Where to register my new boat

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by svseachange

I took a foreign registered boat through about half of the Great Loop in 2013. I tried the "this is a foreign registered boat" angle. It did not fly with state and local officials in the Midwest. Luckily the boat also had a current Minnesota registration and this extricated us from a few misunderstandings.

You don't need to register your boat in every state and it doesn't matter where you get your US state registration. Just get it in the cheapest state possible. With luck your new boat will already have state registration.

Don't give up on your trip. It is a magnificent trip. I recommend taking a side trip into Lake Superior if you have the time.

There have been several threads at CF about folks who tried to buy a boat, document it with USCG, and skip state registration. One of the problems they had was when confronted by state tax collectors they were required to prove they had met the leave the state before 90 day (or what ever) rule. They were required to produce marina and fuel purchases out of state; and even then sometimes still got hit with a tax bill. Not to mention a penalty for not registering in the first place.

Not saying some folks have not been able to get away with no state registration; just that it is not a sure thing.

[accomplice]

Echoing what others have said, I suggest going with USCG documentation. If you stay in any single jurisdiction more than their allotted time (usually 60-90 days), they may expect you to register it there. I suggest carrying with you proof (e.g. dockage or fuel receipts) showing that you were in another state within the last N days.

I don't want to think about the potential headache if you were to try to cruise inland US with a foreign flagged vessel. USCG is easy and relatively inexpensive ($133 initially, $26/yr).

The tender presents an interesting issue, as some officials have asked me about the registration of our tender. I talked myself out of the situation explaining that it was tender to a US documented vessel, but since I was unsure that would get me off in the future I opted to register our new dinghy in RI. The cost is only $32 every 2 years (on the tender), with no sales tax. (I do have a RI harbor listed as our hailing port.) It had the added advantage that it helped in recovery of our dinghy when it was claimed by someone else -- the HullID is on file with the state.

[yiannis]

Hi once again,

I find it hard to understand why there is so much confusion and so many different opinions about this subject.

My advise to MexLife was that he should contact a lawyer for guidance regarding this matter. I am a broker and one of the areas I avoid has to do with the flag of the vessel and registration, we have consultants working for us for this type of thing.

One of our clients is a Greek national, lives in Florida and his yacht is under Cayman flag. His yacht is all the time moored in Florida and he never had any trouble with the authorities there.

Regards

Yiannis

[rons1970]

Hi, I have a boat in Manila and thinking of registering it in Langkawi, since it has been recommended by a few people.

My question are did you register your boat there? How did you do it? I already inquired thru the facebook link, but no reply yet.

Thank you

Originally Posted by helise

Hi! Mex,

Langkawi, an Open Registry no import tax, no GST, no VAT, low annual tonnage fee, no needs to incorporate an IBC, no annual director or secretary fees, fast on-line registration, yacht no need to be in Malaysia, no hidden costs annually, Internationally recognized and etc.

Approx USD1,800.00 for full Individual and USD1,900.00 for full Entity Registration included Ship Station radio License (MMSI NO), Call-Sign and Carving & Marking Note.

Please surf www.facebook.com/LangkawiRegistry or Yachting Pages or Info.marine@rocketmail.com for further enquiry.

Regards.

Elise.

[Zven]

Originally Posted by rons1970

Hi, I have a boat in Manila and thinking of registering it in Langkawi, since it has been recommended by a few people.

My question are did you register your boat there? How did you do it? I already inquired thru the facebook link, but no reply yet.

Thank you

I have registered my boat at Langkawi. It has been a great solution all round, and was easily done by use of Internet and e-mail.

There are a number of agents happy to help with this. One of them is Royal Langkawi Yacht Club. A quick Google search will probably provide several others.

In principle, you can also register yourself, without an agent ... but this is said to be hard to achieve without physically visiting Malaysia.

[helise]

Originally Posted by rons1970

Hi, I have a boat in Manila and thinking of registering it in Langkawi, since it has been recommended by a few people.

My question are did you register your boat there? How did you do it? I already inquired thru the facebook link, but no reply yet.

Thank you

Dear Rons 1970,

Email them at Info.marine@rocketmail.com

All the best.

Elise.