Buying A Boat in the United Sates - Importing a Vessel Into Canada

 A few years back, we purchased our current boat in the US and brought it home to Canada. Before we actually went ahead with the purchase (when we were still internet shopping for our dream boat), we did some preliminary research as to what we might need to do to make things go smoothly with the 'import' process. Good thing, because there is a lot to learn.



  Getting the boat into Canada was actually very simple. The correct term is 'Importing A Vessel Into Canada'. But please, don't take my word for it - you REALLY should call Canada Customs to get their story. But don't be surprised to get more than one interpretation of what is required - we got three different ones. If you are considering having your boat trucked into the country, the firm you use should be able to handle the border crossing directly, if they are a licensed broker. Check with any potential companies to see what services they offer. The only part you would be handling in that scenario is any Custom Brokerage fees, and the HST on the boat. If you have a trucking firm in mind already, check with them to see how they approach that issue.

 Our boat was purchased in Harrison Township, Michigan, which is located on Lake St. Clair, just north of Detroit. Our journey home took us through Lake St. Clair, up the St. Clair River to Sarnia, Ontario (where we 'Imported' the vessel). Onward from there, we traveled north on Lake Huron, through Georgian Bay and down the Trent Severn Waterway to our home port.

Heading up the St Clair River (Canada to the right, US to the left)

 

 Whatever way the boat comes into the country, it is subject to Canada Custom's scrutiny. As we entered by water, we were obliged by law to report the boat being in Canada upon making landfall. At Sarnia, I gave Canada Custom's a phone call as soon as the boat was secured, letting them know that both my wife and I had re-entered the country as well as the fact that I wanted to import the vessel (we were given a 9 digit number when clearing our passports. More on that later. . . ). To do the necessary paperwork, they told me to report to the border crossing, which was the Bluewater Bridge crossing from Sarnia to Port Huron, Michigan.

  In most cases, a Canadian Custom's officer would come to the boat, do a quick look around and perform the paperwork there, but apparently they were too busy that night to spare anyone and that's why we had to walk over to them . .

 All I had to show the Custom's folks was the bill of sale, the 'Deletion From Documentation' (of the vessel) from the previous owner and pay the HST on the sales price. As it was, the only thing questioned by the woman in charge was how I got the boat so cheap! Quick note; have available any web listings, emails or whatever else to back up the purchase price. We bought the boat through a local yacht broker, so that made things look better & more 'legit' to the Customs folks.

 One other thing to make note of is how much you are going to have to pay at Custom's. Under the terms of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), any boats built in either Canada, the US or Mexico during the past number of years is only subject to the HST (in Ontario), and free from duties.

A cautious captain keeps a close eye on all systems on his new ship.

 

  Now, here's where a HUGE, double caveat comes into play. One should make sure that the boat they are bringing into the country was, indeed built in North America. We know of a boater who was unexpectedly hit at the border with a big duty because that particular model was built in England. Even though it was an 'American' company (Viking Yachts), that particular model came from England (Princess Yachts). Oh ya, and the 13% sales tax on top of it all. The other kicker is that Custom's won't take a cheque for amounts greater than $200, so make sure your Visa card is in good standing. Again, if you are simply having your boat trucked back, a custom's agent should be able to give you the rundown on all of your obligations.

Approaching the Bluewater Bridge @ Sarnia, Ontario.

 

  One final note on the sales tax. The boat will be assessed the tax amount on the day it crosses the border - not the day you bought it. What I mean by that is that from the time we took possession of our boat (paid for it in the U.S.) and the time it entered Canada about three weeks later, the Canadian dollar actually rose in value against the US buck, so we ended up having to pay less HST than I had initially anticipated. Plus, since we were out of the country for a few days getting the boat, I could claim the exemption entitled to me for the time out of the country and apply it to the boat purchase price! After all, we didn't bring any cheap booze back with us ;-) All in all, that part worked out way better than I even thought it could!

