Any Views re: Buying in Australia

[redbreast]

Hi all, with the Ausie dollar looking attractive v the pound has any body here had any dealings with purchasing out of Australia, looking to buy a sailing Catamaran , performance cruiser.

[freetime]

In what pricerange?

Buy in Australia and sail to UK? You have many nice models from NZ and Australia you can´t find in US or Europe...

[Zanshin]

redbreast - while in Oz I couldn't find a boat that was cheaper than it's twin in the USA or Europe, the only exceptions being the locally (Oz,NZ) built ones. Do you already have a particular boat in mind?

[redbreast]

Price tag of around £240,000 , and as for models well im not sure whats available around 40' to 46' . we have one advantage as in we are VAT free living in Jersey CI, not sure how that would pan out. Any reccomendations on boats would be good please ?

[freetime]

Originally Posted by redbreast

Price tag of around £240,000 , and as for models well im not sure whats available around 40' to 46' . we have one advantage as in we are VAT free living in Jersey CI, not sure how that would pan out. Any reccomendations on boats would be good please ?

Jersey, nice place!

Tell us what you want. What kind of cruise do planning to do? Where, how many are you, experience. What is important for you. Are you planning to sail home from Aus/NZ?

Privilege 435? Little over budget???


Or a Australian/NZ build one....schionning?

www.yachtworld.com Start here...

[raw1]

Originally Posted by redbreast

we have one advantage as in we are VAT free living in Jersey CI, not sure how that would pan out. Any reccomendations on boats would be good please ?

Check CE compliance before spending any money. Two Aus websites for used boats - www.yachthub.com.au and www.boatpoint.com.au.

Good luck,

Ron

[Factor]

Our dollar ahs dropped 10%v on the greenback in the last 14 days or so, so buying here is a little more attractive at current currency rates.

[Adams13]

If you are after fast cruising, schionning or fusion, beautiful fast boats. If you don't need to go fast I'd probably go french production and buy it when you get home.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Factor

Our dollar ahs dropped 10%v on the greenback in the last 14 days or so, so buying here is a little more attractive at current currency rates.

I read this and wondered how I missed this. Then I saw the date

The situation has totally turned around since this thread started.

[Dragon Lady]

The time to buy a boat in Australia has long passed, unless you must have an Aussie built boat.
Even then I think it's probably cheaper to buy one overseas, and hey no import duty.

[Tropical Home]

Australia now as of May 2011 is crazy expensive. US is way cheaper now. Also My Leopard 46 is night and day built better than the French boats. My hulls are 1.8 to 2 cm thick! I had my boat inspected by the Japanese government and they said quote "The Leopard 46 is nothing like the Lagoons they always inspect" And the yard workers who do fiberglass repairs and gelcoat specialists said the fiberglass and gelcoat are hands down better than the french boats. Said they will be lucky to last 20 years.

This is not me saying this, but independent people. So have a good look before you buy. Note flex when walking on the decks, and do a test to check fiberglass thickness.

I am also a big fan of the Schionnings designs especially the G Force. What a beautiful boat, but the 1500 costs about $300,000 more than my Leopard full loaded! I think I saw Bullet Proof a 1400 used selling for about the same I paid for my boat new.

[Dragon Lady]

Each to their own, the weight of the Leopard is the reason why I bought a lightweight French boat.
We wanted a comfortable roomy boat for the family to be used in relatively light conditions, so we didn't need an icebreaker.
But if you like heavy and solid then fill your boots you've obviously bought the right boat for you and are very happy with it.

[Jeannius]

Tropical Home... I don't think it's a good idea to go slamming all French boats. Sure some of them may be a bit flimsy but not Catana or Privilege and maybe some others.

To the original poster... Australia seemed very expensive for cats when I was there last year. Also it can be a very tough ride getting back to Jersey from Oz. The Indian Ocean was very unkind to us.

[Aussie_Sequoia]

I am also looking at buying a boat in the US. Heading over next month. It's funny because I found that a catamaran might be the only thing I might buy back in Oz. I like our own built cats and the price doesn't seem too far off what is over in the US (for new)... maybe getting an ex charter somewhere in the Caribbean could be different story all together

[Tropical Home]

Originally Posted by Jeannius

Tropical Home... I don't think it's a good idea to go slamming all French boats. Sure some of them may be a bit flimsy but not Catana or Privilege and maybe some others.

To the original poster... Australia seemed very expensive for cats when I was there last year. Also it can be a very tough ride getting back to Jersey from Oz. The Indian Ocean was very unkind to us.

True a Catana 50 just pulled in and it is very well built! First one to enter here. Have to say it's a Beautiful boat. A bit low on the bridge deck but besides that the owners have been everywhere with it.

We only have Lagoons and beneteaus here.

My boat is by no means perfect but it sails always around 9 knots without trimming sails.