Advice for your friend: Find another place to park the boat, other than the location the local property tax office has it listed.
Indiana used to do that. 300% difference on my tax rate if my boat was parked at my house vs. 5 miles away because it was a totally different property tax rate. When I bought my first boat in 1986, I almost had a heart attack when the tax bill on my ski boat was more than the tax on my house.
My wife damn near killed me over it.
I then found out that all I had to do is tell them the boat was parked at a different tax location on a certain date. So I asked the tax office who has the cheapest tax rate in my county and they said X which was where my sister lived. I then said my boat
will be at my sisters house on March 31. They said fine and lowered my tax 300% for the next 5 years that law was in effect. Except I could not get out of paying that first big bill because the bill was in arrears.
Im glad we changed the law.