Buying an boat in the BVI's

[nicholasgeo]

Buying a boat in the BVI's

Hello
My girlfriend and I are currently looking in the BVI's for a boat to purchase. I'm wondering if anybody has heard of anyone buying an ex-charter boat. We are both experienced in regards to the standard repairs and maintenance and the prices seem to be reasonable I'm wondering if any boy has any concrete experience with boats in the BVI's? Any help at this point would help.

Thanks, Nick

[yotphix]

Hi there,
No first hand experience with it but when I was considering the same thing i was talked out of it by a friend who was a charter captain based in Tortola for 10 years. His observation of the abuse, groundings and other indignities suffered by the charter fleets over that time convinced me that I would be better off buying a boat with a pattern of use more typical of private yachts...sitting at the dock 90 percent of the time.

Like I said, not first hand but I think sound advice from a trusted friend in a position to know.

good luck with it!

[Zanshin]

I'm also looking at the boats available in the BVI and am going through the same decision-making process. Ex-Charter or privately owned? I can see that the charter boats go through a lot use but, on the other hand, they are also subject to regular and professional maintenance and come with all the odds-and-ends necessary for cruising. Private boats might not have the wear and tear, but they have a very hefty surcharge and might not have been maintained the same regular way (I know from airplanes how they can suffer from apron-rash) and might therefore be in worse condition even though their overall look might be pristine.
There seem to be a lot of Oceanis yachts coming out of SunSail that look nicely priced.
I'd look forward to hearing from anyone else about this subject...

[sailingdog]

Charter boats are often used hard, by inexperienced sailors, and have the gear that is often undersized for the boat's true needs. I would highly recommmend avoiding boats that are "rode hard and put away wet" like most charter boats are. Also, most charter boats come in a cabin layout that is preferred by the charter industry, with three cabins, instead of two cabin with the master cabin being larger and having more storage, etc. Most private owners, prefer the latter two-cabin layout.

Most privately owned boats, if used regularly, by an owner who actually sails, will have had far less abuse, and regular maintenance. Boats that were "dock queens" will generally have the worst maintenance record of the three, and often be in the worst shape, as neglected boats often have serious problems that haven't been attended to before the problem became serious.

[Zanshin]

Has anyone here bought and registered a boat in the BVI? I've found my boat and am in the process of buying her. The boat is currently registered in the BVI and I will keep both her name and BVI registration, just transfer ownership to me. A company has offerred to do this for me for the small sum of $1500 (plus they want an annual fee in the future as well). This just doesn't sound kosher so I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through this before.

[sailingdog]

It may be kosher, given that you need to have a physical presence wherever the boat is registered. That is probably what the annual fee is for, since they are providing a physical address for your boat's registration. BTW, if you're planning on bring the boat back to the United States, not registering it in the state of use is probably going to give you some serious problems. Most states are cracking down on foreign registered boats that effectively homeported and used in their waters.

[haukebo]

We bought a boat out of a BVI charter fleet about 5 years ago. Yes it was used, but very well maintained in my opinion. And a great value compared to anything in the US. We found we were able to get a much larger boat in the BVI than we'd have been able to afford somewhere else.

I would advise you to look at the layout and make sure it meets your needs, and get a survey done. We had no major surprises that did not appear on the survey.