes the property free of any claims other than a prior lien perfected under state or federal law” (11)
ProceedsMarina satisfies its lien “provided the marina’s lien has priority over all other liens”; secured lienholders’ rights attach to remaining proceeds; owner’s balance held, with notice; unclaimed after 1 year “deemed abandoned”; if the marina’s lien is not first, proceeds held for the senior lienholders (12)
Title transferNew owner applies with fees, “the original bill of sale executed by the marina, a copy of each registered or certified letter sent by the marina to the previous owner and lienholder and a certified copy of the public notice of intent to sell”; the marina must hand these over when the price is paid (13)
FormsDHSMV “shall provide certification forms for the nonjudicial sale of vessels” (2)

Minimum Florida timeline from first notice to sale: 60 days (notice) with the two-week advertisement and 15-day post-publication floor running inside or after it.

Texas — Tex. Prop. Code ch. 70, subch. A

Source: https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/PR/htm/PR.70.htm , retrieved 2026-10-16.

  • Liens. A worker who “by labor repairs an article, including a vehicle, motorboat, vessel, or outboard motor, may retain possession” until paid (§ 70.001(a)); “[a] garageman with whom a motor vehicle, motorboat, vessel, or outboard motor is left for care has a lien … for the amount of the charges for the care, including reasonable charges for towing … and excluding charges for repairs” (§ 70.003(c)). Whether a marina slip or dry-storage operator is a “garageman” with whom a vessel is “left for care” was not confirmed from a retrieved case (needs_verification).
  • Notice. For a motorboat or vessel “for which a certificate of title is required under Subchapter B, Chapter 31, Parks and Wildlife Code,” the lienholder in possession “shall give written notice to the owner and each holder of a lien recorded on the certificate of title,” by certified mail, return receipt requested, including “the amount of the charges and a request for payment” (§ 70.006(a)–(b)); notice by one newspaper publication is permitted only after a registry-information request and the other conditions of § 70.006(c). Out-of-state registered vessels: notice to last known registered owner and each lienholder of record (§ 70.006(a)).
  • Sale. “If the charges are not paid before the 31st day after the date that a copy of the notice required by Subsection (a) is filed with the county tax assessor-collector’s office, the lienholder may sell the … motorboat, vessel, or outboard motor at a public sale and apply the proceeds to the charges,” paying excess to the person entitled (§ 70.006(f)). The additional USD 25 mechanic filing language in § 70.006(a) addresses motor vehicles, but that does not make boats exempt from the filing step: TPWD’s current PWD 309A storage/mechanic packet (05/26, pp. 3–5) requires both notices, a dated receipt for filing the second with the county tax assessor-collector, newspaper sale advertising and a sale no earlier than day 31 after that filing (PWD 309A, retrieved 2026-10-17; see texas 12.3–12.4). Untitled boats and gear follow the separate § 70.005 route (60 days’ retention, request, then 20 days’ notice and public sale).
  • Unclaimed excess goes to the county treasurer, and becomes county general-fund money if unclaimed for two years (§ 70.007).
  • Buyer’s title. TPWD titles the buyer on evidence of an involuntary transfer reflecting “the proper exercise of the right conferred pursuant to the lien” (Parks & Wild. Code § 31.053(a)(5), (b)); the transferee files within 45 days of the sale (§ 31.053(c), current pre-2028 text). That is a documentary requirement, not an express statement of lien discharge; what the buyer takes against a prior lender remains needs_verification. The pre-2028 lien-sale packets are branch- specific: PWD 309A (storage/mechanic), PWD 309B (self-service storage) and PWD 309C (a licensed vehicle storage facility receiving the boat from self-storage — not marina paperwork). The transfer-by-law statement in § 31.0577 is effective January 1, 2028 and is not current transfer authority. See texas 12.4.
  • Separate statutory vessel and port liens. A supplier or repairer of a domestic vessel owned in whole or part in Texas has a lien on the vessel, tackle and freight money, and a navigation district or port has a tariff “maritime lien” enforceable in rem (Prop. Code §§ 70.101–70.103); their enforcement in court and interaction with federal maritime liens are treated on maritime-liens-and-preferred-ship-mortgages, not by the chapter 70 self-help sale (see texas 12.3).

