Looking to purchase a U.S. boat to keep in San Diego C.A.

[touring.star]

Hello ,Just joined the forum and exploring my retirement options.
My plan would be to first find moorage and purchase a boat in San Diego and moor it there.Still keeping my Canadian residence in Vancouver but travelling down in the winter months to use the boat , possibly sailing to Mexico and back to San Diego. Any thoughts or pitfalls would be appreciated. Regards, Ron

[djmarchand]

There is a long waiting list for moorings in the San Diego harbor. There are a couple of cheaper marinas down near Chula Vista that might be reasonable.

Sailing south to Mexico from San Diego is easy, but bashing to windward to get back isn't so easy. And other than Ensenada (and I don't know why anyone would want to go there) it is a long way to anything nice in Baja California.

If you are not a US citizen it will not be possible to federally document the boat in your name. You could set up a corporation to do it in though. But California registration is available to non US citizens and will be fine for cruising to Mexico.

In any case prepare to pay California sales tax on the purchase (unless you do an offshore sale and keep it in Ensenada for 6 mo I think before you bring it back) and pay about 1% of market valueyearly in personal property taxes.

Come to think of it Ensenada is looking better ;-).


David

[touring.star]

Thanks David, Lot's of good info. Regards ,Ron