Form 6: Bill of Sale (Pleasure Craft): what it is and how to fill it out

What Form 6 is, and who actually needs it

Form 6 is Transport Canada's official bill-of-sale template for the Small and Large Vessel Registers. It's used to transfer a registered vessel, along with the full chain of bills of sale from the registered owner to the buyer, each copy signed by both parties, with the vessel description and date. A vessel is divided into 64 shares, so joint owners must all sign.

If your boat is only licensed, it has a Pleasure Craft Licence (PCL) number, the common case, Form 6 is not required. A plain bill of sale is accepted as proof of ownership; Form 6 can be used as a convenient template if you'd like one.

Where to get Form 6

Download the current version from Transport Canada's vessel registration forms page, it's published there with the other Small and Large Vessel Register forms. Always use the version from that page rather than a copy floating around a forum.

Filling it out

The essentials Transport Canada expects on a vessel bill of sale, whether you're using Form 6 or a plain one:

• •Both parties’ names and signatures: for a registered-vessel transfer, every copy in the chain must show both names, both signatures, the vessel description, and the date
• •The vessel description: make, model, year, colour, length
• •The HIN (Hull Identification Number), the boat’s VIN equivalent
• •The PCL number, if the boat is licensed
• •Purchase price and date
• •Joint owners: all must sign (a registered vessel is divided into 64 shares)

Field-by-field instructions ship with the form itself, follow Transport Canada's current version at the link above.

Common mistakes

• ✗Hunting for Form 6 when the boat is only licensed (PCL): it isn’t required; a plain bill of sale is accepted
• ✗Cancelling the Pleasure Craft Licence when selling: never do this. The PCL number stays with the boat for its entire life; cancelling just leaves the boat unlicensed
• ✗Missing links in the chain of bills of sale on a registered-vessel transfer: the chain must run unbroken from the registered owner to the buyer
• ✗Leaving the HIN off a plain bill of sale: it’s the boat’s unique identifier
• ✗Confusing the PCOC (your personal operator competency card) with the boat’s licence or registration: it has nothing to do with the transfer

What happens after it's signed

Registered vessel: file the bill of sale (Form 6) with the Vessel Registration Office, with the full chain of bills of sale from the registered owner to the buyer.

Licensed (PCL) boat: the signed bill of sale is the buyer's proof of ownership. The buyer transfers the PCL within 30 days, before operating the boat, through Transport Canada's online PCELS system with government ID for all owners, the bill of sale, a current photo of the boat, and the $24.41 fee. Transport Canada emails a temporary 30-day licence with the same number right away. The seller doesn't cancel anything. No bill of sale at all? A declaration under oath can establish ownership. Transport Canada provides a sample declaration form on its proof-of-ownership page.