12:7A-3. Definitions

As used in this act:

a. "Abstract" means a duplicate copy of the original certificate of ownership recording any encumbrance or upon which the existence of a security interest is noted.

b. "Buyer" includes purchaser, debtor, lessee, bailee, transferee, and any person buying or attempting to buy marine equipment, or any person acquiring marine equipment subject to a security interest, lease, bailment or transfer agreement, and their legal successors in interest.

c. "Certificate of number" means the paper or papers issued in conformance with chapter 7 of Title 12 of the Revised Statutes certifying registration of the numbers assigned to the vessel.

d. "Certificate of origin" means the original written instrument or document required to be executed and delivered by the manufacturer to his agent or a dealer, or a person purchasing directly from the manufacturer, certifying the origin of the marine equipment.

e. "Certificate of ownership" means the paper or papers issued in conformance with this act, certifying ownership of marine equipment, other than a manufacturer's or importer's certificate of origin.

f. "Dealer" means any person who engages wholly or in part in the business of buying, selling or exchanging new or used marine equipment.

g. "Debtor" means the person who owes payment or other performance of the obligation secured by a security interest in marine equipment.

h. "Director" means the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Law and Public Safety.

i. "Documentation papers" means those papers issued to a documented vessel by the United States Coast Guard or any federal agency successor thereto.

j. "Documented vessel" means a vessel which has valid documentation papers issued by the United States Coast Guard or any federal agency successor thereto.

k. "Hull" means a vessel, exclusive of all means of propulsion.

l. "Inboard vessel" means a hull with an inboard engine including an inboard/outboard or stern drive installed as a primary or auxiliary means of propulsion.

m. "Manufacturer" means any person engaged in the business of manufacturing new marine equipment for the purpose of sale or trade.

n. "Manufacturer's number" means a hull identification number affixed by the manufacturer pursuant to federal regulation or assigned by the director pursuant to regulation.

o. "Marine equipment" means vessels or hulls greater than 12 feet in length.

p. "New marine equipment" means a newly manufactured vessel or hull greater than 12 feet in length.

q. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1987, c. 138)

r. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1987, c. 138)

s. "Principal use within this State" means marine equipment that has been within this State for a period in excess of 180 consecutive days, unless the equipment is in this State for the purpose of wet or dry storage, or for repairs, in which case the actual time for this storage or repairs shall not be counted as included within the 180 day period.

t. "Purchaser" means a person who takes possession of marine equipment by transfer of ownership, either for use or resale, except a dealer when he takes possession through a certificate of origin.

u. "Secured party" means a lender, seller or other person in whose favor there is a security interest.

v. "Security agreement" means an agreement which creates or provides for a security interest in marine equipment.

w. "Security interest" means an interest in marine equipment which secures payment or other performance of an obligation.

x. "Sell" or "sale" or "purchase" and any form thereof include absolute or voluntary sales and purchases, agreements to sell and purchase, bailments, leases, security agreements whereby any marine equipment is sold and purchased, or agreed to be sold and purchased, involuntary, statutory and judicial sales, inheritance, devise, or bequest, gift or any other form or manner of sale or agreement of sale thereof, or the giving or transferring of possession of a piece of marine equipment to a person for a permanent use, where there is continued possession for 60 days or more.

y. "Seller" means manufacturer, dealer, lessor, bailor, transferor with or without a security interest, and any other person selling, attempting to sell, or delivering marine equipment and their legal successors in interest.

z. "Title papers" means any instrument or document that is evidence of ownership of a vessel or hull greater than 12 feet in length.

aa. "Used marine equipment" means a vessel or hull greater than 12 feet in length, title to, or possession of, which has been first transferred from the person who first acquired it from the manufacturer or dealer, and so used as to become what is commonly known as "pre-owned" within the ordinary meaning thereof, and every vessel or hull greater than 12 feet in length other than a new vessel or hull greater than 12 feet in length.

bb. "Vessel" means a boat or watercraft, other than a seaplane on the water, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water.

cc. "Length" means the measurement of a vessel or hull, in feet and inches, from end to end over the deck and parallel to the centerline, excluding sheer, bowsprits, bumpkin rudders, outboard motors, brackets and other equipment or appendages.

dd. "Owner" means a person, other than a lienholder, having the property of, or title to, a vessel or hull. The term includes a person entitled to the use or possession of the vessel subject to the interest of another person, which interest is reserved or created by agreement and secures the payment or performance of an obligation, and excludes a lessee under a lease that is not intended as security for the vessel or hull.

ee. "Power vessel" means a vessel which is greater than 12 feet in length and is temporarily or permanently equipped with machinery for propulsion, excluding a vessel propelled wholly by sails or by muscular power.

ff. "Sailboat" means any boat whose sole source of propulsion is a natural element, such as the wind.

L. 1984, c. 152, s.3; amended by L. 1987, c. 138, s. 2.