Title help in Pennsylvania

There is a guy here in Central Florida that is selling a 1959 Crestliner
identical to the one I have with no title. He has no idea of the history
or any previous owners.
I know that you start with the last "legal registered owner" for any kind
of documentation.

so, what government office in PA would I contact for assistance ?

I would guess this would be a good place to start

https://www.fish.state.pa.us/registration.htm

Has the boat ever been registered? I found an old vhull that had no markings or numbers anywhere. I was told the only way I can get it registered is as a Built from materials. I live in Florida and that's exactly what I did. Went to the tax/tag office with the description. 14ft semi v hull made from Aluminum. Got the registration and applied for a title and got it in the mail 2 weeks later. Assigned me a HIN and I stamped it out on some aluminum at work and will rivet it to the trans.

Thanks Perch !! I sent them a note through their website - wait and see.

cj_tiz - thanks for your note. If you look at my original post,
I included a photo of the PA registration numbers on the bow.
yes, it is has been registered, but the date is not legible.

I live in Florida also (for a very long time) and am familiar with the
Florida routine of getting a title to an old boat.

The stern line that Florida Law takes is if you are selling a boat, car,
truck, jet ski, etc, that is not from the official registered owner on
the DMV records, you do NOT have permission to sell that item and
you can land yourself in hot water with Mr. Green Jeans if you do.

In Florida, many Snow Birds bring their watercraft down with them
and for whatever reason, they either sell it, barter it, or give it to
the campground where they are staying or just plain abandon it.

Thus, creating the problem of the out-of-state boats for sale on CraigsList
without papers. And the stupid sellers still want high retail prices for
a hunk of junk withOUT the proper documentation.
BUT - in this case, the nitwit has the exact clone of my Crestliner that I
would love to have !!!! So I will put in some time to find the last legally
registered owner and get the story from him.
I bought a 30ft camper trailer w/o a title a few years ago to sit on my property
while I renovated my home - - - the camper was so nice, I tracked down the
last registered owner and he was a very fine gentleman that had no problem
signing all the DMV lost title papers I sent him. Eventually, I got the title and
sold the trailer for 3 times what I paid for it. Finally - a good DMV story LOL.

I hope this turns out to be a good story also !!
it is a 1959 Crestliner and I have a very nice 1958 Johnson 35hp to go on it
and a very nice 1959 Gator trailer for it to sleep on.

Johnny,
I have lived in Florida for 30 years and for many years we flipped houses for a living. Florida does recognize an abandoned vessel. We would buy a property and everything on that property becomes ours. I have titled 18 boats this way and you wouldn't believe all the cars, trucks, motor homes, motorcycles and such. It has to be well over 100 even found a an old pristine split window Corvette on an enclosed back porch.