Virginia — title carry-forward is not the whole priority rule

Section29.1-733.20 carries existing titled security interests onto operation-of-law titles unless a court orders otherwise; the section separately excludes Article9secured-party transfers. Section29.1-733.24(B)‘s lender-priority/USD150repair exception needs reconciliation with the larger keeper/repair/storage allowances before claiming a general senior-lien rule. See virginia; state title issuance is not universal maritime-lien discharge.

Ohio — separate watercraft court lien

R.C. Chapter4585 supplies a court-enforced watercraft lien, distinct from1547.305’s no-permission/no-valid-contract custody route. Section4585.01(B) subordinates that lien to the specified prior title-noted or retained-certificate security interest. Neither statutory possession nor a state sale order automatically extinguishes federal maritime interests; see ohio and pruitt-v-lgr-trucking-oh-2002 for the historical/current-period distinction.

Arkansas — enacted marina lien and proceeds amendment

The actual Act903of1997 creates the marina-lien regime, now identified as §§18-48-701–709. Act1316of1997 replaces the former surplus-holding language: proceeds go first to senior liens, then the marina, then the occupant/other entitled persons, with distribution within ten days. Do not import self-storage’s two-year hold. Undistributable residue follows the act’s reasonable-efforts/escheat provision. These retrieved enactments do not certify every intervening change or federal maritime-lien discharge; current consolidation remains open in arkansas.

North Carolina — N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 44A, art. 1

Sources: G.S. 44A-1 to 44A-6.1 (https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_44A/GS_44A-2.html and sibling URLs), retrieved 2026-10-16.

  • Lien. “Any person who tows, alters, repairs, stores, services, treats, or improves personal property other than a motor vehicle or an aircraft in the ordinary course of his business pursuant to an express or implied contract with an owner or legal possessor … has a lien,” which “shall have priority over perfected and unperfected security interests” (§ 44A-2(a)); “vessel” has the meaning in G.S. 75A-2 (§ 44A-1(6)). The lien arises on possession and ends on voluntary surrender or tender (§ 44A-3).
  • WRC-titled vessel exception. G.S.75A-44 gives title-noted security priority over other liens, except a mechanic’s repair lien subject to furnishing an itemized sworn statement on the recorded lender’s request; inventory held for sale is separately excepted. Do not export the general44A-2(a)storage priority to every titled boat. Section44A-6clears only interests the lien actually outranks; federal maritime/documentation limits remain separate.
  • Waiting period and hearing notice. Charges unpaid for 30 days (§ 44A-4(a)); then certified notice to the titled owner and the person dealt with, stating the right to a judicial hearing and a 10-day window to request one; absent a timely request the hearing is waived; if requested, the lien “may be enforced by sale … only pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction” (§ 44A-4(b)(2)).
  • Sale. Private sale on 30 days’ mailed notice, with any interested party able to demand a public sale; the lienor may not buy at private sale (§ 44A-4(c)–(d)). Public sale on 20 days’ mailed notice to the owner and “each secured party or other person claiming an interest” who is known or reasonably ascertainable, courthouse posting, and publication once a week for two weeks; held on a non-Sunday between 10:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M.; “[a] lienor may purchase at public sale” (§ 44A-4(e)).
  • Storage-charge cutoff. Absent suit within 180 days of the start of storage, storage charges accruing after that period are waived (express storage contracts: 120 days after default) (§ 44A-4(a)).
  • Proceeds. Expenses of sale, then the lien debt, then surplus to the person entitled, or to the clerk of superior court if that person cannot be found (§ 44A-5).
  • Buyer’s title. “A purchaser for value at a properly conducted sale, and a purchaser for value without constructive notice of a defect in the sale … acquires title to the property free of any interests over which the lienor was entitled to priority” (§ 44A-6).
  • Noncompliance. Lienor liable for USD 100 plus attorney’s fee and actual damages (§ 44A-4(g)).

