First boat, old 12' Sears flat bottom

[Loxahatchee]

Hey all, first post here. I have an old (possibly from the 80s?) Sears flat bottom jon boat that my neighbor had lying in his backyard for a while and let me have it for free. 12' long, 32" wide at the floor and 46" at the beam. Boats here need to have a title and registration, and unfortunately my neighbor was given the boat by a friend and did not recieve any paperwork with it. I would like to fix it up and be able to fish it in our local lake and surrounding canals here in south Florida. I filled it with a few inches of water to check the bottom rivets for leaks and did not find any, so thats a relief. Next test is to launch the boat into the canal at the end of my street and paddle around a bit to see how it floats :mrgreen:











I've been checking craigslist regularly for a motor and trailer but so far no luck. Not in that big a hurry right now so no big deal. Been looking mainly for an 8hp or a 9.9hp since there will most likely always be 2 people in the boat fishing, either me and my dad or me and my buddy I fish with regularly.

My first objective is to try and figure out how to title and register the boat, which looks to have been registered at some point and used judging by the holes in the benches that were most likely from seats being mounted there. Once I have proper title and registration I will begin outfitting her for fishing (seats, rod holders, a motor ) I have no experience with tin boats so I guess you could call this my first "build along" :lol: I mainly started this thread so I'd be able to ask you tin boat gurus some beginner questions that are sure to pop up :roll:

Thanks yall!

 

[JMichael]

Since you have the old registration #, they can probably pull up the old registration info. That will give you the HIN and the name and address of the last title holder.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Don't spend any money on it till it's legally yours.

 

[Southern Appal]

Registration requirements vary by state. In NC I had a bill of sale and the registration numbers from the side of the boat. State could not say who had registered the boat in the past. Nor would that accept bill of sale. I had to ask PO to provide a notarized statement of lost title. Maybe the guy who gave you the boat would do that.