Crossing Canadian Border with New Sailboat

[grjfield]

Originally Posted by bcboomer

I did this 3 years ago. Checked in at Coal Harbour customs dock in downtown Vancouver. When I called in to customs it was pushing 4:00 pm. They wanted me to stay at the customs dock overnight but I had a temporary slip reserved at the Vancouver Rowing Club. I told the young lady at customs that I'd be across the bay for the night and call them the next day. She wasn't happy about that but what could she do from her office in Nova Scotia.
I ended up walking to the customs office the next day with my paperwork and paid the taxes. They weren't the least bit interested in the carefully documented list parts I'd bought in Seattle, nor the amount of wine I had.
Nobody ever asked to inspect the boat.
The taxes were a pain but I would have had to pay for Washington sales tax and annual permits anyway, so not that much different.

Wow...you! Wow ... much braver than I...I would not recommend playing loose with customs to anyone.

[Offshore74]

Originally Posted by Tessellate

Doesn't look like many answered your tide / timing questions, so I'll give them a crack...

All very helpful info thank you!

[Offshore74]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Where do you want to take the boat once inside Canada? You do know if you bought it in the USA that you could leave it full time in either Point Roberts or Blaine and not be subject to tax.

If I kept in in Blaine to put off paying taxes for example, wouldn't I still be subject to Washington State tax?

[Offshore74]

Originally Posted by Jd1

As far as I know, if you leave your boat in the USA in order to not pay Canadian taxes, you can not enter Canada with it. If you are a Canadian living in Canada that boat is subject to taxes the minute it enters. You can not get a cruising permit for it. So yes, it isn't even a stopgap measure.
I was replying to the previous poster that said you could just leave the boat south of the border. My understanding is that doing so is not feasible even if you would be ok to not enter Canada with it to cruise the beautiful Canadian coast.

Regarding your original questions, I believe (but don't know for sure) that unlike the official US entry points of which there are only a few up here, Canadian entry points are all over the place, mostly 'phone in' stations. I would give Canada Customs a call and verify if you can use any reporting station to come in or if there are only specific manned stations that are acceptable (I believe any will do). There are many marinas that have reporting stations and I would be surprised if there wasn't one in the Vancouver area. Keep in mind that on a multi day passage you can not anchor without reporting first so it might just be better if you did a slight detour and reported in at Tsehum harbour near Sidney (just north of Sidney Marina).
The tides change every 6 hours and currents are all over the place. You will run into opposing current no matter what. I would only worry about tides in specific passes depending on the route that you intend to take.
Lastly, I do not believe you can make the trip in one day unless you are talking about sailing/motoring through the night which I would highly advise against based on your questions.
Looking at the charts, I would think a day to the Sidney area and then another day and a half to Vancouver.

This is helpful I do not want to make the trip in the dark, point well taken. I'm wondering if stopping in Pt. Roberts for the night is the best bet, then enter Vancouver the following day. Thanks.

[Rex Delay]

Try Mosquito Creek. A friend of mine joined Burrard Yacht Club and got instant moorage a few yrs. ago. If you leave it in Washington for more than x months, you pay Washington tax. When you arrive, you pay GST and then PST when you license it unless you license in Alberta (no PST). License with Transport Canada is free.

[Offshore74]

Originally Posted by Rex Delay

Try Mosquito Creek. A friend of mine joined Burrard Yacht Club and got instant moorage a few yrs. ago. If you leave it in Washington for more than x months, you pay Washington tax. When you arrive, you pay GST and then PST when you license it unless you license in Alberta (no PST). License with Transport Canada is free.

Got the application in to Mosquito Creek :-) thanks for the tax and licence info!

[pcmm]

Importing a boat into Canada is really easy! If the boat was built within the NAFTA region its even easier. All you need is your bill of sale. In my case I imported it by crossing the boarder in Lake erie to Point Abino and called the 800 number. When I spoke to the customs officer, he asked me the length, HIN, date of build, date of purchase, purchase price (be honest here) and then put me on hold for a few minutes and came back with the HST amount owed which was exactly what I thought it would be. Gave him my CC number, he gave me a reporting number for my records and a few day later the receipt arrived at my house! couldn't have been easier!

I was nervous that I had all the correct paper work but turned out as everything happened over the phone it was pretty simple!

Of course this was on the great lakes so you might have a different experience in BC!

[bcboomer]

Have you looked at Milltown Marina? It's an hour up the river but closer than Shelter Island and a much nicer facility.
Cement docks and no wave action from the river.
Fresh water means less maintenance but you have to dodge the dead heads in the river.

[Rex Delay]

Mooring in the Fraser is fresh water but high sediment load, eats cutlass bearings and cooling systems.

[robert sailor]

You can apply for Canadian registration and get it without paying tax, kinda like Canadian shipping companies do. Tax is due when you enter Canada so you can leave your boat for years in the usa and not pay Canadian tax and as long as you can show your boat is a Canadian registered vessel then the State does not tax you (at least that's the way it's been for the last 40 years) You can get a work bond that will allow you to bring the boat into Canada to have work done and not pay tax, it is regulated. If your going up the river you used to be able to call ahead and have
Customs meet you at the dock in Richmond where all the fish boats are in Steveston.
By the way I kept my boat in Point Roberts for over 20 years. The moor age was cheaper and I brought parts in for my boat at reduced prices and most importantly it is a hell of a lot faster to drive to Point Roberts and be a few hours from the San Juan islands in your boat than being closer to your boat and sailing for a full day just to get to where you would be starting from in Point Roberts. In 5 minutes after leaving the slip your out in open water sailing. Blaine gives you similar advantages. I sold 4 boats without attracting any tax and our current boat which we bought in the Med is also a Blue Booked Canadian registered boat that we have paid zero tax, but each to their own, hope you have a great time with your new boat. R

[Jd1]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

You can apply for Canadian registration and get it without paying tax, kinda like Canadian shipping companies do. Tax is due when you enter Canada so you can leave your boat for years in the usa and not pay Canadian tax and as long as you can show your boat is a Canadian registered vessel then the State does not tax you (at least that's the way it's been for the last 40 years) You can get a work bond that will allow you to bring the boat into Canada to have work done and not pay tax, it is regulated. If your going up the river you used to be able to call ahead and have
Customs meet you at the dock in Richmond where all the fish boats are in Steveston.
By the way I kept my boat in Point Roberts for over 20 years. The moor age was cheaper and I brought parts in for my boat at reduced prices and most importantly it is a hell of a lot faster to drive to Point Roberts and be a few hours from the San Juan islands in your boat than being closer to your boat and sailing for a full day just to get to where you would be starting from in Point Roberts. In 5 minutes after leaving the slip your out in open water sailing. Blaine gives you similar advantages. I sold 4 boats without attracting any tax and our current boat which we bought in the Med is also a Blue Booked Canadian registered boat that we have paid zero tax, but each to their own, hope you have a great time with your new boat. R

.
This is exactly what I was trying to figure out earlier in this thread.
It is my understanding that to be legally in US waters as a Canadian boat, you have to have a cruising permit. A cruising permit only allows you one year of staying in the US and then you have to leave for something like two weeks. So is my understanding flawed or did you just luck out and nobody caught you yet ?
I see a lot of US boats parked up here and the same rules apply here but it seems a lot of people get away with ignoring the rules.
What is the penalty if you have no cruising permit for a Canadian flagged boat in the US? What's the penalty for overstaying a cruising permit ?
It would be nice to clear this whole thing up once and for all.