Drift Boat Registration

The rivers are still very high, if not completely flooded like the Weber is right now. So…I decided to put a motor on my drift boat and expand my fishing horizons by doing more Stillwater fishing.

Adding a motor to a boat in Utah requires registration with the DMV. This is not a straight forward proposition so I thought I’d let you know what I’ve learned through this process.

All motorized boats require registration. This is similar to registering a car and uses the same Uniform Age-based fee table. The categories for boats are according to the type of boat, its age and its length. For a drift boat there wasn’t a clear-cut category. There was a category for motor boats less than 15 feet in length, the fee is $10.00. The fee for Boats 15 – 19 feet in length is determined by age: <3 yrs is $150, 3-6 yrs is $110, 6-9 yrs is $80, 9-12 yrs $65 and >12 yrs is $25. There was another category for Canoe, Jon or Utility Boat  with a fee of $10.00 and another category for Collapsible Inflatable Vessel, Pontoon or Sailboat 15 – 19 feet in length also with $10.00 fee. There were other categories for longer boats but these I listed were the ones closest to what a drift boat would be considered. A drift boat doesn’t exactly fit any of these categories. It isn’t a motor boat but is more like a row boat. There isn’t a category for a row boat. The DMV decided that the closest thing was a canoe. I accepted that, being that it belonged to the least expensive fee category. I actually brought in pictures of the boat to help them classify it properly and to make sure I didn’t have to bring the boat in for inspection.

The next question is; does it need to be titled? Boats with motors less than 25 horse power are not titled so it is considered a Non-Titled Watercraft. Boats with less than 75 horse power do not require insurance.

Boats are identified by Hull Identification Numbers. These are 12 letters and numbers located on the rear of the transom and will be included on your registration.

The trailer only needs registration if it weighs more than 750 pounds.

OK, with the age based fee of only $10 I thought it was going to be inexpensive to register the boat. Well, then they added all the different taxes, even though I had purchased the boat four years before: Local Sales Tax, Mass Transit Tax, State Sales Tax, Watercraft Search & Rescue Fee, County Options Sales Tax, Zoo Cultural Tax and Watercraft Registration. I had never heard of so many taxes in my life. By the time I was done it cost around $350 to register the boat.

The first time you register a boat you have to personally go to the DMV. In subsequent years you are sent the registration renewal in the mail. Also, the taxes are a one time event.

Upon registering your boat, you are given your registration decals and are assigned bow numbers. The registration decals consist of your Month of Registration decals and your Yearly registration decals. You are given two of each for each side of the boat. You must purchase two each of the assigned bow numbers or they can be painted on. The numbers must be at least 3 inches high, be a solid contrasting color to your boat and be block letters and numbers. This registration number goes on each side of the front half of the boat. The yearly decals go 3 inches aft of the registration number (toward the rear of the boat) and then the month decals go immediately aft of this.