Dinghy Registration

[morpheus]

We are going through the process of de registering our yacht from USA registration (She is in charter in USVI) to Part I of the British Ships Registry, in the USA the dinghy has to be registered too.

I have just spoken to the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency about the requirements for registering a dinghy, they tell me that under British Law the dinghy does not have to be registered although its a seperate vessel......they then said that I may cause us problems going into some foreign ports with an unregistered vessel......so what do I do?

It seems a bit extreme to have to register my dinghy under Part I also, what experience have the British cruisers had on entering a foreign port with an unregistered dinghy.

Also if the dinghy is unregistered will I be able to insure it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Richard

[Hud3]

Hi, Richard.

You won't have any problems in the eastern Caribbean, at least. I had an unregistered dinghy for four years and had no problems in any of the countries here. I did end up registering the dinghy in Florida when I took the boat there to sell it. I was insured through a British insurance broker, and the dinghy's registration status never came up.

[speakeasy]

In the Sea of Cortez, folks just paint "T/T name of yacht", meaning "tender to", which might help you avoid issues with zealous officials.