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Old 24-10-2016, 04:26   #1
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Advice on buying in Caribbean

We are looking at travelling to Caribbean next year to buy a sailing boat for long term cruising. To date, we have have bought two sailing boats in Dubai and the buying process has been fairly straightforward as we bought from friends in our yacht club, and the boats were simply registered in Dubai.

At the moment, it looks most likely we will be looking to buy in BVI, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin ...or maybe Rio Dulce (quite a broad range, I realise, but really depends on what is available, where!).

Could anyone please give us any advice on:

Are there any places which are more straightforward in terms of buying, clearing, registration, VAT etc?

Should we go through brokers or not? If yes, can anyone recommend any? If not, what do we need to be aware of?

Could anyone give us a run down of the buying process (the order we do things)..?

How long does it usually take from an offer being accepted to actually having the boat on the water ready to sail away?!

Just a bit of extra background -we are UK citizens and it will be a cash purchase. We will stay in the Caribbean whilst the buying process is going through, probably in an apartment somewhere.

Many thanks!

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Old 24-10-2016, 04:40   #2
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pirate Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

If a French registered boat.. St Martin, St Barts, Martinique & Guadalupe.. no VAT hassle however it can take anything up to 2 months for the de-registration process.. all papers must go back to France to be processed.. it took 6 weeks for my boat in Malta a coupla years back.. and a boat I bought in St Martin in 2000 took 10 weeks..
But I had a fun time while waiting.. flew to Antigua for a week.. Tortola.. etc.
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Old 24-10-2016, 04:42   #3
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

I am a Brit who bought in Caribbean.

A broker was involved but not necessary, but it does help the holding of the deposit.

There are several good surveyors who fly between the Islands.

We did the transaction in Puerto Rico but the boat was registered in the BVI. The key is to make sure you do not pay unnecessary taxes like VAT and that might involve moving the boat to a different jurisdiction for the sale, no personal experience there!

The best registration is UK SSR, 25 quid for 5 years and easily accepted in the 30+ countries we have visited. I am told the Brits are tightening the rules for SSR but we have not had any problems for the last 8 years.

https://mcanet.mcga.gov.uk/ssr/ssr/

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Old 24-10-2016, 06:28   #4
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

Well, Caribbean is a ... diverse lot. It will be easier for you to consider each country separately. I will share some input about the places that we know.

Overall: we have seen very many boats on sale there ... walking the docks. Then I tried to find them on yachtworld and with other online brokers ... and they were not there. Exception: expensive boats, mostly cats, in Martinique.

So tip number one is: do not rely to much on your web search. You may get way more luck walking the docks and boatyards and visiting local brokers. Except docks and boatyards are not free to enter in ex HM colonies. Local brokers have good choice of boats, but again, mostly the upper end. Many, many sub 100k boats are either not advertised or else found on public ad boards (e.g. adjacent to nearly every boatyard office, in marinas, etc.).

Next, you are coming from the UK then it would be natural to buy in the EU. Formalities are simple and not time consuming in Martinique and a clean boat could be had in the water in less than two weeks there. Yet, if you do not speak French, you will have to go thru an English speaking broker and this will considerably extend the process as well as make it considerably more expensive (at least 5% extra).

Ex HM places (the ones I know) seem to offer way fewer boats than French places. Still, you are going to talk the same language and this may help you heaps. There are many s/h boats in Trinidadad and many of them are the low end. Formalities are not very well laid out there. Grenada has many boats and the formalities are simpler here. The authorities are more serious and better educated too. Antigua has few boats for sale - mostly some low end derelicts, few classics in various stages of decomposition and even fewer top shelf beautiful and desirable expensive yachts. If you want a yacht rather than a boat, Antigua can be a fine choice. St Martin/Marteen is a very good place and buying there is mostly quick and simple. It is fool of crooks playing old salts so step lightly and keep away from 'opportunities'. Still, the choice seems good and varied, there are brokers and notaries and banking facilities and boatyards. It is a good place to buy.

So, make a huge web search but do not get disappointed if you do not find the dream boat online. Go from place to place, visit the major sailing spots and walk the docks. There are plenty of very good boats for sale there. You will find what you want or maybe even something better than that.

Have faith, step lightly and enjoy the ride.

Best regards,
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Old 24-10-2016, 09:21   #5
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

We are based in Grenada - lots of boats here for hurricane season. Inevitably, some end up going up for sale. We represent The Multihull Company / Five Oceans Marine Group (Monohull arm of TMC).

I would be happy to help you find a boat! Let me know if you have any questions you haven't gotten answered by the above helpful responses.
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Old 24-10-2016, 09:26   #6
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

sold our Jeanneau in French ST martin in 2011. Sale went fast and had no problems.


