Moving in

Boring details here:

Registering a boat in Canada would mean the boat would need to exit the Eurozone every 18month otherwise we need to pay tax 20% on it. So the goal is always not to pay Tax 😏. 

If the boat was from a charter company then VAT would not have been paid, but since it was a French own boat, the VAT is already paid. Registering the boat in Canada would be bad since it would remove VAT And we would pay tax back when it crosses the Canadian border. So registering it in Europe is needed.

• Offer
• Inspection/haulout
• Sign the contract from the seller
• Sign contract from Buyer
• Send paperwork to France to eradicate from the registry
• Wait for eradication
• Register boat back
• Sailing into the sunset

Usually, the boat would be in a dry dock until the completion of the process and once everything is done we take it and sail away. But this one was on anchor and we did not understand the full process as first-time owners of a boat. 

Sitting dock

We made an offer around February, made the inspection on March 10 and were supposed to take possession on May 1 just in time for the summer!!!  As young(ish) excited people, we were rushing everything and we tough that from May-1 we would have all the paperwork to register the boat. BUT… we jumped a few steps as usual. So we arrived at the boat with a few boxes expecting “to move in” then we would register and within 1 week we would be out sailing. The Dream…

When we arrived we were welcomed by the previous owner that now lives nearby, but the paperwork was at “Sign contract from the seller” step, so far back from what we were expecting. This mean we were stuck at anchor without registration and insurance until we could get it sorted. We tried to get everything done as fast as possible, which mean we floated there for 1 month until all were in order. It was boring and slightly annoying, but we have time to buy a bunch of stuff at our favourite marina store and enjoy the nice little town!