 Ok, back to the part about 'Deletion From Documentation' I mentioned.  Boats in the United States can be considered a second home, complete with a mortgage and all the financial repercussions/benefits that go along with that. So, many boats are 'Documented' with the U.S. Coast Guard, as an official status as to who owns - or is 'Titled' to - the boat, including creditors that may appear on the Title. Think of it like a Deed to your home. Same idea.

 How does one do that, you ask? Simple. Pay someone to do it for you. I found a firm online that takes care of all that stuff for a very reasonable fee of only $250 (USD). Do a Google search for those services to find an appropriate representative. And don't worry where they are physically located - our guy was in California and it all worked out fine. Thank you InterWebs :-)

 Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!!!The only reason we were able to get the boat that we did was because of the dramatic savings (40% less!) over buying a similar model here in Canada. Yes, it was initially stressful, with all the running around and setting things up to make it actually happen - compounded by the fact that we had to drive a boat home, through mostly foreign waters which would be brand new to us and a complete change from the type/size/style of boat we had been driving previously.

 One final note about driving a US registered boat into Canada. If you don't have a chance to get your Ontario registration numbers for the boat right away, be prepared to be boarded by Canada Customs officers at any Ontario port you may visit. We were approached both at Kincardine (our first stop after leaving Sarnia) and then again at Parry Sound.  They (Canada Customs officers) travel around to all ports of entry to make sure everything is copacetic with both Canadians AND Americans visiting these ports, checking mostly to see if they have cleared their passports. This is where that 9 digit number comes in to play, as they WILL ask you for it.

 All that said, it was an adventure to remember for the rest of our lives and immense inspiration to one day soon travel further and farther! I'd say that if you had an opportunity to do the same - and save a few bucks - then go for it. Well worth the running around, by far.

Antique Boat Museum Founder Passes Away

 I recently learned that Robert Cox, co-founder of the renowned Antique Boat Museum (ABM) in Clayton, New York has passed away at the age of 95.

Photo: Antique Boat Museum

 Although I am not an antique boat enthusiast, per se, I do have a lot of respect for those amongst the boating crowd who have the passion and commitment to keep those old boats afloat and protect the history of early boating. Many famous builds of the day came from this area of the world (central Ontario, New York and Michigan) and part of that heritage can be discovered the ABM.

 But the ABM is only a small part of Mr. Cox's story. He also started a Marina in Fort Lauderdale, aptly named Lauderdale Marina, in 1946 - something that forms part of the very history of the city of Fort Lauderdale.

 The property that is now the marina was an old, top secret base used by the American navy during world war two for testing torpedoes and such. Mr. Cox acquired the dilapidated docks and began selling fuel in what what was then a very remote part of Florida. So remote, in fact, that passing boaters actually asked 'how far to Fort Lauderdale' upon their arrival. For anyone familiar with the what the current part of Lauderdale looks like down at the 17th Street Bridge, there are some fascinating old photos to compare with on the marina's web site, as well as their Facebook Page.

 One other interesting pieces of Mr. Cox's life is that he was very active on the political scene in Fort Lauderdale from the 1960's through to the nineties, serving as it's mayor from 1986 to 1991. He is credited as one of the main driving forces that transformed the city into what is now known as the mega yacht capital of the world. No small feat!

Delivery Our New Boat Home - Big Water

Part Three of the Big Boat Delivery HOME to Canada

 Departure day from Sarnia Bay Marina. A good looking day, on a good looking boat with a GREAT looking first mate ;-)

 These next two shots were taken by the crew of the aforementioned 'Plan B'.
 The boat looks nice except for those black streaks on the hull, a result of the new black dock lines bleeding. . .

 Insight; I've saved a boating magazine since 2007 that has a 'for sale' ad for a similar model to this  boat & I've been hanging on to it as inspiration. The ad shows the boat on the water with a lady crew member on the bow while it's underway. A great boating shot.
 Well, here I am - my boat, my very attractive lady crew mate and a sunny summer day on the water. . . .

