When I had my boat shop in Key West (thru 1984) every boat we sold came with an MSO (Manufacturers Statement of Origin). We sold Sunfish (AMF), Lasers, Hobies, J-Boats, Catalinas and Sailcraft Tornados.

If the boat was not to be financed, we just signed the MSO over to the owner. If the boat was to have a motor or to be financed, then the MSO was turned in to the DMV in return for a title.

So...all boats started out with an MSO. We always told the buyers to hang onto it because if they ever wanted to sell their boat outside of Florida, they might need it.

Now, most of those boats have gone through several owners and the MSOs are probably lost.

I wonder if the manufacturers might be willing to issue replacement MSOs if given the serial numbers?

As a sidebar to this, I had a bunch of blank MSOs printed up which we used for trade-in boats that didn't have any paperwork. DMV always accepted a properly filled out MSO with no questions. I think I still have some of those in a file somewhere. Just an idea.....