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Buying a boat in the USA


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Hi guys im new to all this but have been saving for about 3 three years now and have about one year to go before i am finaly ready to buy my own blue water criuser and start my sailing adventure derams. I am probably an average sailer at best and of course will get more training practice befor embarking on my traveles. The question i have is that i have heard through friends and other sailors that you can buy yachts in the US for much less and sail them home and end up with a better boat and a great adventure for the same price as buying one here. Is this true and if so are there any down sides. Price range would be around $60,000.

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What you've heard is possibly true. Few things to consider when looking offshore in general.

 

Unless you get very lucky and find a boat that's perfect and ready to go, you'll likely have to spend a fair chunk getting it ready to sail many thousands of miles across the Pacific. Even a well kept boat will need things. The cost and time (which in a lot of places means more exorbitant berthage) this takes can quickly add up to more than you'd expect to pay at home. To some extent this depends on your situation - whether you have time available and ability to do work yourself.

 

It also depends on your objective. If you're just after a good boat for the best price possible, that's different than if you actually want to do a Pacific cruise. The cost of the cruise won't be insignificant and if your objective is the best boat you can for the money then you might be better off either buying local or sailing directly rather than doing an extended cruise.

 

Don't forget about gst and duty if you plan to keep it here. 15% gst and 5% duty.

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i doubt it's worthwhile in that pricerange and in the current market. 

 

given duty and gst, you'd be looking at

 

plus, you can get a whole lot of boat here at the moment as prices seem to have dipped significantly. 

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We purchased an offshore yacht a year ago, buying.local was easily cheaper when everything was factored in  and would possibly be more so now.

 

Opua in the summer can be a good place for viewing bluewater cruisers.

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I've looked at this seriously a couple of times and of course the exact answer depends on NZ vs US boat market prices, exchange rates and taxes at the time but overall I've found that by the time you factor in travel (time & costs) plus contingency for unknowns dealing with any long-range purchase, the US option doesn't really become viable until you are in the NZD$500,000+ range. Of course you might get lucky - mostly via a personal contact getting to know of a great little boat going cheap that the owner wants out of fast - but you won't find deals like that browsing the interwebhypernet or going via a broker.

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Yes, same results here after looking into it.  Also remember that a lot of prices on Trademe are dreaming.  Keep your eyes open and wait for realism to hit, then often boats are dropped to a reasonable price and go fairly quickly.  Talk to lots of brokers and find out the true value of boats here, and you'll find that it really isn't going to be cheaper to import one.  If you want the trans-pacific experience, then you can do it cheaply by buying abroad, but if you don't then it's not worthwhile.

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Buying abroad can be beneficial but I think Europe is the best place to buy and sail to NZ for the best possible price difference. You won't make money but you may be able to cover most of the costs of a 1-2year holiday sailing home. I just did it and it worked out pretty well for us as a family of 5 for a 1.5 year sailing holiday that didn't cost much.

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