Newbie wants a CAT

[2Hulls]

Originally Posted by Tdh001

My potential future boat will be unregistered first, stay in the dock until it's documented by USCG and insured and then it can be registered in FL? Can I do all those things abroad or do I need to have the boat in FL to pay taxes and get registration?

I suspect you need to import it to the US first before you can get it documented. Whether the vessel needs to be physically in the US first, I am not sure. I suggest you ask your broker or wait for somebody here who has done this before or consult web resources of Customs and Border Protection. What Fla requires is a wholly separate transaction, of which I know nothing.

What's a doohickey like that cost nowadays?

You'll have to shop around for this - I've never used one. Guess I'm not helping you too much, except I can say with a high degree of confidence that it sounds like you shouldn't be bringing this boat across by yourself.

Good luck,
2 Hulls Dave

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by 2Hulls

Well, for starters you'll need to import the boat into the US. Your broker should be able to advise you on that process. Then you should consider getting the boat documented (US flagged) and THEN get it registered in Fl.



For you an essential navigation doohickey sounds like a professional delivery Captain.

2 Hulls Dave

Not to be negative, but I agree with Dave.

I'm a newbie too and purchasing my first Cat. I have some sailing experience on lakes and have been studying (and dreaming) for 10 years. I wouldn't even dream of trying to bring a boat across the Atlantic with just the experience I have. A trip of that magnitude will require a professional delivery captain (and probably at least 1 crew member).

If the boat was somewhere in the Caribbean, then maybe you could attempt it. An open ocean crossing is a whole different ball of wax.

P.S. If the boat is not equipped with any navigation electronics then you can bank on $5K-$10K to outfit it with mainstream gear.

[Barra]

For clarity on the process - You will need to register your boat BEFORE you leave the dock. ie if you buy in europe you will need to register/ flag it US while in europe. When you bring it back to the US then you import it wherever you clear in and pay taxes etc.

Re the solo sail across the atlantic without experience i doubt you would get insurance for starters. Get a skipper or plan on spending a season in the med gaining experience first.

[Tdh001]

Ladies and gentlemen, good advice... Naturally, the advice to not do it will be considered.
If I see that there are possible eventualities I cannot handle, I will look into the option of a skipper/crew but right now I have it in my head to do the 17-21 days of westward (trade wind) passage at the end of January if all goes accordingly.

Over or underwater doesn't scare me and these new boats are of ocean crossing caliber.

To return to topic:

Anyone ever personally (not through a broker for example, although I will have a broker of course) imported a 44ft sailboat into the US? I want to know what the process is and I have asked the US customs and read their webpage on importing pleasure vessels into the US. I found out there is a 1.5% import duty for example that I was not aware of before... And then there is the state tax for Florida...

But keep 'em coming... but a little less of the "it's dangerous" stuff and more of the information stuff please.



What is a COMPLETE list of backup software (the boat is bristling with navigation and electronics of the newest kind except satellite internet which is pricey... Or is it?) for an MS tablet with gps, PC or iphone?

I'm also purchasing the deformed explorer with 2 way sat messaging... It's new and looks like a good off-grid emergency communication unit.


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[Tdh001]

Not "deformed" but "DeLorme"... Damn autocorrect...


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[Barra]

Sounds like your plan is to give it a crack and call for help if it goes pear shaped hmmmmm....

you will probaly be fine but if you really have little experience 1000 miles from help is no place to learn a lesson the hard way and unfair on your fellow mariners to expect them to come to your aid in such circumstances. my 2c

[monte]

Back up electronics is navionics on iPad and or opencpn on a laptop. 17-21 days means the boat is already in the canaries or Atlantic Coast but it's likely to take closer to 4 weeks to FL from there. If it's actually in the med add another 2 weeks from Gibraltar allowing for weather windows and up to 2 months if it's further west if you can find anyone crazy enough to undertake a winter med delivery. Have a chat to boatman69 (phil) on here re delivery, he's delivered a lot of lagoons, 440 included and he's located on the Atlantic Coast so easy enough. Get a iridium go instead of the de lorme, much more effective and you can have weather as well as voice calls.

[travellerw]

Enjoy.. You have bigger balls than I, but I highly doubt you can single hand a 44ft sailboat EVEN WITH TONS OF EXPERIENCE. You will need at least one other crew member to make it safe.

