MacGregorSailors.com

I think we found a nice boat but 7 hours away in Canada. It turns out registering it in the States to get it across the border is a major hassle. We have to go there, buy it, leave it there, come back, go to the DMV, register it, get the tags, and then go back and pick up the boat. It is a 7 hour drive each way plus the crossing. Ugg.

Has anyone else managed this process?

sail4fun wrote:I think we found a nice boat but 7 hours away in Canada. It turns out registering it in the States to get it across the border is a major hassle. We have to go there, buy it, leave it there, come back, go to the DMV, register it, get the tags, and then go back and pick up the boat. It is a 7 hour drive each way plus the crossing. Ugg.

Has anyone else managed this process?

No, but I've towed ours back and forth across the border and customs definitely scrutinizes the docs. In Canada a boat can be licensed or registered, or neither. If the boat is registered, then the registration is a title document. A license is not a title document and does not prove ownership. You would need a bill of sale from the current owner and the bills of sale going back as far as possible. If the docs go back to the original owner then you're in better shape.

Here in Quebec you can sign over the registration papers of the trailer and let the new owner leave with your license plate.

There must be an easier way, no? Maybe a few calls to different agencies might produce an alternate technique?

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No, but I've towed ours back and forth across the border and customs definitely scrutinizes the docs. In Canada a boat can be licensed or registered, or neither. If the boat is registered, then the registration is a title document. A license is not a title document and does not prove ownership. You would need a bill of sale from the current owner and the bills of sale going back as far as possible. If the docs go back to the original owner then you're in better shape.

Here in Quebec you can sign over the registration papers of the trailer and let the new owner leave with your license plate.

There must be an easier way, no? Maybe a few calls to different agencies might produce an alternate technique?[/quote]

Thanks for the info. I suspected that they would carefully check things at the border.

I made a few calls and they all seemed to say that it was this complicated. If the seller was closer it might be worth the extra driving, but not at this distance.

Hopefully a good one will turn up on this side of the border or at least closer to our DMV office.

sail4fun wrote:I suspected that they would carefully check things at the border.

That's interesting. The border guards have never asked for any documents from me. I just hand my passport out the window, he gives me the evil eye, sometimes asks if I have any booze* or food, and hands the passport back. Coming back to the US, they tend to chat me up (I guess to get me to say too much), spend some time looking at the boat (probably running the plate, too), and off I go. Not that a few data points makes a trend, of course.

And I agree - who needs that much aggravation when buying a boat. MacGregor made jillions of them, so sooner or later a clean one will show up not too far from home.

*Canadian border guard asked if I had any bar stock. Bar stock!? For decades, 'bar stock' meant steel bars and rounds used in fabrications, so I sat there vapor-locked with this look on my face > . The admiral had to lean over me and tell him we had no booze with us. Doh.

I purchased my 95 26s off of facebook from Kentucky and had a service drive it to me. I love the boat. Used the Sailboat Swap Shop group

http://www.ebay.com/itm/252962895088

It's in California, but might be worth a drive.

Thanks for the additional tips! We are still hunting and did see that one in CA, but it sure is a long drive from Vermont!

Patience, Grasshopper. This is the wrong time of year to shop - lotta boats come on the market late in the season, when folks are done playing with them and they're staring Old Man Winter in the mouth. Sellers are usually more pliable then, too.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-sailboat/markham ... nFlag=true

Here's a thought. Spend a bit more on an X with standing headroom and a bigger motor. Lake Champlain is big and it might be nice to travel at 16 mph when you want to cover longer distances. This boat would greatly expand your cruising range, and make it possible to do things like visit plattsburgh from Burlington and get back on the same day.

I know this one is Canadian too, but you could probably get into what seems to be a nice 2000 26X for about $10k US.

Thanks! We tried to get one from Quebec but getting it across the boarder appeared to be a major undertaking. It ended up making an otherwise good boat not possible.

I agree about the wrong time to look, but our season is short! We looked at the end of last year and did not come across any ones in good condition. We have a Flying Scot now so we are not boatless at least

We looked at an X, but we prefer the S. I used to race and don't even use a motor on our current boat. The simpler the better for us. Speed is not a major consideration since we tend to enjoy the trip rather than a destination. My wife and I used to do long distance bicycle touring in Japan over the summers. With a 5 year old sailboat cruising is more our speed now though.

Thanks again for all of the support!

Dont sell the X short as a sail boat, they sail very nicely indeed, I often get comments from sailors I take out for their first sail in a Mac on how well it sails after all the BS they had heard about them, A X with a 10 or 15Hp on the back would be pretty slippery through the water indeed

I looked into the 26x models near us but they are a bit out of our price range. They do offer more room in the cabin though.

We found one in Canada a bit closer to us. What do you think of this one?

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-voilier/gatineau ... 1269753137

It seems to have the main features we are looking for.

Thanks!

Looks clean and relatively well taken care of. Seems like a pretty blank slate, which can be a good thing; better than a bunch of botched mystery mods by the PO. A fair price, not necessarily a steal, but not a rip off either if it's as clean as it looks in the photos. If it needs no repair work then it probably makes sense if you can pick it up for about 5.5k US. People have paid less for one of those, and people have paid more.

Thanks for checking! We like that it has the key items on our wish list: roller furling, electric start, mast raising system, and a bimini. Fewer boat bucks to get going hopefully.

Thanks again!