A boat buyer in Bremerton, Wash., thought he found the boat of his dreams when he spotted a 1997 24-foot Sea Sport fishing boat listed online by PTL "Praise The Lord" Yacht Sales, Inc., a dealer in Port Clinton, Ohio.

The price was right and the surveyor recommended by the dealer and hired by the buyer gave the boat a more-or-less clean bill of health, noting that, although he found some elevated moisture levels in the deck, frames and transom, these structures appeared sound. The survey report recommended only minor repairs and cosmetic work.

When a mechanic's inspection showed problems with the starboard engine, the dealer agreed to drop the price by $7,500, to $35,000.

What could go wrong, the buyer thought, especially given the PTL mission statement, "Through grace and with glory to God, we will locate, list and sell many boats and yachts, thus building lasting relationships with our many satisfied customers."This 1997 24-foot Sea Sport appeared okay in Web ad photos but a thorough survey revealed significant damage that was not disclosed or depicted.

He traveled to Port Clinton in September 2004 for the sea trial and later arranged to have the boat shipped to the West Coast.

UNWELCOME DISCOVERY

Fast-forward a few months to spring 2005. The proud new owner recalls, "With the boat ready to go, I took it out for the first time. The only major discrepancy I noticed was the starboard gunwale had excessive vibration."

He was in for a surprise when he cleaned the boat afterwards. "I noticed that repairs had been completed on the starboard gunwale, keel and bow flair and there was water seepage on the starboard chine." In retrospect, he recalled that the online ad on PTL Yacht Sales' Web site showed photos taken from the boat's port side only.

The owner decided to have the boat surveyed again, but this time by a local surveyor who found the boat's condition made it unsafe to use and wrote in his report, "This vessel was subjected to an excessive trauma, which caused serious damage to the starboard hull bottom, starboard topsides, starboard deck, starboard cabin top, helm, controls and wiring."

The situation, already strange, took another twist. The marina in Bellingham, Wash., where the buyer keeps the boat, just happened to be the dealership that sold it to its first owner in 1997. The dealer confirmed that the boat had been moved to Texas, where they learned from its first owner that it was totaled in a hurricane after breaking free from its mooring and rolling onto the beach – on its starboard side. The owner then took the boat to Ohio, where PTL Yachts put it up for sale.

The boat owner reported the incident to the BoatU.S. Consumer Protection Bureau hoping that the dealer and possibly the surveyor in Ohio could be persuaded to help with repairs. The surveyor agreed to travel to Bellingham to inspect the boat and has since offered to help, although he maintains that it is possible the damage occurred while the boat was being trailered from Ohio to Washington.

"I think it is a fine line between over-reacting to an unknown situation and understating it, as in the case of wet core," the Ohio surveyor told BoatU.S. "I think we could argue the points here forever.

"Assigning blame is time consuming and expensive; resolving the differences at this time would make more sense," the surveyor concluded.

PATCHWORK OF LAWS

This scenario points to a disturbing dilemma for boat buyers. While all states have laws requiring the titles of junked or salvaged cars be "branded" as such, few states have similar laws for boats that have been wrecked in storms and accidents.

Unlike automobile titling laws, which are consistent in all 50 states, boat registration laws are a patchwork of different requirements and regulations across the country. All states have boat registration laws in place, but laws aren't consistent about which boats must be registered. On top of that, powered vessels are required to be titled in only 36 states, so thieves or others wishing to obscure a boat's history need only cross state lines to avoid detection.

States routinely require that titles of junked boats be relinquished to the boat registration agency, but little else. If a wreck is moved to a non-titling state, it can be refurbished and sold – and the absence of title doesn't raise any concern.

"The problems caused by the absence of salvage vessel titling laws have come onto everyone's radar screen because of all the hurricanes in the past two years," says Carroll Robertson, senior vice president of BoatU.S. Marine Insurance Claims. "The state of Florida has instructed insurance companies that they [insurance companies] must be named on the titles of boats sold in salvage auctions."