keeping a boat in France

[daveyjones]

I'd appreciate any advice or information on keeping a yacht in a French marina or boatyard. From what I hear it is much cheaper. As I live in Kent I am looking at Calais and Boulougne, but would be interested in hearing from elsewhere, especially if you have direct knowledge. What about bureaucratic problems, such as insurance, registration and VAT? If you keep the boat there 12 months a year does it need to be registered in some way? Thanks in advance for any information.

 

[Sea Devil]

There are no bureaucratic problems - most marinas like to see an insurance certificate - French marinas annual rental comes starts January first - The big problem is finding a free berth - The waiting time here for a permanent berth is 3-5 years!
Prices are less than half UK.

 

[poter]

I have just purchased a boat in France & intend to keep it there.

She is in the Med. & I have re-registered her with the ssr. As long as your vessel has the VAT paid and you have proof its not a problem. I insured thru. Yachtmaster Insurance Services & it was not that expensive. I am not aware of any problems with leaving your boat in France for any length of time, or at least no one at my marina is aware.

I would not limit myself just to the north west of France, as the cost of cheap airfares, now makes it possible to fly almost any time you wish, especially down to the south of France.

Great sailing, good food & wine.

poter.

 

[sphero]

Just to add you need to keep the original ship's papers on board. We have not done this in the past for security reasons, but had some explaining to do when the French Customs paid a routine visit last year.

We managed to find a berth in France after a couple of years. It's maybe worth keeping the boat there on a "temporary" berth basis for the summer then perhaps request a haul out for winter storage. A vacancy could come up at any time!

We pay about 30% marina fees compared to the E Coast!

 

[Sea Devil]

There is no problem in finding a place in almost all French Marinas for the winter - End Sept to March/April - normally you will get between 30 & 50% discount for that period - The problem comes in the summer months - they will not allow you to stay on a temporary basis - not a question of money a question of having space for all the visiting yachts.

It is normally possible to find a commercial yard in the marina area to store the boat quite reasonably during the summer but that negates the point of having it there...

 

[sphero]

we managed to get a temporary berth in Brittany! maybe we were just lucky.