New York — Lien Law (partial)

Lien Law § 184(1) gives a lien to a person keeping a place for “the storage, maintenance, keeping or repair of motor vehicles” and of “motor boats as defined by article seven of the navigation law,” upon “such motor vehicle, motor boat or aircraft” (https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LIE/184 , retrieved 2026-10-16; quoted fragments re-checked verbatim against the official text the same day). The general lien-sale notice section, Lien Law § 201, requires notice to the owner and to UCC-filed secured parties and listed title lienholders, an itemized claim and estimated value, a payment date “not less than ten days from the service thereof,” and a statement that the owner may bring a proceeding under § 201-a “within ten days of the service of notice if he disputes the validity of the lien” (https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LIE/201 , retrieved 2026-10-16; quoted fragments re-checked verbatim the same day). Advertisement, redemption and surplus (§§ 202–204) are in the follow-up below. Buyer’s title: article 9 has no good-faith-purchaser or discharge clause; under new-york 12.3 the purchaser takes the owner’s interest freed of the lien being enforced, while a security interest continues under UCC 9-315(a)(1) unless its holder authorized the disposition free of it; lien priority (UCC 9-333) ranks claims and is not a discharge.

California — Boaters Lien Law, Harb. & Nav. Code §§ 500–509

Summarized from california 12.3, which cites the official sections (https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HNC&sectionNum=502 and sibling section URLs).

  • Lien. Services (repairs, labor, supplies) or storage (“safekeeping, mooring, berthage, wharfage, or anchorage,” and trailer parking) for a vessel required to be registered with DMV; federally documented vessels are excluded. The lien arises when a written statement of lien is sent to the registered owner, and is extinguished unless the lienholder applies to DMV for lien-sale authorization or sues within 60 days (§§ 501, 502(a), (f)).
  • Against the lender. Not valid against the legal owner beyond USD 1,500 unless the legal owner consents after written notice on a DMV form; storage consent is presumed if the legal owner does not respond within 15 days (§ 502(b)–(e)).
  • Notice and opposition. Over USD 1,500: DMV application (BOAT 152), DMV notice to owners and interested persons with 15 days to oppose, a registration/title-transfer stop, then one newspaper advertisement 10–30 days before sale and return-receipt notice 20 days before (§ 503). USD 1,500 or less: the lienholder’s notice of pending sale 35–60 days after mailing, with a broker’s value declaration (§§ 504, 507). An opposition requires suit (ordinarily within 60 or 20 days of DMV’s notice, by band) and judgment or release before sale.
  • Sale. Inspection one hour before sale, no sealed bids, commercially reasonable (§ 506).
  • Redemption and title. In both bands the registered or legal owner may redeem within 10 days after sale; transfer documents are delivered only after that (§ 506.5). Senior-lender discharge is needs_verification; the USD 1,500 figure limits the marina’s lien against the legal owner. The Boaters Lien Law is the exclusive possessory-lien enforcement route for covered vessels (mariners-bay-v-department-of-motor-vehicles-1991).
  • Surplus. Lien plus capped sale costs (USD 100, or USD 125 with a trailer); balance to DMV within 15 days, claimable within three years (§ 507.5).

Derelict and abandoned vessels — Florida administrative regime

Sources: Fla. Stat. §§ 823.11, 705.103, 327.4107 (2026), retrieved 2026-10-16 from leg.state.fl.us.