If you have a Windows tablet, then I recommend you look into OpenCPN and a GPS puck. It can act as a backup chartplotter (or primary for that matter).

I have a Delorme Explorer and just used it on a boat in Cuba. They are awesome units and worked exactly as described (most of the time). It did go down for about 1/2 day, not sure why but it wouldn't send or receive anything. I definitely wouldn't rely on it for an emergency. GET AN EPIRB.. Seriously, it should be the first thing you buy if you are serious.

At the very least, it will be a grand adventure and you will have your eyes opened. I spent 10 years researching and still was surprised by many things (i.e. how f'n corrosive the marine environment is).

[Tdh001]

Good stuff. Thanks. I wouldn't leave the harbor without an epirb either.




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[Tdh001]

Originally Posted by Barra

Sounds like your plan is to give it a crack and call for help if it goes pear shaped hmmmmm....

you will probaly be fine but if you really have little experience 1000 miles from help is no place to learn a lesson the hard way and unfair on your fellow mariners to expect them to come to your aid in such circumstances. my 2c

Hmm.... Since I would come to their rescue (including yours) if needed without checking how many hours you've logged in saltwater sailing I don't know what to say...

And experience comes from facing challenges, not sailing 12000 miles in calm waters... My 2Cs

But before it all get tied up in knots, this is one of several ways open to me... Not written in stone or decreed by law... I would be a fool (and not long of this earth) if I didn't weigh risks against capability.

There's a lot of things I CAN do but don't know how yet so I ask for advice. If I'm a complete idiot (with savant computer/webpage using skills) I'll disregard all advice, if I'm smart, I'll listen to well-reasoned arguments like any rational man and make my own decisions...

Let's assume this is all theoretical if it helps at all :-)




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[2Hulls]

Originally Posted by Tdh001

Let's assume this is all theoretical if it helps at all :-)

Previously you wrote:

Ok... I seem to have found the right Cat at the right price for me (pictures and details when deal is closed)...

So are you buying a boat in Europe or not? Your subsequent questions have been a ruse? Instead of doing your own homework you want to be spoon fed?

If I have misunderstood, my apologies.

I suggest that if you are close to buying a boat on the other side, but can still back out, you should. You don't sound like you're ready to me, based on your questions and statements and "plans".

2 Hulls Dave

[boatman61]

Recommend once you've bought the boat you hire an RYA Instructor/Delivery skipper for a week or two to get you to the Canaries.. dunno where your starting from but you should pick up enough to feel cocky by then.. then carry on down to the Cap Verdes before heading across.. its a shorter hop and the Trades are steady and settled.. unlike further N..
Don't call me.. I suck at tuition.. I deliver only..

[yardie]

As a fellow newbie who just bought a boat, you are giving us a bad name.

I'm sitting in the med at the moment hunkered down for the winter. Unless the boat is literally being prepared at this moment for a transatlantic you aren't going anywhere.

The med is predictably harsh in this season. As in every night the winds whip up to 25-35 knots like clockwork. Do you know how to sail under these conditions? Can you repair your rigging in these conditions?

I'm as optimistic as you but even I figured out early on that I need to build some miles before I put myself and my crew in danger.


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[Tdh001]

Originally Posted by yardie

As a fellow newbie who just bought a boat, you are giving us a bad name.


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[Tdh001]

This is a strange statement.

I'm doing my thing, you do yours. I thought this was the place to ask questions and get information.

I really don't want to get bogged down responding to each personal attack. And to be quite honest, I almost regret asking my question in this forum as there is a lot of negative personal opinion directed at me that I find very bizarre.

Quite a few people apparently know a lot more about what I can and can't do than even I do))
I can only assume some of you have spoken to my mother and that's where they get their information from)))

The Atlantic crossing seems to be a sore point so let's take that off the table too.

I'll hire a delivery skipper just to make everyone on this forum happy... How's that?

You guys are cracking me up...

To quote a smarter man than I:
"Be who you are and say what you feel...
Because those that matter... don't mind...
And those that mind... don't matter."

I've learned my lesson.

To those who gave me information I whole-heartedly say "Thank you"

Is there a way to close this post or is this one of those hellish merry go rounds?






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