 That's what I call a dream come true, my friends!!!

 Thanks again for sending me these pics, Glen :-)

Video from the fly bridge;

Exiting the marina and back on our way northbound for the last part on the St. Clair River;

This would be the final great lakes freighter we would pass by on this voyage;

Approaching the Bluewater Bridge. This is the bridge that joins the Canadian side of the river to the American side. Ya, we spent allot of time waiting to cross the border into Michigan on that bridge on the many trips we took to see/buy/take possession of the boat. I tell you, it was quite a bit of work to make the deal all come together - but it was exhilarating, exhausting and inspirational - and well worth it!!

 Some video of the approach to the bridge, complete with commentary from yours truly ;-)


The lighthouse on the U.S. (Port Huron) side. Yes, it's the very same we took pictures of from the bridge on the road trips to see the boat & would be the first of many we would pass on this journey;

 On Lake Huron. I've heard the term 'Big Water' used by my fellow boaters, but nothing we've experienced compares to heading out onto a body of water that stretches for hundreds of miles before you.
 One is privy to many emotions, to say the least;

To keep everyone traveling (with pink toe polish) aboard 'Boogaboo IV' as happy as possible, I took a route that at least kept us within view of land;

 A zoomed in shot passing by Goderich and the Sifto Salt Mines operations located there.
 Note also the electrical generation windmills on shore. There are many of those things - 200+ in this region;

 Just before Goderich, we unexpectedly came upon a series of small, bobbing buoys in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. Good thing my eyeballs were on the ball, as the buoys came upon us without warning.
 I suspected they were marking fishing nets and shortly afterward, spotted this commercial fishing boat well off in the distance.
 A little disconcerting initially, to say the least, as this was something that I had totally NOT anticipated;

 

 Some video of me talking about what we saw.
 Note also the bounce we experienced at slower speeds. Although the video doesn't quite capture the essence of the water conditions, we were running through solid 5' - 6' swells and they picked up to 6' - 7 footers the next day. Remember that this is taken from roughly 12' above the waters' surface on the bridge, making it hard to get a feel for.
 You'll get a better representation of what I'm talking about when we come to the Flower Pot Island clip. . . .Stay tuned . . .

Safely in Kincardine Marina on yet another glorious day.
 I hadn't even got the boat into the slip here when a Canada Customs officer came over - and waited at the end of the dock - to talk to me. Seems they are continuously looking for out of province registration numbers on the hulls (note the Michigan registration or 'MC Numbers' on Boogaboo). Those fellows roam around from marina to marina to check to make sure everything is in order - proper checking into the country, vessel registrations, taxes paid - you know, the important stuff.
 This wouldn't be the last time we were to be questioned by Custom's guys either, as we would meet up with their compatriots again in Parry Sound;

A shot of the marina from the bridge, looking out on to Lake Huron. Can you see the Big Boy in the distance?

 The Kincardine Lighthouse - this shot taken from the road bridge next top the marina.
 We took a stroll for a bite to eat and were impressed by this neat, clean & well preserved old town;

 The view from the boat, looking north east across the marina. Another spectacular day;

Here's a close up shot of the lighthouse from our vantage point;

 

 Myself, relaxing in my own, unique way - capping off the day. HA!


  Here is the storey of the 'Phantom', as told on the Kincardine Scottish Piper Band web site. . .
 Way back in 1856, on a cold, October day, a small vessel left the Port of Goderich carrying a family from the Isle of Skye, Scotland. It was the final leg of a journey for the immigrant family that intended to farm at Penetangore (now Kincardine).

 The weather was cloudy with a light breeze out of the southwest when the vessel left Goderich. But as the boat approached Point Clark, the sky turned black and a cold wind started to blow out of the west making for heavier and heavier seas.

 As the vessel slowly beat its way north, late afternoon turned to dusk and the captain feared he would not find Penetangore in the dark.

