I have plenty of the skills and sweat to make it pay Paul and to drive
around 'till I find an appropriate boat is a good idea. Trouble is I may run
out of time and have to leave the US on an un-prepared boat. Finding a US
agent looks the best bet so far. If someone asked me to check out a damaged
boat in this state and take some photos etc. I'd do it. There must be
someone in the US who would do the same for me.

JohnM

"Paul Cassel" wrote in message
...
The problem is that the US is large so travel to various candidates is
difficult. Also you can't buy from a description / pix with any
confidence. Boats always seem different in person including damage.

I'd suggest you see if you can locate a US agent for the purposes of
finding candidates. This person, perhaps a retired or semi-retired
surveyor, would find good candidates, compile a full report to you so
you'd have something worthwhile to travel to the US to look at.

I suppose the other way is for you to come here, spend your time hiring
a car and looking about - if you have the time to do this. Storage,
repairs etc are easy to arrange at any port.

I'm somewhat skeptical that you CAN find a boat worth repairing if you
need to hire pros to do the work. All the salvage boats I've seen
require owner sweat to make them pay.

JohnM wrote:
I have plenty of the skills and sweat to make it pay Paul and to drive
around 'till I find an appropriate boat is a good idea. Trouble is I may run
out of time and have to leave the US on an un-prepared boat. Finding a US
agent looks the best bet so far. If someone asked me to check out a damaged
boat in this state and take some photos etc. I'd do it. There must be
someone in the US who would do the same for me.

I would suggest you do a search on surveyors. Gen a list of them in
various locales so you can have a cadre of local guys who know what they
are looking for. It will cost you a few dollars per boat, but the
overall cost won't be crushing.

I would also be optimistic about a visa extension if it came to that.

-paul

Yes apparently if you front up in Sydney in person and explain your need you
can get 6 months visitor visa without too much trouble.

JohnM

"Paul Cassel" wrote in message
. ..
I would suggest you do a search on surveyors. Gen a list of them in
various locales so you can have a cadre of local guys who know what they
are looking for. It will cost you a few dollars per boat, but the
overall cost won't be crushing.

I would also be optimistic about a visa extension if it came to that.

-paul