skunk ape, what kind of boat are you wanting? aluminum jon boat?
Please give more detail on this.
You asked for it lol
I buy the boat in January '08, take the title in that i got with the boat, register the boat in my name. After about 3 months of getting sick of loading it in the back of the truck, i buy a trailer in May of the same year. Take that title, switch it all into my name. From May till December I used it usually 2-3 times a week fishin Lake Tarpon. Over this time, I have gotten stopped by the sheriff for a safety check and a game warden once and no one ever had a problem with any of my paperwork. Everything was fine. So 5 days after Christmas that year, I drive up to the hunt camp to duck hunt for a few days and brought my boat up. We hunt that evening. Im sitting in my boat and the other two guys i was with were in their boat pickin up the decoys. Two game wardens pull up on an air boat. They check our licenses, make sure our guns were plugged, checked our ammo, whole nine yards. I had my registration on board but my buddies didnt, so the game wardens follow us back to the ramp to check their registration. The one game warden is dealing with them and the other is with me. So the game warden starts searching for an additional number or something that is apparently stamped on the bottom of all aluminum boats (???? Ive never heard of this either! and he was not talking about the HIN number either) Doesnt find it on my boat or my buddies boat so they take both boats and both trailers (needed the trailers to transport the boats to their office in Ocala) to "further investigate" :ban So the game warden calls me about a month later and says i can come pick up my trailer because they didnt need it anymore. I drive back up to Panasofkee to pick it up and he tells me it would be against the law to sell the trailer because it was "involved in moving stolen property" (those were his words exactly) I didnt steal the boat, bought it for 350$ from a guy in Pasco off of Craigslist and he said he had had it since about '95.
To this day I have not heard anything from the officer or anyone from the FWC. I havent ever formally been charged with anything, never got anything in the mail, nothing. All the same things happened to my buddy exactly. He hasnt heard anything either.
We both have been stopped by game wardens too in other WMAs and had our licenses ran and they have no record of this either. Like it never happened.
I'm looking for a freshwater aluminum rig with a wide bow.At least 14' but would like a 16'.Don't want any fixer uppers,something kinda fresh and I wouldn't buy anything without a clean title.Need room for my 3 boys,they all decided they love to fish as much as me.Don't need a giant outboard,something to push it around a lake.
So do you have a claim #, or any paperwork from FWC to verify that they even have your boat? Something is fishy with that. I would have lawyered up and got my boat back. Just the opinion of someone reading this online
To the best of my knowledge, there is no other # on a boat other than the HIN.
Yea we had a lawyer up there looking into it and thats how i know i never was or never will get charged with anything. He never found anything else out. My parents still have all the paperwork i believe. I had an impound sheet with the boats info and numbers for both officers. Havent seen either of the officers since this date and they used to work Sumter and Lake counties exclusively on the water.
