Importing a Boat to Australia

[savoir]

If you plan on moving around then state registration is a waste of money. Maybe you would like to head out to PNG or Bali or NZ or something. Those guys won't care about your state registration.

If you plan to stay put, then register in your home port.

[Factor]

State registration may well be a waste of money - god knows, very few governments spend the money that I give them wisely.

Nevertheless in NSW & Qld (and I suspect the other states) if you are australian citizen, you will be required to have the vessel registered in the state. The thought police will very cheerfully take your money if you dont.

[savoir]

Sure, but that means you have chosen to stick around.

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by Factor

State registration may well be a waste of money - god knows, very few governments spend the money that I give them wisely. Nevertheless in NSW & Qld (and I suspect the other states) if you are australian citizen, you will be required to have the vessel registered in the state. The thought police will very cheerfully take your money if you dont.

Understand that States demand that they be registered, however, I have yet to get to the bottom of what happens if you are circumnavigating and already have a national registration, or have a registration from another state. - I intend to end up in WA, but the boat at the moment will have a UK registration which will make French Polynesia an easier visit.

[onthehunt]

Guys - can someone please verify. I only plan on doing bay cruising and coastal crusiing in the 1st few years. If I am not planning to go outside Australian waters in the very near future can I get by with just state registration of the boat or do I still need to get Australian registration before arrival.

tx

[DtM]

Assuming you are buying an Australian boat, you only need State registration.

AMSA registration only needed if you are going overseas and it is easy to get. Don't let all the fuss put you off (PM me).

[ausaviator]

State registration in Victoria is only around $27. If you're not going anywhere much, it's good value.

[Dragon Lady]

Originally Posted by ausaviator

State registration in Victoria is only around $27. If you're not going anywhere much, it's good value.

Gee that's good value, if it weren't for the weather it would be worth moving there LOL!

[Kiwikat]

So how do I know if my fridge has good or bad gas?
I assume it is French/European made 2002 to 2003.
It's a piece of crap so I have no qualms about ditching it.[/QUOTE]

Dragon Lady, we just bought a 2002 FP Bahia in Tahiti and took it back to NZ. Refrigeration died in Fiji so we used bags of ice to get her back to NZ. Our fridgy in NZ wasn't sure of the gas so we googled the compressor model and found specs confirming R134A only used - we will be re-doing entire system but nice to have it going in the mean time.

Cheers

[Dragon Lady]

Thanks Kiwikat, looks like I can keep my fridge going until I can replace it with something better.

[Dragon Lady]

Originally Posted by onthehunt

Dragon Lady, Factor - thanks for the advice - sailing on her own bottom due in brisbane in about 3 weeks so hopefully I have enough time to tidy up the paperwork. Still trying to work out how to PM denisail. not game to post my email address "live"

Hey OTH are you in port yet?

[D&D]

Greetings all

Like several others already posting here, we just lived this thread. After a vessel search over the past 4-5 years (mostly in Australia, but in the end very much overseas as well) we landed CatNirvana (a Lagoon 440) in Sydney in early June, after buying her in Feb lying in Sardinia and then sailing her to Australia via the Panama Canal.

There were lots of twists and turns in the voyage, both before and after we actually set sail! Our experience suggests it may not be a process suited to vessel buyers who aren't prepared to invest a fair amount of their own time and energy. For us though, it was a fantastic and successful experience.

We now look forward to both enjoying CatNirvana and working her as a floating gallery showroom for Floating Impressions, our business promoting cruising creature comforts.

D&D

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by D&D

Greetings all

Like several others already posting here, we just lived this thread. After a vessel search over the past 4-5 years (mostly in Australia, but in the end very much overseas as well) we landed CatNirvana (a Lagoon 440) in Sydney in early June, after buying her in Feb lying in Sardinia and then sailing her to Australia via the Panama Canal.

There were lots of twists and turns in the voyage, both before and after we actually set sail! Our experience suggests it may not be a process suited to vessel buyers who aren't prepared to invest a fair amount of their own time and energy. For us though, it was a fantastic and successful experience.

We now look forward to both enjoying CatNirvana and working her as a floating gallery showroom for Floating Impressions, our business promoting cruising creature comforts.

D&D

That's a hell of a voyage in 5 months!
I for one would really like to hear all about it.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Talbot

Understand that States demand that they be registered, however, I have yet to get to the bottom of what happens if you are circumnavigating and already have a national registration, or have a registration from another state. - I intend to end up in WA, but the boat at the moment will have a UK registration which will make French Polynesia an easier visit.

Somehow I missed this but better late than never.

All Aussie states allow for the transit of vessels from other states. Usually they consider 3 months to be a fair time to send in their state waters waters without having to re-register in their state. I am not sure in there is a actual time given in the statue books.

I don't know of anyone who has had an issue with this providing they were bona fide cruisers and had a current registration in another state; especially if they could demonstrate a genuine home address in the state of registration.

It works the same way as state car registration when one drives to other states. If you are visiting, you are OK; if you are moving there, you have some weeks grace to get it changed.

I do know that some in the past would have Aussie National registration with the home port of Darwin as at that time, the NT didn't have any state (territory) registration. They would argue that they didn't need to have comply with other state's registration requirements; it sort worked if they kept moving. I am not sure of the current NT requirements.

[Connected]

Originally Posted by Wotname

All Aussie states allow for the transit of vessels from other states. Usually they consider 3 months to be a fair time to send in their state waters waters without having to re-register in their state. I am not sure in there is a actual time given in the statue books.

It works the same way as state car registration when one drives to other states. If you are visiting, you are OK; if you are moving there, you have some weeks grace to get it changed.

This is not necessarily the case. Boats are exempt from requiring registration in the State of Victoria if they are registered in another State or Territory. There is no time limit. (Source: VicRoads website).