 Donald Sinclair, fearing for his family, went down into the hold and fetched his pipes. He prayed for safe passage and then played a lament. The sound of the pipes carried across the water to Penetangore where another piper heard the rich sound. The settler on shore retrieved his pipes and played another lament in return, just as the sky suddenly cleared in the west and the sun set beneath the cold waters.

 The captain, knowing he had to be near Penetangore, headed for the drone of the bagpipes and eventually made his way into the harbour.

 For many years after the narrow escape, Donald Sinclair often went down to the harbour to play the pipes at dusk. They say it was a way to remember his good fortune and to remind others of the power of the pipes. And it's in the memory of Donald Sinclair that the Kincardine Scottish has decided to play at dusk atop the lighthouse on sunny summer evenings. The piper will only appear when the sun sets and will pipe the sun down.

As good fortune would have it, we were lucky enough to witness the 'Phantom' playing on a perfect summer evening. Here's some video of that event, including a panning shot of the marina and the sun setting over Lake Huron;


 A look from the bridge towards Lake Huron and the setting sun;

 Beautiful . . .

 Next time we cross the last half of Lake Huron and enter onto Georgian Bay & Tobermory.

Yacht Delivery - Bringing Our New Sea Ray Boat Home!

Part two of the big boat delivery to C A N A D A :-)

 Day one on the water and we have left MacRay Harbor in Michigan and are on our way to Sarnia in Ontario. What was expected to be a five hour trip up the St. Clair River turned out to be an eight hour grand tour UP and then partially DOWN, back UP and then part way back DOWN and then finally all the way UP the river to our next port of call at Sarnia. More on that later in this post . . .

 Sunday morning, we cast off our lines (and left the crappy ones behind) from Mac Ray and were off on the first leg of the trip. After a slight delay and talk with (and a ticket from) the local constabulary, we stopped in for some cheap American gas before heading out onto Lake St. Clair. You will be happy to learn that the same gas we were paying $1.23 for at our home port was had for $0.89/litre Canadian with the exchange. As you can imagine, I squeezed as much into the tanks as they would hold!

A parting shot of MacRay as we are on our way across Lake St. Clair;

MacRay Harbor marina on Lake St. Clair, Michigan

 
The captain checking the gauges and chartplotter. If you notice the depth finder is showing only 10.4 feet of water below the keel. I was sure to plot a route before heading out onto the lake, as this was pretty much the deepest part of the lake and I wanted to follow the deepest part possible;

 A zoomed in shot looking south west. That is the Windsor/Detroit skyline off in the distance;

This big, permanent marker shows the outer edge of the shipping channel that cuts through Lake St.Clair. This channel has a minimum depth of 28' allowing safe passage for the great lakes ships that pass this way from Lake Huron to the north (via the St. Clair River) and onto (or from) the Detroit River and Lake Erie to the south.. This perspective is looking roughly south east;

Now safely in the channel, I swung the Big Boy hard to port and northbound towards the St. Clair River. Yes, many of these photos look very similar, but I just want to convey the beauty of the aquamarine blue waters. Anchor Girl & I both commented continuously on this part of the trip on how blue the water was!

Some video from this spot;


Coming onto the river proper, we spotted these boats along the sandy shoreline;

Closer up, we could see that most were actually beached on the sand bar;

Continuing along, we came upon a neat row of waterfront houses that looked like they had a southern inspiration;

These places looked like they would be at home in the Florida Keys - and gave an exotic feel to our trip!

This marker looked more like a miniature lighthouse;

More beautiful blue water. The sad part is that the beauty of the water masks all the pollution (heavy metals, etc.) that lie on the bottom from more than 100 years of industrial outflows from both sides of the border;

Boogaboo IV cruising on plane at only 13 MPH - and you can't beat that flybridge view!


