[SCUBACrunch]

Originally Posted by canadianseamonkey

Is the boat you want to buy new or used? If you buy it from a broker you will pay both the PST and GST. Buy it private and you'll only pay the PST.

The boat is used, built in Taiwan and currently US documented.

Following one of the responses here, I did a search of the Canadian Vessel Registration site. Indeed, I can register it in Canada even though it will never go into Canada. I'm still looking into the fee structure and exactly how the entire registration is done, but it looks good.

The only thing left there is that we may be taking a mortgage out to pay for her, and the mortgage company will be in the US.

Anyone know if either a US citizen or Canadian citizen living in the US can get a mortgage in the US for a boat registered/documented in Canada but being kept in US waters?

I'm thinking it would be like buying a house in the US through a Canadian mortgage company, ....or buying a house in Canada through a US mortgage company, .........except that houses don't move. Isn't it more about the ability to pay than its registration location? We don't currently own land so it's not a matter of doing an equity transfer, but we do have savings.

And according to the USCG site, I can keep the boat in the US providing I pay a $25 yearly permit fee .....which has to be prepaid on a VISA, MC, AMX or certified account a month prior to its due date. It's a sticker that gets attached to the boat. Prior to 9-11, you could keep your Canadian registered boat permanently in the US if you paid a 1.5% duty on it. That is long gone. Now it's a yearly fee paid through the USCG.

This isn't so much about flying the Canadian flag as it is about taking a US documented vessel into lands where Americans are not looked on very ....nicely. I've heard horror stories of US cruisers having their boats ransacked by border officials just because they were Americans. Not sure if this is true, but am I willing to take that chance if there is another alternative?

Someone suggested that simply flying the Canadian flag on the stern - and the fact that I am Canadian - would hold up just as well as changing the boat's documentation to Canada as well as seeking a Canadian passport for my wife (who has family in Canada but is a US citizen). They suggested that my being Canadian would greatly influence the outcome of any official foreign dealings. Anyone have any such experience in foreign waters?

Thanks for all your feedback, people. As Trish and I get ever closer to our departure day, each day I realize how much more there is to learn about what we are planning to do. The list is long, ...but we are up for it!