Can I search the title history for a boat I'm looking to purchase?
When you buy a used car, chances are you may have used a service such as Carfax to try to learn something about the car's history. Unfortunately, there's no comparable service for boats.
Vehicle-history services can query state databases for title history, but not every state requires titles for boats. And even if you did get the history, unlike car titles that are "branded" if a car has been totaled, very few states brand boat titles for rebuilt, sunk, or totaled boats. Also, boat dealers and insurance companies don't report warranty work or claims to a single accessible database.
If you want to learn about your boat's title in a state that has them, you can look up the agency online and ask. It's not always easy, but it may save you some hassle. A seller can show you his title (in states that have them) that will note if a boat has a current lien on it, so at least you'll know a loan will have to be paid off before title can be transferred to a new owner.
If a boat is federally documented, you can do a free search in the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) database. You won't get much more than ownership information with that, though, unless you pay $25 for an abstract of title, which also shows liens.