When we first passed this large factory type building, I mistakenly surmised it was some sort of smelter, but it is actually a coal fired hydro electric power plant, owned by Detroit Edison;

Closer inspection revealed a large ship offloading coal. We would end up passing this vessel twice - and following it once. . . Stay tuned;

Just north of the electric power plant, we were stopped by this US Coast Guard vessel. No, I wasn't in trouble again with the water cops ;-) Apparently there was a race on the river with go-fast boats and they had part of it closed to traffic :-(
 So, we were informed that the race was supposed to end in about an hour from that point and our options while waiting were to drift, set an anchor or just drive around to pass the time. Considering the flow of the current, my unfamiliarity with the shore conditions (where we would have to anchor close to) and not really wanting to shut down the boat, I decided our best bet would be to simply turn around and head south for about a half hour cruise, then spin back northbound to return in an hour.
 The other option - or so the Coast Guard had in mind at this time - would be to follow a ship that might pass this way. The theory was that they would suspend the boat race to let the BIG boats pass and us little ones could merely follow through. Well, that was what we were told, anyway. . .

Given the fact that we were now just cruising s l o w l y along, we had a chance to study the shoreline better. One neat thing we discovered is that there is a car ferry that crosses to and from Ontario/Michigan, complete with Customs clearing on both sides.
 This runs from the villages of Sombra, Ontario to Marine City, Michigan;

Being the observant person that I am, I noticed the name on the big ship at the electric plant when we passed it on our southbound cruise as 'Indiana Harbor'. I then heard it call a securitie' on the radio warning that it was leaving it's berth and moving out into river traffic. So, I spooled the twin 454's up to catch up to him - remembering that he was facing north and hoping he would continue north and provide our 'escort' through the boat race;

The chartplotter shows us roughly 1 mile behind him traveling at just over 23 mph to catch up;

The chase is on!
 Check out the comparative size of the cruisers passing by this behemoth;

Wow! The 'Indiana Harbor' is exactly 1000' long, has a beam of 105' and is powered by four, 3500 horsepower engines!
 How many times have YOU boated in the company of One Thousand Foot long ships??
  Way Cool!

 Video of this encounter;


Catching up with the Big BIG Boy;

Alas, despite our anticipation of moving forward on our trip, the powers that be decided NOT to let the small boats follow the ship through the race course and we were forced to once again turn around for another southbound tour of the St. Clair River.
 At least we got to see some more big ships up close and personal;


One of the times we passed by the power plant,the sun was just in the right spot in the sky to get these two neat shots - the first one looking like a lit candle;

Next one captured the sun right behind the largest stack;

Some more ships passing by each other;

Some video of these same ships passing - three at once;


Fast forward to the next day & we are at Sarnia Bay Marina. What, no photos of the big arrival and acing the very first stern in docking of the Sedan Bridge? Nope. By the time we finally got through the race course, it was getting late & we just wanted to get into the marina. Besides, by the time we got there, it was actually after their closing time, but the staff was good enough to make sure we got in and secured before they left.
 Ultimately, by the time we got into the marina, called into Canada Customs to report back into the country, hoof it over to the border crossing to pay the tax on the boat (remember we were importing the vessel into the country) and back to the boat, it was about 10:30. A quick shower and a cold drink and our event filled day wrapped up around midnight.
 Here is a look at our overnight slip at the marina.

Our stop in Sarnia proved to be a serendipitous encounter. This lovely Sea Ray, 'Plan B', a 40' Sundancer is owned by none other than Anchor Girl's cousin! One of those things you could have never planed for, they were on their way south to Lake Erie for their holidays and were spending the night at Sarnia Bay Marina. Glen actually helped us into the slip, having no idea we were the owners of the boat he was helping in and we didn't realize what was going on until I jumped on the dock to secure the lines and thank him. What a fun shock that was when the light bulbs finally went off!

Next time, we cross the vast expanse of Lake Huron and visit Kincardine

where we encounter a real, live 'Phantom' . . .