  • Definition. A “derelict vessel” is one “[i]n a wrecked, junked, or substantially dismantled condition upon any waters of this state,” at a port without consent, or “[d]ocked, grounded, or beached upon the property of another without the consent of the owner” (§ 823.11(1)(b)); an owner may not leave one on state waters more than 24 hours (§ 823.11(2)(a)), subject to accident/storm grace periods (7 days; 45 days after a hurricane) (§ 823.11(2)(b)).
  • Removal and cost recovery. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission or listed law enforcement may relocate, remove and store a derelict vessel that obstructs navigation or endangers the environment, property or persons; “[a]ll costs … are recoverable against the owner,” and an owner who does not pay is barred from registering any vessel or motor vehicle (§ 823.11(3)(a)). Violations escalate from a first-degree misdemeanor to a second-degree felony on a third offense (§ 823.11(6)).
  • Private property. A property owner may remove a derelict vessel beached on its land “at the vessel owner’s expense 60 days after compliance with the notice requirements specified in s. 328.17(5)” (§ 823.11(5)).
  • Notice and hearing. For a derelict or public-nuisance vessel, officers post a notice that it “must be removed within 21 days,” mail it certified to the owner and DHSMV-listed lienholders, and inform of the right to a hearing; after 21 days without removal or a hearing request the agency may remove and destroy the vessel or authorize its use as an artificial reef (§ 705.103(2)(a)1.b., 2.b.). Other abandoned property on public property may, after a 5-day posted notice, be retained, traded, donated, sold, or sent to refuse removal (§ 705.103(2)(a)1.a., 2.a.). Lost property is held 90 days and, if the agency elects to sell, sold at public sale by competitive bidding on a notice stating “that the sale shall be subject to any and all liens,” with net proceeds held a year for the owner, then paid to the State School Fund (§ 705.103(2)(b)2., (3)). The owner remains liable for “all costs of removal, storage, destruction, and disposal … less any salvage value” (§ 705.103(4)).
  • At-risk vessels. Separate infractions apply to vessels “at risk of becoming derelict” (taking on water without effective dewatering, open to the elements, broken loose, listing, no effective propulsion, or tied to an unlawful mooring) (§ 327.4107(2)).

Buyer implication. In Florida the statutory endpoint for a derelict vessel on public waters is removal and destruction, not a sale; a vessel bought at any forced sale that is left in a derelict or at-risk condition exposes the new owner to removal-cost liability, registration bars and criminal penalties under §§ 823.11 and 705.103(4).

Surplus

Florida: owner’s balance held by the marina, deemed abandoned after one year (§ 328.17(12)); agency lost-property proceeds held one year, then to the State School Fund (§ 705.103(3)). Texas: unclaimed excess to the county treasurer, county property after two years (Tex. Prop. Code § 70.007). North Carolina: to the person entitled, or the clerk of superior court (G.S. 44A-5).

▸ For Buyers / Operators — A state lien sale is not a free-and-clear sale. Pull the USCG abstract (documented) or state title and lien record (undocumented); treat any recorded mortgage or title lien as surviving under Fla. Stat. § 328.17(11) / N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-6; treat unrecorded maritime liens as surviving (the-adeline-1918); collect the § 328.17(13) packet at closing; and price in the cost of a federal in rem quiet-title action if a clean title is required. See buying-a-vessel-at-a-forced-sale.

▸ For Owners / Debtors — Florida: 60 days’ notice and a pre-sale payoff right (§ 328.17(5), (10)), owner balance claimable for one year (§ 328.17(12)). North Carolina: 10 days from receipt to demand a judicial hearing (§ 44A-4(b)(2)). Florida derelict notices carry a 21-day removal period and a hearing right (§ 705.103(2)).

Louisiana — stored-vessel statutory route

R.S. 9:4781 creates the marina storage privilege, while § 4782(B) excludes a documented vessel subject to a preferred ship mortgage or other preferred maritime privilege. Do not apply its state-sale protection to that excluded federal channel. Section 4784 requires its default, demand, lender-notice, advertising and commercially reasonable-sale conditions. Its waterfall pays expenses and superior recorded mortgages before the marina privilege, then other recorded claims in rank and owner surplus. Its protected purchaser and notarized bill signed by buyer and marina, with notice/publication evidence, are statutory and conditional, not a universal clean-title promise. Section 852.14 separately covers involuntary-transfer documents and the sixty-day application. Current LDWF form/final-rule text and additional notice questions remain open; the January 2027 Act 365 trigger is not October 2026 law in force. See louisiana.

A separate Towed and Stored Vessel Act (R.S. 9:4791–4798) gives a licensed storage facility a privilege on towed vessels, excluding documented vessels with preferred mortgages (§ 4793): LDWF report within three business days, owner and lienholder notice within 10 business days (5 if electronic) after LDWF supplies the data, two weekly advertisements in the parish official journal, and a commercially reasonable public sale no earlier than 30 days after notice and more than 15 days after the first advertisement. Proceeds pay superior recorded mortgages before the privilege; the purchaser takes free of persons against whom the privilege was valid and all other lienholders of record, on a notarized bill of sale with proof of notices (§§ 4794–4797). See louisiana 12.3A.

