Getting a British Yacht Flagged in Norway.

[macgluin]

Hello,
Me and my wife are about to buy a used wooden boat in the UK. I am an American citizen with permanent resident status in Norway, while my wife is a Norwegian citizen. We seem to have hit a bit of a snag. After we pick up the boat, we plan to sail south for the summer. Thing is that we can't keep her registered in the UK, and Norway won't let us register her until she has been physically imported! So then we are stuck without a flag. We could sail directly back to Norway, but couldnt do it without being registered because we need to stop along the way. We have no plan of doing that anyways, as our plans are to go south. I'm not sure why they care if the boat is in the country as long as we pay the VAT. They dont even look at the boat, so that is one option, though not an honest one. What to do?

[SaucySailoress]

Why can't you keep her registered in the UK?

[Charlie]

You can flag her as a US Documented vessel w/o patriating the boat to the US. I'm in process of doing just that now.

[macgluin]

We do not live in the UK and are therefor not able to keep it registered there. We have thought about US registration, but I dont think it is large enough to be on the Coast Guard registry. We would then be on a state registry, which could cause problems when sailing in foreign waters. Time in the EU is also limited. This would have to be a last resort.

[Arcady]

Macgluin,

Have you considered forming a UK company, standing as the director, and keeping the boat as a UK registered vessel? A UK company is cheap to form with inexpensive annual retun costs. If you prefer you can do the same thing using one of the British offshore dependancies.

Just a thought

[careka]

How old is she, where is she made, is it CE marked ?
can you show papers from all former owners ?
and witch reg did you try in Norway.