Provisioning a Leopard 384 in BVI

[schiehser]

Greetings,

I'm about to purchase one of the 2010/2011 Leopard 384's for sale from Moorings in Tortola, BVI. Plan is to sail her back slowly (over the course of a year) to Seattle. I am in need of advice on how to provision the boat in a cost efficient manner given that I know very little about the marine supply stores available there. Some of the large items on my list are the following:
- dinghy (between 9.5-11 feet in length with rigid hull)
- outboard motor
- life raft (8 people)
- 4g Radar and a screen that is compatible with it and other instruments
- AIS transceiver / receiver

My questions are:
1) Am I missing anything important?

2) What's the best way to get all this stuff onto my boat in Tortola?

3) The dream would be to have the radar / AIS / Navigation / GPS system / autopilot all all integrated. I know fully well that I will not be able to do this myself and need a professional. Boat will come with: GPS: Raymarine C90W chartplotter, AUTO PILOT: Raymarine ST6002, ECHOSOUNDER: Raymarine ST60 + tridata, WIND: Raymarine ST60 + and windex. And that's it. Advice on how to proceed would be fabulous.

Thanks for taking the time to provide some advice!
Mike

[neilpride]

If im in your shoes i set a overnight sail to St Marteen and save tons of cash, my 2 cents...

[svadagio]

You do not say if you are US or not. If US sail to St Thomas and order from the states for a lot less. US post office is cheaper to ship by and no Duties. We have done St Thomas, St Martin and the rest.
Bob

[zippy]

Why does it matter if he is US?

[l2ridehd]

Go to St Thomas to get the equipment sent from the states. As for install you may want to consider sailing to Florida coast for that. Lots more options. As for the dinghy and outboard, try to buy a decent used one in Tortola. Island Water World can ship one from St Martin if no other option is available.

[svadagio]

Zippy
I do not know the restrictions if he is not US and brings stuff into St Thomas which is duty free?
Bob

[2Hulls]

I agree with the recommendations to buy hardware in St. Maarten or St. Thomas vs Tortola. I bought an AB dink in SXM several years ago and saved a lot vs buying it back in the states. Stuff bought in SXM will be subject to duty going back to the US (the OP says he wants to "go back to Seattle"), but USVI is duty free. I claimed my new dink upon arriving in the USVI from SXM and next stop was Ches Bay, so I ended up paying no duty. I tried, but nobody wanted my money. It would have been only about US$35.

Originally Posted by l2ridehd

As for the dinghy and outboard, try to buy a decent used one in Tortola.

A caution here - to register a dinghy in most US states requires a "certificate of origin" if not made in the US. You won't get one buying used and registering will be a headache, if possible at all.

Dave

[Cassonthenet]

Check out Nanny Cay marina.

[Dr. Sea]

Everyone has given you good advice. I would add that if you need to have installation work done, sail to Ft Lauderdale to have it done. The rates won't be cheaper, but the work will be done faster and will probably be better and give you less hassle.

[seasick]

Budget Marine on Nanny Cay, Tortola will likely have everything you require at competitive prices.

I recently made a similar voyage, outfitting the boat there and returning to the Pacific NW via Panama and Hawaii.

If it's found on a Leopard 384, the spare parts can be found at Budget Marine.

In my estimation Florida is in the wrong direction.

We had no problem flying in electronics, tools, wind vane, etc all duty free, labeled for yacht in transit.

The heavy stuff we shipped ahead and it was waiting for us on our arrival.

As an aside, while working to ready the boat for a month on Nanny Cay, my wife and I both contracted Dengue fever. Thought we were going to die. The disease acted as an oncolytic virus and cured my wife of the stage four bone cancer secondary to breast cancer that was predicted to be her undoing. She is alive and well and catching King Salmon with me today on the Columbia.

[sailon46]

Having done the same thing on a 51.4 Cyclades beneteau was able to get everything I needed in Smarten budget Marine got garmin radar $400 less than US (no taxes) got dingy AB 9 ft with Tohatsu 9.9 new 4.9k everything is cheaper in smarten forget USVI the installers are expensive.

[Capt. Aubrey]

For your dinghy, check out Golden Hind Chandleries on Tortola and their Limin range of rigid bottom inflatables. They are locally manufactured and come with a 60 month warranty on the Hypalon. They are used quite a bit in the charter industry and appear to handle the extensive use really well.