For those who keep, or are thinking of keeping their boats in foreign
countries, I want to share a couple of things we've learned in our
three years of "commuter cruising", keeping our boat in Mexico
off-season.
I don't know the laws elsewhere, but Mexico is very keen on collecting
Aduana (customs) tariffs on articles imported here. Despite the
wonderful NAFTA accord, that only seems to apply to mega-corporations.
A boat "in transit" is supposed to be exempt when it comes to
importing replacement parts, but in practice, conforming to the letter
of the requirements is extremely difficult. One is supposed to put
defective parts into some kind of limbo until the new ones appear,
requiring agents etc. If you are replacing something with something a
bit different, it's a nightmare.
In practice, virtually nobody does this anymore. People roll the dice,
whether flying in parts or driving them in, not declaring them and
hoping for the Green Light that means you don't get inspected. The old
saw about it being easier to appologize than ask permission comes into
play here. Despite the fact that we are doing nothing illegal-
bringing stuff in to resell would be illegal- it is always a bit
stressful coming across, because of the potential difficulty of making
explanations in a foreign language, etc.
So, the trick is, have your vehicle or baggage stuffed in a fashion
that discourages examination, like stowing stinky deckshoes on top of a
messy pile of nondescript stuff, and always act nonchalant, no matter
what happens. A medicinal amount of alchohol can help with the latter,
if you're not driving.
Just 2 centavos from people who have been lucky so far!
Anybody else have any thoughts or good ideas?
Best,
Mike
successfully in San Carlos, MX, with van full of new dinghy, solar
panels, etc. enroute to Puerto Vallarta.
s/v Arabella
www.sailinglinks.com

cruisin wrote:
For those who keep, or are thinking of keeping their boats in foreign
countries, I want to share a couple of things we've learned in our
three years of "commuter cruising", keeping our boat in Mexico
off-season.
I don't know the laws elsewhere, but Mexico is very keen on collecting
Aduana (customs) tariffs on articles imported here. Despite the
wonderful NAFTA accord, that only seems to apply to mega-corporations.
A boat "in transit" is supposed to be exempt when it comes to
importing replacement parts, but in practice, conforming to the letter
of the requirements is extremely difficult. One is supposed to put
defective parts into some kind of limbo until the new ones appear,
requiring agents etc. If you are replacing something with something a
bit different, it's a nightmare.
In practice, virtually nobody does this anymore. People roll the dice,
whether flying in parts or driving them in, not declaring them and
hoping for the Green Light that means you don't get inspected. The old
saw about it being easier to appologize than ask permission comes into
play here. Despite the fact that we are doing nothing illegal-
bringing stuff in to resell would be illegal- it is always a bit
stressful coming across, because of the potential difficulty of making
explanations in a foreign language, etc.
So, the trick is, have your vehicle or baggage stuffed in a fashion
that discourages examination, like stowing stinky deckshoes on top of a
messy pile of nondescript stuff, and always act nonchalant, no matter
what happens. A medicinal amount of alchohol can help with the latter,
if you're not driving.
Just 2 centavos from people who have been lucky so far!
Anybody else have any thoughts or good ideas?
Best,
Mike
successfully in San Carlos, MX, with van full of new dinghy, solar
panels, etc. enroute to Puerto Vallarta.
s/v Arabella
www.sailinglinks.com

Hello Mike,

I had to deal with the same issues while working for State Boat Corp
in the Bay of DeCampchee Mexico. We bent a 35,000 dollar propellor and
had to get a new one in a hurry. Mexico was kind enough to charge us a
100% import tax. From then on, any of the state boats that went to work
for PeMex carried two spare props and two spare shafts. Be careful if
you are bringing a pistol or bullits!

Joe

"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com...
I think your company slipped up a bit there Joe. They should have had a
well connected local agent with an expense account that was not too closely
audited...

Hello Mike,

I had to deal with the same issues while working for State Boat Corp
in the Bay of DeCampchee Mexico. We bent a 35,000 dollar propellor and
had to get a new one in a hurry. Mexico was kind enough to charge us a
100% import tax. From then on, any of the state boats that went to work
for PeMex carried two spare props and two spare shafts. Be careful if
you are bringing a pistol or bullits!

Joe

Edgar wrote:
"Joe" wrote in message
oups.com...
I think your company slipped up a bit there Joe. They should have had a
well connected local agent with an expense account that was not too closely
audited...


Every boat had a PeMex agent assigned to the boat. He lived on the
boat, did all our shopping, radio work ie: translations, ect.. You had
no choice and I'm sure they had incentives to report imports. Plus it's
hard to sneek a 72" 5 bladed brass prop across the border.

Joe



Hello Mike,

I had to deal with the same issues while working for State Boat Corp
in the Bay of DeCampchee Mexico. We bent a 35,000 dollar propellor and
had to get a new one in a hurry. Mexico was kind enough to charge us a
100% import tax. From then on, any of the state boats that went to work
for PeMex carried two spare props and two spare shafts. Be careful if
you are bringing a pistol or bullits!

Joe

On Nov 1, 7:45 am, "Joe" wrote:
Edgar wrote:
"Joe" wrote in message

it's
hard to sneek a 72" 5 bladed brass prop across the border.

Joe

Yeah, and more than a little difficult to have the old one on hand to
show it was a replacement. When our raw water pump went out a couple
of years ago, we ended up paying about $100 for a $30 pump, since they
added the shipping cost in and charged aduana for that too! There are
agents who will drive stuff across the border (sneak it in) and then
ship it to you from inside Mexico, but when we tried that once, they
screwed it up and sent it to Guadalahara and it took weeks to finally
get it...cruising is always an adventure.

Mike