[Registration Offshore such as the Cook Islands]

Hi all, and thanks "en masse" for taking time to respond. To update my post, I own a 10 year old, 12mx 4.2mx1.4m draft 15 ton launch "Betty G" (BG). She has a 6LXB Gardner and was designed for offshore, albeit I've found the minimum measurement for a launch to go off shore is 12m excluding the bowsprit. BG is 12m including her bowsprit! Arrrghhh! I have tried numerous times to get an answer about whether an inspector has the latitude to permit BG to achieve CAT1 (let's ignore the people requirements for a minute). (Jon: I would be interested in your view about whether you would be able to waiver BG's length requirements to approve her for CAT 1 which I would prefer??)My plan was to invest in numerous improvements for offshore over the next few years, but I don't want to do this if I can't take her - I may as well get another boat, BUT I don't want to if that makes sense. I have enquired with Cook Islands Maritime, and CI registration is expensive - $5300.00 USD for 5 years, but at least I can take BG offshore, and now address other aspects of setup without fearing I'm wasting my money. I will likely look at the other suggestions regards the UK and Jersey too (Thanks for those). Hopefully I can figure how to include a pic of BG next! Thanks again Will

[Registration Offshore such as the Cook Islands]

Hi all.

I'm interested to hear from anyone who has registered their vessel offshore (such as the Cook Islands), perhaps to avoid the stringent CAT 1 requirements Maritime NZ seem to impose on vessels. I own a well found launch, which is a tad short for Maritime NZ's view of "what is safe". Grateful for any experiences you may have encountered?

cheers

Will