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.