Surprised no one answered this! Update / general answer:
So, in the end we decided against the farr 38. It's just too small for having 2
kids on board. I thought we could make it
work. Wife wasn't too keen. Answers to my own questions:
Yes, you can register your boat in your home state and avoid the sales tax. But, a stay in any sales tax state (state depending) of a given period of time (usually 60 days) will technically require you to register it there. That state will want the difference of what sales tax you paid in the state you purchased it in / originally registered it to. The difference being $0 in
Oregon to whatever state it's currently in. Also, there are some odd rules for states like
Washington (and maybe others?) where if I
import it to that state, but do not register it there, I can no longer return to that state for 6 months after my initial stay, otherwise it's considered a "use tax" scenario and the sales tax has to be paid as well as potential slap on the wrist fines.
Yes, I could leave my boat in the Toronto yard and do work on it there for 90 days at which point I'd have to register it in Canada.
There are a few other boats we are looking at in Canada on the
Great Lakes. So, all good to know. Especially leaning towards the Valiant 40s. Man, we love those boats! Too bad about the
blisters, though some seem to randomly just not have any even though they are blister years. The search continues...