Trailer Title Nightmare
TL;DR for this story is: DON'T BUY AN OUT OF STATE TRAILER WITHOUT A VALID REGISTRATION
This spring I tried to title my pontoon trailer and get a plate. Started calling plate/title shops and got 10 different answers on how to get that done, because the trailer came from Ohio and the guy who bought it (and then sold it to me) didn't get any paperwork for it because he never planned to register it. The place in Cranberry told me that I needed to take the trailer to a enhanced inspection station and have them do the paperwork to create a title. Problem with that is you need to take them the trailer WITHOUT the boat on it so they can weight it. Well that's a pain. So I decide that I'll launch the boat on Arthur (closest to me) and leave my buddies fish while I take it to the EIS in Portersville. When I call them to set something up they tell me that you can't do the paperwork I was told to do... that's for homemade trailers only. I get the feeling that some places just wink/nod this part and do the paperwork anyway but the shop in Portersville doesn't. I don't really blame them for it. Also the fees for this deal are outrageous even if I could get someone to do it. Like ~$400.
So I thought I'd be tricksy and have a friend register the thing in Ohio. After all, Ohio will register a squirrel with wheels for legs as long as you have a bill of sale and a certified weight. And that would have been fine, if I had gotten a certified weight FROM OHIO. Seems those clowns will only accept a certified weight on one of their **** state forms. Which I'm glad I found out after wasting an hour of fishing running to the CAT scales on 422 a couple weeks back while the guys drove my boat around.
Now I'm thinking of just trading the stupid thing in on a newer trailer to an outfit in Ohio. Bonus is I'd have a nicer/new trailer all legal and gtg, but something seems silly about having a 20 year old redneck special pontoon on a shiney new trailer. When I go to sell the thing to upgrade I'm going to hate to give the thing up with the boat.
So for all you guys looking at boats on Craigslist from Ohio be sure they have the boat title and a current registration for the trailer or don't buy it. Guys who tell you that it is easy to "just get a title from a notary" either did it a long time ago, found some mafia-style inspection shop to fake the paperwork, or they are full of crap.