US Citizen Buying a Canadian Boat

[Dudeman]

My wife and I are thinking about buying a boat that was built in Canada and is currently in Canada. We plan on sailing it from the Georgian Bay throught the Trent Severn and on to southern places. My questions are 1. If I purchase the boat do I need to register it in Canada under my name for the duration we are sailing out of the country.
2. To recieve a U.S.C.G. documentation number does the boat need to be registered in a state.
We plan to live aboard and won't have a home on land so I'm a bit confused about the situation.
Chris

[Vasco]

In answer to your two questions: No and No.

[Gone2long]

Hi,

I was thinking of a similar kind of deal and have recently researched the matter.

You can't register the boat in Canada unless you are a Canadian citizen. You may be able to license in one of the provinces there for temporary use, but for the low down, contact the Office of Boating Safety in the province where you want to purchase your boat - see local phone directories for number.

When you apply for CG documentation, you are applying for federal registration. That can be done from outside the US, and does not involve state registration, which is done through the states and not possible usually unless the boat is present in the state. You don't need one to get the other.

Contact the USCG documentation Center's website for more. Do a Yahoo search to find it in about 3 seconds.

Take care,

G2L

[zudnic]

Originally Posted by Gone2long

Hi,
You can't register the boat in Canada unless you are a Canadian citizen. You may be able to license in one of the provinces there for temporary use, but for the low down, contact the Office of Boating Safety in the province where you want to purchase your boat - see local phone directories for number.

I realize OP probably does not need info any longer. But might be someone else looking for same info. Plus with NAFTA and US/CDN tax treaty could be some tax benefits to license in Canada. Besides the lame maple leaf Canadian flag--the better British Union Jack is also an official flag of Canada! Not many people outside of conservative monarchists know this little tidbit......................

Landed immigrants can license boats in Canada. Foreign corporations with subsiduaries in Canada can as well. We also have management companies that can act as agents. No provinces offer boat registration.