Broker was Stephane Legendre owner of Caribbean Yachts Cell 590 690 760 100 stephane @caraibe-yachts.com Don't know if he is still in business. If he is Tell him John from Utopia said hello. A good guy that can be trusted.
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Old 24-10-2016, 09:54   #7
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

I agree to also look in Grenada. But try to do the transactuon in St Martin, either side.
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Old 24-10-2016, 10:15   #8
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

Consider telling us what you want to buy and your budget as we may be able to help as many of us have local knowledge on certain boats for sale in our areas.
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Old 24-10-2016, 10:44   #9
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

Check any boat you are interested in is legal in the country where it is.

In Rio Dulce, there are boats for sale that have not left Guatemala for many years so there are big fines to pay before you can leave the country and you will need the exit paperwork at your next destination
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Old 24-10-2016, 17:02   #10
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

Quote:
Originally Posted by boatman61 View Post
If a French registered boat.. St Martin, St Barts, Martinique & Guadalupe.. no VAT hassle however it can take anything up to 2 months for the de-registration process.. all papers must go back to France to be processed.. it took 6 weeks for my boat in Malta a coupla years back.. and a boat I bought in St Martin in 2000 took 10 weeks..
But I had a fun time while waiting.. flew to Antigua for a week.. Tortola.. etc.
Yeah, a friend recently bought a boat in Martinique, complicated by the fact there was a holding company and a charter company involved and he is Brazillian registering the boat in Delaware...then throw in a few French holidays and strikes...geez what a mess...took months for him to get the final papers.

I flew to Martinique to help him move the boat. Got stuck in the marina for 2 weeks waiting on paperwork...bummer...Martinique is such an awful place to be stuck.


Bottom line for the OP: procedures will vary by country of registry of vessel, nationality of buyer and seller, where you intend to register it, and maybe by its physical location too. So, hard to answer your question without nailing down more specifics.
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Old 24-10-2016, 17:09   #11
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

Quote:
Originally Posted by Triumphant View Post
Check any boat you are interested in is legal in the country where it is.

In Rio Dulce, there are boats for sale that have not left Guatemala for many years so there are big fines to pay before you can leave the country and you will need the exit paperwork at your next destination
True, took me years to finally get my Hobie 33 (abandonded on the Rio) legally in my name. Now its in my name, but I've yet to sort things out with SAT.
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Old 24-10-2016, 23:16   #12
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

We purchased a boat in Grenada. The only issue was very easy: we needed a letter from the yard, saying it had been stored there. Otherwise we would have had to pay back taxes for their monthly cruising permit.

Their government is very fair and easy to deal with. However, I would not buy a boat in Grenada unless the seller was willing to move it to St Maarten. Grenada's customs rules for yacht in transit have become significantly more complicated, expensive, and slow. With any new boat you're likely to want to fly in with suitcases of household stuff (as we did, before the rules changed) and then need to ship in random parts as you discover broken things.
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Old 24-10-2016, 23:26   #13
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

Many thanks for all your responses-this is such a great forum.

As we are from the UK, it would make most sense it seems to register with UK SSR. In terms of where to buy, seems like St, Martin and Martinique may be a good bet (I speak French-need to brush up before we go!) and also Grenada. We are obviously excited and keen to get out on the water as soon as we can, but as many have pointed out, it's not a bad place to hang out whilst we wait!

As soon as we have definite dates, I can give an idea of budget and what type of boat we're looking for and hopefully get in touch with some brokers as well as browsing marinas ourselves. At the moment, I am veering towards 40ft Cat, and my husband a 50ft mono-so lots of discussions due before we set sail!!
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Old 25-10-2016, 00:41   #14
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

I've bought/sold 4 boats now in the Caribbean and have found the BVI to be a good place to look (particularly for ex-charter boats, but also for privately held vessels).
One thing I learned is that buying a VAT-Paid U.K. registered boat and keeping the Part I registration is best done in St. Martin and not in the BVI, as a sale outside of the EU means the VAT is invalidated; luckily when I sold the boat on it was to new owners who re-flagged the boat in the USA so the loss of VAT was a moot point. But the VAT will be due once you hit the shores of the U.K. or the EU {assuming no Brexit}.
Do check out the brokers in the BVI (BVI Yacht Sales, for example) to see what they have on offer.
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Old 25-10-2016, 07:59   #15
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Re: Advice on buying in Caribbean

Language barrier. If you do not speak French, French flagged boats are more difficult for you. It is not about where you buy, it is about what flag the target boat has now.

If you want a quick buy, look for Dutch flagged boats. De-registration is nearly instant there.

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