Winter in Norway

[michael taylor]

Given the run of depressions crossing the North Sea I may soon abandon plans to return to the UK and stay in Norway for the winter. Can anyone tell me how long I can leave British registered yacht in Norway before being liable to vat or other taxes, please?

 

[pmyatt]

Given the run of depressions crossing the North Sea I may soon abandon plans to return to the UK and stay in Norway for the winter. Can anyone tell me how long I can leave British registered yacht in Norway before being liable to vat or other taxes, please?

A quick trawl of the Noonsite website says that a yacht can stay in Norway for up to 12 months without paying Norwegian VAT.

 

[temptress]

Do NOT underestimate the Norwegian winter!

Where are you thinking of leaving the boat?

I spent 4 years cruising (5 winters!) in Norway (living onboard 2 ½ of those). The Norwegian winter is much harsher than you may imagine.

The first ice comes very quickly and as early as September. One year I could not launch until mid MAY because the branch of the Fjord I was up was still frozen.

Talk to the locals and follow their advice otherwise ice damage inside and outside the boat will be problem.

Remember the UK practice of leaving a dehumidifier on in the boat is usually not much use there as the air is usually too dry in the winter to hold much moisture and whatever moisture gets inside will freeze anyway. Many locals just leave a low wattage light on (elec is one thing that is relatively low cost there) arrange ventilation and turn the boat into a dehumidifier itself.

Also if you are not going to be there regularly you need to cover the boat and arrange it so any snow will fall off the cover. 5 feet of snow weigh a awful lot and can sink a floating boat or do a lot of damage to one in a yard.

There are options to lay up afloat in a ‘bubble’ bath but only in certain locations.

I really enjoyed my cruising up there. I’m not up to date with the importation rules but I found the Norwegian customs straightforward to deal with and had no problems iver the time I was there.

Good Luck.

 

[ChrisE]

Given the run of depressions crossing the North Sea I may soon abandon plans to return to the UK and stay in Norway for the winter. Can anyone tell me how long I can leave British registered yacht in Norway before being liable to vat or other taxes, please?

The rules on payment of VAT are changing at present but as one who spent a winter there recently I wouldn't be too concerned. We kept the boat there for 18 months with no problems, even to the extent that we had customs clearance to do so. As Temptress says the local customs guys are relaxed about this.

Regarding the weather it really depends upon where you lay up as to whether you need to be concerned about the severity of the conditions. We spent a winter in the water in Aalesund which is about 200 miles north of you with no problems, the locals keep their boats in as well, the Gulf Stream keeps the sea warm.

OTOH, others that I know have had to bubble theirs in Oslo. I'm not sure about where you are an ask of the locals could be useful.

Try a PM to Viking of this parish, he's a Brit living in Aalesund and was very helpful to me when we were there.

Best of luck

 

[Dyflin]

Here's the marina in Bergen (in Store Lunegardsvannet) in Feb/March a couple of years ago. The west coast from Bergen down tends to be much gentler than some of the scare stories you hear.

 

[Viking]

As Chris_E says its depeneds where you leave your boat. Olso is if you look at the map of Norway is releatively 'inland' so it does get harder winters, or 'proper' winters as they are known over here, with full time snow. Here on the west coast (62 degree north) we have the gulf stream, so we have milder winters, far,far less snow. tempertures do drop to -15 but only for a day or two. Many of the boats stay in over winter. Anyway in the Olso fjord area will be colder then the west coast. When I asked what the locals did about 'winterization'. They didnt know what I was talking about. They throw a cover over the cockpit, and stick a heater onboard. Some ever leave their sails on for a winter sail. We have a annual 'boys' Chrismas diner cruise in mid December.
We do have a boatyard in Ålesund which as full winter cover if your mast is less the 16meters you can leave it up. Even in our club marina (300 boat) can lift out 6-8 boats, these usually are to be worked on. They are covered, but they leave their mast up. Lifts are done by a local mobile crane company (large boats 36+) small boats we have a club member with a small lorry crane. These boats have electrics run to them.
Chris_E left his boat with us and farther north in Bodø (67 degrees North within the arctic circle).
Good luck