Buying a cruiser in NZ, where do I register/flag?

[CaptHotelIndia]

I live in the US, but don't plan on bringing the boat back to the US. At this point I am just learning about registration options. What do I need to be looking out for? Taxes will just go to the registering country right? Can anyone refer me to a source where I can find all this information? Much appreciated, I'm drowning in questions and don't know where to go for answers, as I bought the boat without a broker. Thanks for your advice!

[Tillsbury]

Where do you plan to travel? Nz registration just got way cheaper, but you will need to have the boat well up to scratch before leaving nz in it if you do so. Until you do, there’s no need to register a NZ boat at all — they’re like shoes: you just own them. Best keep the receipt if you have one if you intend to register overseas though.

You should tell us your plans and any other citizenships you might have before we can give you a better answer.

[cj88]

Any particular reason for not registering it in the US?

[CaptHotelIndia]

I am a US citizen, and no particular reason not to register in the us other than I have been told by one insurance company they wouldn't insure a boat registered in Hawaii, where I live.

My travel plans will basically be the south pacific, seasonally, for now until I can hopefully move onto the boat in a few years.
I have just learned that you can not register a sailboat in NZ if you are not a citizen or immigrant.

[Tillsbury]

There are often discussions on the best flag to choose on the NZ sailing forums, eg:

Cayman Islands Registry? - CruiseTalk - Crew.org.nz

[cj88]

Originally Posted by CaptHotelIndia

I am a US citizen, and no particular reason not to register in the us other than I have been told by one insurance company they wouldn't insure a boat registered in Hawaii, where I live.

I'm assuming that the insurance feels that there is an increased risk for boats based in Hawaii. They would need to be informed where it will actually be kept/used anyway to get the appropriate cover so perhaps that might change things for you. I am not very familiar with US registration but wouldn't you just document with the National Vessel Documentation Center (NVDC) instead of dealing with state registration?

[JPA Cate]

cj88,

Documentation is not required for taking the boat out of the country. Our vessel, though purchased in Oz, is registered in Illinois, the location of our mailing address, and we could not have Oz registry w/o citizenship here.

The OP will be asked for proof of ownership when entering ports foreign. The insurance issue is quite difficult right now, good luck with it, mate.



Ann

[Tillsbury]

The difficulty might be in finding the original paperwork. Many NZ boats have nothing whatsoever, broker or no broker.

[roland stockham]

Registration is dependent on either the citizenship of the owner or, if in a company name, the place where the company is registered. It has nothing to do with whete the boat is based. So as a US citizen you have to get us registration.

[jmschmidt]

Yes, I can give you a source. Me. But you provide absolutely no info about the boat or yourself so you will get a bunch of semi-useful and even bogus answers on this forum.

Oops, I see you have already gotten some of those kind of responses.

Without a complete bio on you and the boat no one can answer you question intelligently. Need your citizenship and state of residence in the US and your plan to use the boat. Then I need all the current info on the boat: flag country, registration country, state, county or province for starters. Intended use; commercial, pleasure or other, like live-aboard.

These issues remind me of my boss when we first started fazing in computers in the early seventies. We had to sue the first two hardware and software contractors to finally get things working even half-assed. The boss was so totally frustrated that at a staff meeting one day he said, "I don't understand why this is so hard, don't you just go (pointing at a keyboard) diddle, diddle, bop and out it comes?"

[CaptHotelIndia]

Hello jmschmidt
Thank you for helping me out.

I do understand the complexity of my question, my hope is to find some source where information on the subject is available so that I could do the work determining what might be best for my specific situation. The boat is currently registered in France until deregistration at the time of handover. I am a US citizen residing in Hawaii and plan on using the boat for personal use, seasonally, not live aboard. The boat is in New Zealand and will be cruising up to Fiji etc. next year.
DLNR told me they have nothing to do with the registration because the boat isn't here. Coast guard directed me to the National Vessel Documentation Center to get a COD. One question I have (of many, many) is what to look for to understand the benefits of a Coast Guard COD vs. Delaware registration vs. Caymans, etc. Because while the process to obtain a COD is fairly simple, the tax results aren't in the instructions. (Nor would I expect them to be, just trying to find that info). thank you again for spending a moment sharing your experience, Aloha