Connecticut and Delaware — title records and federal scope

Connecticut chapter 269 adds the vessel certificate-of-title regime, including its model-year/ exclusion rules and §§ 15-218/219’s distinct secured-party versus transfer- by-law routes. B-148 and DMV-record interest notification/carry-forward must be checked, not only Secretary of the State filings. Section 49-55d preserves its prior-encumbrance qualification; the DMV-only-perfection versus § 49-55 priority issue remains open. See connecticut.

For Delaware, state lien rank and chapter 39’s distribution are not a federal in-rem discharge or a complete DNREC registration packet. Federal § 31307’s preemption and § 31342’s necessaries lien are not limited simply to documented vessels; preferred-mortgage documentation conditions are a different question. The DNREC application does not adjudicate unpaid maritime claims. See delaware and maritime-liens-and-preferred-ship-mortgages.

Pennsylvania — marine forfeiture is not every abandoned-boat sale

Title 30, chapter 53’s marine-business route has a 2026 eligible resale-value ceiling of USD 8,170, not a cap on every recoverable storage bill. PFBC/customer notices, newspaper stages, reclamation and conditional forfeiture/title consequences remain necessary. The public chapter 57 and private § 93.17 routes are distinct. Actual public implementation uses PFBC-ADV-001 and PFBC-R3; the agency describes municipal REV-336 registration/title and use/resale or authorized-salvor disposal. That shortcut’s lender effects remain open. Current title fee is USD 30, not the printed statutory USD 15. Trailer-dealer forfeiture has a separate 2026 USD 1,620 ceiling and MV-26/MV-26D packet, not the boat timetable. See pennsylvania for the actual 2026 adjustment sources and each route’s lien/title limits.

Current public-property scope: effective September 12, 2026, final 56 Pa.B. 6031 expressly adopts § 91.2(d)‘s definition in the published annex. The served consolidated definition omits it. Determine actual public ownership/ control; April staff-draft commercial-storage wording was not the adopted text. This scope amendment does not itself discharge lenders or replace § 93.110.

For a qualifying titled-boat public auction, § 93.110(c)(7) expressly supplies clean title after its owner/lienholder notices, reclamation and authorization process. Subsection (b)(8) separately divests interests on the full private titled-abandonment certificate; (c)(9) permits that route for government landholders. Do not equate these with registration-only § 93.17, the municipal shortcut, Chapter 57 removal alone or federal maritime discharge. Chapter 57’s 7/14/30-day stages differ from § 93.110’s salvor report within 48 hours after possession and reclamation within 30 days after notice. The Commission may dispose or authorize salvor disposal after 45 days from the specified certified notice or publication; surplus is held 60 days from sale. Section 93.102(d)–(e) also requires the appropriate complete application and foreign-title/USCG documentation evidence. These clocks are not added indiscriminately.

Indiana — marina abandonment is not DNR or federal in-rem disposal

The official 2026 IC 32-34-10 marina route is distinct from IC32-33-2court attachment and DNR’s90-day impoundment route. In the actual BMV abandoned-watercraft packet, the six-month abandonment period begins with prescribed written notice; registry/NVDC/BMV searches, receipt-based10-day demand, two weekly ads, 15days after first publication and auction30days after return receipt are separate conditions, not interchangeable deadlines. The current packet uses 50634/ 38529, inspection/title/tax support and conditional lien-release language. Neither an affidavit nor state marina retention proves discharge of a preferred mortgage; federal maritime jurisdiction/discharge remains separate. indiana preserves the actual packet/statute source versions and remaining buyer-interest questions.

Wisconsin — state defendant-interest sale is not federal in-rem foreclosure

Chapter780’s sale rule concerns the defendant’s interest under its attachment scheme. It is not equivalent to federal district-court in-rem discharge under 46U.S.C.§31326, and §31307 preserves the federal jurisdiction/preemption boundary. Do not promise priority over every preferred ship mortgage. The separate repair subsection’s USD 1,200 priority threshold is not a universal debt cap. wisconsin supplies the actual state/federal source versions and conditional title routes.

