Shipping a boat to the US

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Mike_S

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Bit of a strange idea I guess, but I'm just wondering if anyone's done this (rather than the more usual route of from the US) ?

Situation is that swmbo's been offered a relocation from here to the US with her company, to be based in New Jersey. We've got a Regal 2150 that in the current boaty economy is going to be hard to shift, so rather than sell it at a huge loss (which really would pain me), we talked last night about shipping it over there with everything else.

Daft idea or not ? Anyone done it ?

Failing that it'll be up for sale after this weekend /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Whatever you get for it over here, will probably buy an identical one over there and still have some left over. I'd leave it with a broker and save the cost of shipping.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Whatever you get for it over here, will probably buy an identical one over there and still have some left over. I'd leave it with a broker and save the cost of shipping.

[/ QUOTE ]

Spot on !!!
You can buy a lot of boat for little wedge at the moment in the US.
 
If you want to sell it at a huge loss I'll happily give you bugger all for it.

More seriously I'd agree with Chrid_D
 
[ QUOTE ]
Whatever you get for it over here, will probably buy an identical one over there and still have some left over. I'd leave it with a broker and save the cost of shipping.

[/ QUOTE ]

That did occur to me but there's nothing quite like a 'known' entity is there. If it's going to cost me 8% with a broker *and* I'm likely to take a big hit on it (bear in mind it's only worth about £12k anyway) then to shift it quickly could leave me with £8-9k. I doubt I'd buy another one as good as this one for that, given the big change in the exchange rate.

If it was still $2/£1 then maybe.
 
Well you did ask, can't find a 2150 for sale in the US but there seem to be quite a few 2100's for about $10K see here . It will cost at least a grand or more to ship it and then theres import problems, you will find your £8-9K goes long a long way in the US.
 
Do you really need the hassle and worry of shipping a boat back to its home land where your bound to find lots of choice of others over there. Afterall, your not going to get any change out of 2K to ship with all expenses.
I'll give you bugger all for it now /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Close to the Raritan River & the Hudson, which would end up near NY & what's known as the 'Jersey Shore' so yes, pretty close to the sea.

I doubt it's anything like the BC though (although the Raritan's a similar colour) /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

As for the hassle of shipping (along with the cost) we'd have a house full to ship so it's just an extra bit of gear. I have to say that I think if I wanted to get an easy sale, I'd have to 'lose' more than £2k in both brokerage & 'discounting' on the boat. Looking on boattrader.com to replace our 2150 with a comparable boat would cost $16-20k, so given the current exchange rate that could be more than we'd get for ours here. Yes, I agree there's a big choice of boats over there but I'm quite happy with this one !!

I'm sure I could sell the UK trailer she came with and buy a cheap US trailer over here to park her on as well.
 
and there's the additional complication of 110v/60Hz if you use shore power.
As someone wrote, you will have a lot of choice here in the present economic/financial climate.
 
remember as well that there will be import duty and sales tax to pay. I went into florida with a UK flagged vessel and got a tempory import lasts a year no duty/tax to pay but the boat has to leave within the year. i understand the boat is still in US but has paid the fees now. you need to speak with homeland security in Miami to check it out properly they are very helpful.
 
I see your point mate....
If you can get it there undamaged and for similar cost to your brokerage cost then you have a boat that you trust and like. Better the devil you know and all that. And you dont have the bother of trying to find a boat out there that fits the bill.
 
It's the same thing as with the house market. Suppose you have a 400K house and want a 600K house. You need to sell up, and add 200K. If the housing market tanks 50%, your house is worth 200K, but the house you want now costs 300K. So you need to sell up and only add a 100K.

If you think the UK boat market is in a slump, have a look at the US market. I concur with the rest of the forumites: sell the boat and buy something bigger in the US.

As Jozef Fritzl would say: "It's all relative".
 
IF you insist on shipping it, the only way that you can do it economically is in a 40ft container, together with your belongings.

We shipped our racing boat (36ft) plus loads of stuff (crew personal belongings, tender,...) from Antwerp to Maine for 5.000 USD in 2000

Put the boat on a "carnet" (usually obtained through your chambers of commerce), so you don't have to pay VAT and import duty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATA_Carnet
 
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