Help Me Hank: Help Me Hank! Docked in the driveway

Alberta DaRosa, boat owner
"My husband is going to fix it up, put new seats in it."

She bought it last year for only $700, a deal she and her husband could not resist.

Alberta DaRosa, boat owner
"It was a very good price."

But when the seller handed over the boat documents, his name wasn't on them, someone else's was.

Alberta DaRosa, boat owner
"That did give me a kind of uneasy feeling."

Guess so. But he explained he'd bought it from that person and never registered it. So he insisted it was all above board.

Alberta made the deal and brought the documents to the MA Environmental Police to make it legal.

Alberta DaRosa, boat owner
"I thought we were going to get the boat registered and be on our way."

But then the deal started to go under! The police needed the title, but there was no boat title in her stack of paperwork.

She called the man who sold her the boat, and he said he never got the title. Then she mailed a letter to the woman listed on the old registration, but no response. No title, no boat ride.

Alberta DaRosa, boat owner
"I was thinking that I'm stuck with a boat that I can't even donate."

The boat sat in her driveway for a year. Without the title the boat was beached.

Alberta DaRosa, boat owner
"So I e-mailed Help Me Hank that night."

We called the Environmental Police to find out if Alberta's boat could ever hit the water.

Hank Phillippi Ryan, Investigative Reporter
"This is Hank Phillippi Ryan."

They told us her hopes for using Seven Skees had not run aground. First they checked: was the boat stolen? Nope, so smooth sailing.

All Alberta had to do was write a letter explaining why the original title was missing, get it notarized and then, along with the bill of sale, give it to the Environmental Police, and that she did.

Now here are the papers all in order and here is the newly christened "Oh Boya".

And now Alberta and her husband can get back to planning for summer on the water.

Alberta DaRosa, boat owner
"We're all psyched."

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