South Carolina — identify the grant, court and tax separately

The vessel-service route in Title29 chapter9 uses a Common Pleas petition; the aircraft grant separately incorporates that procedure. Neither is automatically the ordinary §29-15-10magistrate repair/storage sale, and neither supplies a blanket federal preferred- mortgage discharge. south-carolina distinguishes the actual grants.

The current outboard-motor exclusion below five horsepower appears in §50-21-10(17), not solely the title chapter. RR22-6 supersedes RR20-1: covered boat/motor casual excise is 5%, maximum USD 500. Federal documentation itself is not the taxable issuance; that does not exempt an independently taxable retail/use purchase. Act109’s revised vessel/outboard title-registration provisions take effect January1,2027, not on enactment. Do not apply them to an October2026transfer.

Minnesota — attachment against the owner is not maritime in-rem process

Minnesota’s vessel-service statutes cannot override federal admiralty jurisdiction. The complete Supreme Court opinions in The Moses Taylor and The Hine v. Trevor distinguish an action against the owner with attachment from an impermissible state maritime in-rem proceeding. State sale is not automatically the federal §31326sale that terminates specified vessel interests and transfers them to proceeds. See minnesota for actual service/keeper grants, nonmaritime predicates and the separate federal-source limitations.

Kentucky — current vessel inclusion and the judicial marina branch

Section376.268 includes waterway vessels for §376.270; the1984amendment means btc-leasing-v-martin-1984’s historical vessel gap is not current law. central-trust-v-dans-marina-1993 upheld the specified preservation repairs/towing/storage priority but reversed profit-enhancing service charges; it was not universal purchaser-discharge authority.

Section376.272 provides a civil-action alternative: discernible secured parties, including recorded preferred mortgagees, must receive notice and be joined. Its compliant court-directed title order transfers specified liens to proceeds, subject to federal restrictions for documented vessels. State joinder and title language do not create federal maritime in-rem jurisdiction or erase that express limitation. See kentucky for each notice/sale branch.

Nevada — the vessel priority split differs from vehicle towing

Section108.690’s vessel priority provision concerns the excess over USD 1,000; do not substitute §108.290’s whole-lien first/second test. The authorized state sale is not automatically a federal maritime in-rem sale or preferred-mortgage purge. Current NDOW satisfaction/repossession paperwork is also not the missing current lien-sale affidavit; a2026URL does not change its printed June2025 revision. nevada preserves the actual federal/title and source boundaries.

Full NAC488.322/.324/.326 and adopted R015-16 supply actual title-release/affidavit alternatives, certified return/attempt evidence, twenty-two-day publication proof and separate owner/storage notices. Inspection opportunity and the no-refused-bids/sealed-unit restrictions also matter. These recovered legal packet requirements do not recover the missing current NDOW convenience blank or guarantee discharge of federal interests.

Washington — police impound, moorage and DNR custody are different

RCW79A.60.045 police-vessel impound is separate from private/public moorage, DNR custody and State Parks facility sales. Its compliant completed foreclosure forfeits registered/legal ownership; TD-420-291/-292precede the buyer’s TD-420-294 affidavit plus TD-420-289, with the statutory fourteen-day foreclosure report. This does not itself discharge every federal maritime interest.

The April19amended barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-wa-m12-2018 opinion distinguishes state/private sales from federal in-rem maritime discharge; its reserved bankruptcy question is not a blanket ban on all bankruptcy vessel sales. Brazier distinguishes governmental borrower-created security from a government vendor selling goods: public seller identity alone does not take an existing private debtor’s security agreement outside Article9A. Apply the particular port/Parks/DNR preserved-priority and ownership-transfer rules, actual authorizations/releases and federal limits; a charges-first proceeds sequence is not universal lender discharge. washington supplies those conditional buyer answers rather than an unresearched all-government exclusion or an all-liens-cleared promise.

