"Graham" wrote in message
...
If a US citizen wishes to import a 30 ft boat from Canada into the USA,
does
anyone know what is entailed? The boat would enter NY State by water but
owner would be travelling South to his home state or perhaps elsewhere.

The boat is licensed (not registered) in Canada.

The boat was custom built in mid 70's by builder who is no longer around.

Boat likely does not have any plate stating compliance with Canadian or US
safety or construction regulations.

Buyer will be in touch with US Customs, but just looking for head's up on
possible problems and delays at customs.

Any special documentation buyer should carry with him?

We had a Canadian licensed boat (we're Cdn) that we imported into the US
prior to putting it up for sale. We took a trip to the local customs house
(Baltimore in MD). Our boat was not a custom boat but short production run.
Builder was also no longer around. Basically we had to convince US customs
that the boat was Cdn built (no duty that way). We didn't have any plate
either. All we had to convince US customs that it was Cdn built was a
photocopy of a 25 year old magazine article about the boats. They listened
to our story and let us import it duty free. Your mileage may vary - it
seemed to be up to the discretion of the customs person. Bring cookies and
keep smiling.

We had to go to a local bonding company to pay a bond that guaranteed that
all we said was true. Cost about $300 total for importing a boat valued at
$25K US.

Anything you have on paper that shows it was built in Canada will help...


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Evan Gatehouse

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