When I bought my house the old man had a 16.5 ft aluminium Lund and a 8hp gas motor. I bought it for $100 and he never produced a title to either. I sent him registered letters and the person that was on the title. The guy on the title is supposedly his buddy but I can't get a hold of either of them. I am redoing the boat to give to my son-in-law as a surprise but I'm not sure how much more I want to do until I get titles. The TP&W tells me to fill out all this paperwork and mail it to Austin and it takes about 6 months to get the title, if I get it. The boat is coming along nicely but I don't want to end up with $2,000 in a boat that's not mine. Any ideas?

The pics above are what it looked like when I got it. Here are a few of what it looks like after sand blasting, primer, paint and some carpet. The last pic is a boat wrap that will go where the light grey is. It will have LED lights for bow and stern plus LED lights to light the inside of the boat. Should look pretty cool when it's finished.

I did the same with a boat and motor from OK.

If you fill out the paperwork that the nice TP&W lady (or man) gives you at the window you will be able to transfer the items to whomever you wish in about 6 months. It takes time to fulfill the legal requirements and to document the procedure.

Legally . . . . . .

buying a boat an motor from someone that doesnt have titles in their name is a big pain in the butt its better to walk away an find one that is titled correctly.

Well, I filled out all the paperwork on the Parks and Wildlife website, mailed it all to Austin Tx and 4 weeks later I got all the paperwork to get the boat and motor put in my name. Just need a day off during the week to go get it all done. Wasn't bad at all really.

cool man..
I have to go down there tomorrow morning to do a transfer on one I just bought
I am dreading it.. hate dealing with the govt, lines and forms

ccoker: If everything is upright and legal, you can do a transfer online. Any problems with forms, signatures, will require a face to face with the TPWD folks. I recently did a registration & title on a boat I bought that had questionable numbers. The boat S/N wasn't in their data base, and they gave me a title. That was the Corpus office. Austin might not be so easy. Good luck. IslandJim

yes, everything is upright and legal
I have signed over titles on my desk
I have been on the TPWD website and everything read like I have to go down to the office.
Will check into it, thanks!

I bought a boat from a guy that had been upside down in his yard for 4 years.
No title -- no serial numbers -- no TX numbers --- NADA, NOTHING
Can I get it titled and numbered ?