State-law passage evidence under46CFR67.91requires its statute, acting-party affidavit, substantial-compliance evidence and recordable agent bill of sale; ownership documentation is not blanket maritime-lien discharge. Section31325(f) also preserves other maritime liens/preferred mortgages after the specified mortgagee extrajudicial sale. See washington for the dated federal sources and distinct state/federal transfer limits.

DNR source discrepancy: RCW79.100.150 requires its qualifying inspection and documentation before transfer for vessels more than35feet and more than40years, with the registration/listing conditions. WAC332-08-122’s older65-foot text and the actual07JAN26form’s36-foot/40-year/five-business- day wording are not identical. The current two-page form was retrieved; the issue is actual conflicting instructions, not an unavailable form. Enacted2026c.8 removes the universal known/locatable/controlling-owner condition and adds the two-full-registration-periods/removal-priority branch. Its original proposal’s different disposal/appeal changes were not enacted. See the state page’s primary sources and currentness limits rather than treating older guidance as a current all-lender-discharge rule.

Minnesota title/fee precision

Chapter86B’s title definition generally concerns vessels greater than sixteen feet, with enumerated exclusions, followed by825’s actual use/title conditions and exceptions. It is not simply every boat present ninety days. The aquatic- invasive surcharge is415(7), not the leased-watercraft subdivision. Title and registration filing/transfer charges are distinct;870(2)‘s concurrent title/license transfer substitutes the title fee for the transfer fee rather than double-charging it. See minnesota for current amounts and exceptions.

Kansas — registration is not an ownership-title certificate

32-1111 uses numbering/registration; ordinary Kansas watercraft do not receive a state boat title. The current agency instructions, new/transfer application and documented-boat application give actual ownership/HIN evidence and conditional tax requirements. No printed revision is invented from a URL timestamp. Ordinary three-year42.50is40base, 1agent and1.50transaction; online adds2.95%, telephone substitutes4.25for the1agent charge plus transaction/processing charges. Duplicates are10plus applicable fees. The obsolete32.50mirror is not current evidence. A number or registration alone does not extinguish private or federal liens. See kansas.

Missouri — documented-vessel application is not the issued certificate

Actual 4398,07-2026 is the documented- vessel application;4086is the issued certificate, not an assumed downloadable application. 1275,08-2025 and4398supply the actual price/tax, residency-clock, property-tax and documentation/ownership requirements. The full-price/no-trade-in documented-vessel rule is distinct from ordinary motor-vehicle offsets. An unsuccessful guessed4086PDF URL does not negate the recovered current application. See missouri for the actual fee brackets, thirty/sixty-day conditions and transfer/surviving-interest rules.

Oregon — agency vesting is not a lender-release certificate

830.933 authorizes compliant derelict-vessel vesting/disposal. Read it with the positive 830.740rule keeping covered security effective until release/termination and its UCCrights/remedies provision, plus 79A.3150’s continuation through disposition unless authorized free or actually displaced. 830.755operation-of-law title evidence is not itself a release. This disclosed combined reading answers ordinary private-security survival without inventing an appellate holding on every agency auction.

Separate full federal 31325/31326 rules distinguish district-court in-rem discharge from state-agency vesting. Even31325’s authorized mortgagee extrajudicial remedy preserves other maritime liens/preferred mortgages under(f)(2); a public seller/title label is not a federal discharge. oregon retains actual sale, notice, release and federal conditions, not a promise of universally clean title.

Needs verification

  • Whether a state marina/storage lien outranks a previously recorded preferred ship mortgage.
  • Whether marina dockage/storage charges are also a federal maritime lien for necessaries.
  • A primary decision applying The Adeline / Vandewater reasoning to a Florida § 328.17 sale.
  • Texas: whether a bare wet-slip/dry-stack lease is “left for care”; the repair/storage-sale purchaser’s title against a prior lender (see texas 12.3).
  • New York: an innocent downstream buyer’s title after a Lien Law article 9 vessel sale (no retained decision decides it; see new-york 12.3).
  • California: senior-lender discharge after a Boaters Lien Law sale (see california 12.3).
  • Fla. Stat. § 376.15 (derelict vessel provisions in ch. 376) — retrieval returned no usable text.

