New Member

[Colorado Jim]

Just joined the forum! I am a newbie, working on purchasing our first catamaran for cruising the Caribbean. My first question concerns registration. One boat we are considering is a Canadian-flagged (we are Americans) vessel currently lying in Grenada. If we buy this boat, there's a chance it'll stay in the Caribbean for a year or more before ever seeing US coastal waters. Should I register the boat in my home state or register it in Grenada or somewhere else?
Thanks for your input.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Jim.

[skipmac]

Hi Jim and welcome to the forum.

For simplicities' sake I would "register" the boat in the US. I put quotes around register because there are two ways to do this. You can register the boat in a state like CO or you can do a federal "registration" through the USCG that is correctly called documentation.

For larger, cruising boats by far the most common is USCG documentation but this is a bit more complicated, especially for the first time a boat is documented. In addition to registering the boat it also shows clear title or any liens like bank loan or mortgage, unpaid yard bills against the boat, etc.

Both options have been covered in great detail in numerous previous discussions. Quick check with the CF search function will find you hours of reading on the pros, cons and details of both. One thing you will need to deal with will be state sales tax which can be totally different depending on the state where you reside, where you keep the boat in the US if you ever do or where you choose to pick as the hailing port for the USCG documentation.

[Curious Sailor]

Hi Jim.. Welcome..


http://curioussailor.blogspot.com/

[JPA Cate]

Hi, Jim, and welcome to CF.

It might be worth your while to find out under what circumstances you could keep it in Grenada. Has it already been imported to there? What Grenadan hoops will you have to jump through if you get state registry in another country.

This is going to be a real education, for you, but lots of things are possible in this world: we once met some people from Mozambique who were from South Africa, whose small steel boat was registered in Sri Lanka.

Ann