Getting a boat back from Turkey

[ATCBird]

My father is very ill and his 16m motor boat is currently lying in Turkey. It is up for sale, but we're wondering if anyone can give us some advice on whether we should bring it back to the UK and if so the best way of doing that?

 

[capsco]

It will be expensive, so to decide how or if to bring it back we would first need to know the make model and condition of the boat to arrive at a realistic valuation, then according to some on this forum divide by 2.

 

[Whitelighter]

You don't divide the realistic value by 2

Just the unrealistic ones where sellers want what they paid for it 5 years ago plus all the upgrade costs back in full

 

[Tranona]

Not a simple answer. First you have to determine whether it will fetch a higher price (or even sell at all) in the UK, and that the additional price, or probability of selling, justifies the cost of getting it back here. Then the practicalities of actually shipping a boat of that size. Finally the documentation required as the boat is outside the EU and will have to be imported. This may be complicated and expensive, or not a big issue, depending on the current tax status of the boat.

So lots of things to think about.

 

[Sandy Bottom]

Back in the day I recovered a 20 meter from Malta (boatyard dispute) and a 17 meter from Istanbul (illness). We had a small team to do it when we had a boatyard. In short it's a hassle and expensive. How expensive depends of course on the relative value of the boat to the fuel / crew or road transport costs. The Malta one was a three week trip at 6.5 knots, Istanbul was a more leisurely 5 or 6 weeks as there was no time pressure.

Details needed are:
1. Type of boat / fuel capacity / speed / range / length / beam / displacement.
2. Country of registration / vat status.
3. Boat / engine condition.
4. Approx value.

My guess is that road/sea transport, if possible, will be the better option, but more info is required :encouragement:

 

[Tranona]

My first thought for getting it back would be on its own bottom to Piraeus then by ship with the regular sailings to Southampton.

 

[Sandy Bottom]

My first thought for getting it back would be on its own bottom to Piraeus then by ship with the regular sailings to Southampton.

I've already said that

 

[ian38_39]

If you do not have to ship on a given date then deck cargo gets a lot cheaper if they are sailing with space, you just have to wait till very close to the date.

 

[Nick_H]

My first thought for getting it back would be on its own bottom to Piraeus then by ship with the regular sailings to Southampton.

There's a good chance a 16m motor boat will go on a truck, which will be much cheaper than sea transport, probably half the cost.

 

[Tranona]

There's a good chance a 16m motor boat will go on a truck, which will be much cheaper than sea transport, probably half the cost.

Could well be, but not sure if that is possible direct from Turkey. should be possible from Slovenia. When I got quotes for getting my boat back from Greece, although the shipping cost on its own was more than road, the door to door (or berth to berth!) difference shrank because the mast could stay up and the boat was craned direct on and off the ship. Appreciate no mast on this boat, but some dismantling is likely to get the height down.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I'm assuming that as the boat is in Turkey, its ex VAT? If that is the case you need to investigate on what basis you can import the boat into the EU ie whether you can import the boat on a temporary ex VAT basis or whether you're going to have to pay VAT in the first EU country you enter.

I once brought a boat back to the UK from the Med for sale and it worked out very well for me as it sold within a few days of coming back to the UK having not had a bite in the Med for several months. As a general rule, I would say that if the boat is a British brand or at least a brand popular in the UK then its worth considering bringing it back for sale. On the other hand if its an Italian or Spanish brand not well known in the UK, you're going to struggle to sell it in the UK just as much as in the Med. As for actually bringing it back, I would say that the best method would by truck. Check out Van der Wettering http://www.vandewetering.nl/en/ as they list Turkey as a destination. If you had the time, you could of course bring it back to the UK by sea but that would cost you a lot of fuel, put a lot of hours on the engines (which may reduce its value) and depending on the age of the boat may result in costly maintenance issues