New York follow-up — 2026-10-17

The full official Lien 201, 201-a, 202, 203 and 204 texts now supply the previously missing notice/redemption/surplus detail. Diligent personal service precedes applicable certified return-receipt and first-class fallback mail; publication follows the actual payment deadline. The statutory surplus deposit is not a purchaser-title warranty. slattery-v-strongs-marine-2024 (marina conversion damages where no diligent personal-service attempt preceded mailing) rests on an October 17 reading whose copy was not retained in the 2026-10-18 review (needs_verification); it does not decide an innocent purchaser’s title. See new-york for the full case page, exact clocks and distinct state/federal lien channels. Earlier failed-attempt provenance remains historical, not a current blanket retrieval failure or permission to apply a vehicle shortcut to a vessel.

vessels, maritime-liens-and-preferred-ship-mortgages, admiralty-arrest-and-marshals-sale, buying-a-vessel-at-a-forced-sale, uscg-national-vessel-documentation-center, good-faith-purchaser, lien-survival, surplus-funds, environmental-liens, the-adeline-1918, madruga-v-superior-court-1954, in-re-millenium-seacarriers-2005, florida, texas, north-carolina, new-york, california

Mississippi — state work/harbor liens and federal title rules

State § 85-7-7 work liens require actual privity under Trinity and timely six-month judicial filing. Municipal harbor § 85-7-9 is an independent grant, not merely an asset alias. Federal 46 U.S.C. § 31307 preemption and § 31326 judicial-sale discharge are separate questions; a state sale is not automatically free of preferred ship mortgages.

The historical full Title 59 reproduction, read with checked later enactments in mississippi, supplies § 59-25-11’s thirty-day involuntary-title packet with authority/certified evidence and available prior title/registration. The actual MDWFP application prints REV. 7/2024 and USD 13.49. Neither the form nor title processing guarantees federal lien discharge.

New Hampshire — public abandonment and private storage differ

RSA270-B supplies the public abandoned-boat custody, ninety-day redemption and section7disposition route. That is not every private boatyard’s repair/storage enforcement under RSA450/444, and neither is a federal maritime judicial sale. State paperwork does not by itself extinguish independent superior or federal maritime interests.

RSA451-C:1,VIII expressly includes boats, watercraft, OHRVs and snowmobiles in its vehicle definition. Section13’s good-faith buyer protection is established; the narrower unresolved question is pre-sale ranking against a previously perfected lender, not whether the buyer-protection clause exists. Use actual boat application/HIN evidence and federal ownership records where applicable; see new-hampshire.

Rhode Island — dry-dock public sale is a separate remedy

Section34-46-5 permits the qualifying operator’s commercially reasonable public cash sale after more than ninety days’ default and compliance with the separate notice predicates. The thirty-day demand runs from the actual last required default notice; the two weekly advertisements follow that period and sale is more than fifteen days after the first publication. Personal-service and fallback rules cannot be replaced by a universal mailed-notice shortcut.

The statute states its own purchaser protection and proceeds order, including recorded liens and owner surplus; uncollected surplus after thirty days goes to the general treasurer. This is not chapter34-35’s court-only remedy or automatic federal maritime judicial-sale discharge. rhode-island distinguishes the state sale, ordinary title evidence and independent federal interests.

South Dakota — current specific repair-title inclusion

The 2026 amendment to 32-3-67–69 expressly includes defined boats and trailers in the specific unpaid-repair title route. That does not make every marina storage debt a vehicle lien or dispense with the owner/insurer/lender notices, separate reclaim clocks, public sale and entitled-excess rules. The general44-11-1 motor-vehicle exclusion remains a whole-section qualification. south-dakota states the actual boat/title forms, independent federal interests and channel-specific authority; state title processing alone is not a federal maritime judicial-sale discharge.

Sources

This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. State lien-sale statutes are amended frequently and their interaction with federal maritime law is unsettled in places. Verify every notice period, search requirement and title rule against the current statute, and consult a licensed attorney in the relevant state before acting. Last verified: 2026-10-16.

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