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Free Colorado Boat Bill of Sale

Build a clear, compliant Colorado boat bill of sale with ease. Document Genius guides you through each step, so nothing important is left off your document.

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Your Colorado Boat Bill of Sale Is Also a Temporary Registration

A Colorado boat bill of sale does something unusual: for the first 30 days after a purchase, it works as your temporary registration.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife handles vessel registration and accepts a bill of sale as proof of ownership. Until your registration card and decals arrive in the post, that document must be carried on the boat while you are operating it.

So treat it as equipment rather than filing. Keep it aboard, dry, and legible.

What Colorado Asks the Document to Contain

Parks and Wildlife lists what an acceptable Colorado boat bill of sale includes, and the list is mercifully short.

  • Printed names and signatures for both the seller and the buyer
  • The vessel identification number, if the boat has one
  • Make, model, and year, if known
  • The date of the sale

Add the purchase price and the boat’s length, since both come up during registration anyway.

Tip: If the boat has no hull identification number at all, arrange a physical inspection by a Parks and Wildlife officer. A vessel with no HIN and no inspection is a registration that stalls before it starts.

Registering With Parks and Wildlife

Register in person at a Parks and Wildlife office or by post to the registration unit. First-time registrations cannot be completed online.

Timing works differently here. A Colorado registration runs from January 1 through December 31 whenever you buy, so a boat bought late in the season still expires at the end of that year.

Motorized and sail-powered vessels on public water need registration. A canoe or kayak moving under paddle alone does not.

Beyond a bill of sale, the agency also accepts a previous registration certificate, a manufacturer’s certificate or statement of origin, a certificate of title, or a court-issued ownership document as proof.

Before You Launch

Colorado guards its water hard, and a new owner inherits that responsibility along with the boat.

An aquatic nuisance species stamp is required for motorboats and sailboats, and proof of purchase must stay on the operator or the vessel.

Your Colorado registration number goes on each side of the bow in a contrasting color so it stays readable, and no other number belongs there. If the boat still wears another state’s number, take it off.

Ask the seller which waters the boat has been in, since zebra mussels and similar hitchhikers travel on hulls. Start your Colorado boat bill of sale now and keep it aboard from day one.