Boat ownership in Puerto Rico

[nibj]

Does anyone have any experience owning a sailboat in Fajardo, Puerto Rico?

We have enjoyed chartering in the USVI, SVI and BVI (and Antigua) and are dreaming about selling our nearby boat and buying a 40ft monohull to cruise the Virgin Islands and maybe beyond. We would like to be based in Puerto Rico for ease of travel and provisioning.

The obvious question is what are the costs likely to be beyond usual boat upkeep. I can find out slip costs, haul out costs and availability. Will insurance be hard to get (staying there in the hurricane season)? I can also find out about registration costs, but what have I forgotten? I live in the US: is ownership of a boat by no Puerto Rican citizens tricky?

Thanks in advance.

[BG305]

PR is a US territory so it falls under US jurisdiction.

[wholybee]

Puerto Rico is part of the USA. Puerto Rican's are US citizens, just like you are(I assume). All aspects are the same as the US. You could buy and document a boat in the Chesapeake, sail it to Puerto Rico, and do nothing else because you are still in the USA.

If you are NOT a US citizen but a foreign national that resides here, then you can't own a US flagged boat. You need to flag and document the boat for whatever country you are a citizen of and then comply with the limits of keeping a foreign boat in the US.

If you intend to keep the boat year long in PR, then insurance will be difficult to impossible and expensive. And rightly so, as it is no longer "insurance" against the unexpected, because destruction of your boat in a hurricane is a "when" question, not an "if" question as far as insurance policies go.

[nibj]

Thanks for the comments. I am aware PR is a US territory, and its citizens are US citizens.

[BG305]

It’s like going from NY to FL.

[old pirate]

We once kept our boat at Isletta marina, Fajardo for 6 months. It was great. We are non US. As said above in hurricane season you take your chances !

[the Aviator]

I bought a boat in JAX. and still working on sailing it down. I live here in pr. My boat is cosat guard registred. I check with the local authority (DRN) and they said after 3 month I have to get a PR registration since documented it will cost $300.00 per year. But they mentioned tax clerance? I check with another friend that have a documented boat and he didnt have to paid or get any tax document.

so it seem to who you ask. you can also registred in st thomas and keep it in pr as an intransit and dont pay registration. But you have to be out of PR. several month of the year to show taht you are not base here.

Also nsurance lyability only and costly. I hve as 5 companies and no quote yet. I have it right now with state farm in US. But can not find a local Sate farm agent. closes is ST, thomas