I have a question because I am basically unfamiliar with this. As I have posted here several times, many of the long time (read old) boaters in our area are selling. It seems that 20-30 years ago it was "normal" to have your sailboat USCG documented, our Islander included. I say that becuase I know very few people at our club that do it anymore. I understand that at one time it was a money saver as you did not have to pay stse registration fees. That has since changed here in PA, even if your boat is documented you are required to also have it registered in the state and display the registration numbers. I believe USCG documentation is also a plus if your are taking your boat out of the country, but I'm actually speculating a bit on that.

So actual question. In many of the ads for local Lake Erie sailboats I see one of the first items in the description as "USCG documented vessel"......put in just as you would put in Hood Roller furling, or new mainsail, etc. Is this really a selling feature for a 25+ year old boat that will likely never leave Lake Erie? Is there more to USCG documentation than a universal registration that I am missing? As I said, our Islander was documented at one time, the PO let it lapse years before we purchased the boat and we never got it renewed. I didn't see any reason to.