Cheaply buying a derelict boat in French-Polynesia?

[GlassBottle]

I hear French-Polynesia and Tahiti in particular is struggling with abandoned boats litterling the coast and marinas. While this sucks, do you expect I could take advantage of this and buy a cheap old 20 footer for a few hundred bucks?
Apparently keeping them in the marinas costs more than theyre worth.
And what kind of paperwork would one need? Assuming theyre registered, is there anything more someone needs than hard cash and a handshake from the owner? Thanks

[landsend]

Plenty of cheap 20' sailboats in your backyard,assuming you are American. Unless sailing the pacific in a junked out sailboat is your intention.

[GlassBottle]

I'm not, could you give me a ballpark of what a floatable (unbroken hull and mast) backyard-sailboat would cost?

[TrentePieds]

What precisely is your aim, GlassBottle? You are not in the US you say, but you are in France, are you not? Why then would you buy a 20-footer on the other side of the earth where the distances between landfalls are greater than anywhere else on earth?

Do you have any sailing experience at all?

TrentePieds

[GlassBottle]

Apologies, I should have written this post in the could-I-hypothetically form.
Yes I am in france (and always hiding my IP from now on) but I've been fantasizing about going to French-Polynesia for a while, especially now that a friend of mine is going there.
Knowing there's a chance at a fairly-priced junk boat could push me over that deciding edge, haha, once I have time . Yes; I have some sailing experience.

[Brioche]

The question is what you want to do with the boat. If you want to sail a few miles out and look at the sunset this plan really does make a lot of sense. But if you want to sail any distance then you have to factor in the cost of new running and standing rigging, new sails, maybe a new or rebuilt outboard, at least some electronics, and so on. When you add that in, it may end up being cheaper to buy a somewhat more expensive, but decently maintained small boat.

[TrentePieds]

So what are you gonna do in FP? Are you just gonna hang out in Papeete? Or are you planning to visit sundry islands in the boat?

If you are gonna hang out, are you gonna get accommodation ashore, or are you gonna live aboard? In the latter case I take it from your comment about marinas that you are hoping to keep the boat on the hook. Are you certain that you have the knowledge to do that safely? And how are you gonna get from boat to shore and back again?

Strikes me that you have a whole lotta more thinking to do before you are anywhere near being able to realize your dream!

Bonne chance :-)!

TrentePieds

[GlassBottle]

If there's enough to choose I might splurge, no solid plans so far. I'm not planning to live aboard but I've landed a few boats anyway, it's more so the paperwork that comes with buying a sailboat in French-Polynesia I'm curious about so far.
Thanks for all of your replies by the way {:

[Drunkonwatch]

Be ready a friend told me you don’t want to buy fiberglass there or other supplies pretty expensive place to get a derelict. Lots showing up for sale down there though. Don’t let em tell you nothin sounds fun to me.

[NorthCoastJoe]

I just bought a top of the line boat there ( French Polynesia ).

You should first come to America you can get any size boat you want for FREE on craigs list any day anywhere in America. Some are junk some are needing a cleaning and pay a few back marina fees to be usable. Join the Baja Ha Ha or the Pacific Puddle Jump to get to FP.

No real paper work just pay the fee at the local DMV to transfer title in the US.

In FP everything is hard to get. Just finding a 8mm x 55mm Stainless steel bolt was not easy, had to buy a longer one and cut it down. If you are planning on doing a lot of work expect it to cost more and take longer than you ever dreamed of. There are boats there but good luck finding a place to keep it unless you want to anchor out all the time.

I will be there in a few weeks and if I see any cheap usable boats I will let you know. But like I said come to America and help clean up rebuild some of the junk boats here.

I got my Pearson 30 for free!! So now $30,000 ( just for materials ) and countless hours of work it is a great boat now. It will be for sale soon if you want a turn key boat let me know.

[TrentePieds]

If you intend to live ashore, then a twenty-footer might do - for now :-)!

In a twenty-footer you could explore the shores of Tahiti and even nip over to Moorea, I'm sure. Bora-Bora would be a bit far in a twenty-footer.

Go to a thirty-footer, and many more things become possible, including living aboard if you are single.

To keep and maintain a 30-footer already in good shape will cost you about Can$1,000/month IN CANADA. I suspect that it would cost more in Papeete due to a more difficult supply situation.

Most people can find the money to buy a boat. It's the KEEPING of it that slays them!

Pick a particular type of boat and let us know what it is, and I can give you a fair idea of the cost of maintaining it.

Unless you already have real offshore experience I would be cautious about any advice to get a boat in the US and sailing it to FP, and you certainly shouldn't contemplate that if you budget only stretches to a "derelict" as you indicated in your OP.

TP.

[chrisr]

we live aboard in tahiti (at the moment)

there are plenty of semi-derelict boats sitting at anchor here...difficulty is tracing the owner to buy. we know quite a few who use such as a cheap(er) home while they experience FP

your idea is workable, but there are a number of things to keep in mind ;

- have you ever lived on a boat ? it's not as easy as you think !
- do not plan to live aboard in a marina. expect to be on anchor (with all the self-reliance this entails)
- everything here is super expensive (we call it the paradise tax) and hard to get

on the plus side you won't have the visa / language problems we have had, and if you are a skilled worker you should have no trouble finding work

cheers,

[GlassBottle]

I am in fact very willing to live on anchor, self-reliance is my jam.
Think my best bet to find something would be to simply ask around marinas, anchorings etc if they got something they want to get rid off?
Finding something filthy but in decent shape for cheap sounds a lot better and safer than dragging something out of the water haha, thanks for replies.

[coldfish]

Here, the biggest problem with buying a derelict and wanting to live on it is the Harbor Master not wanting to give you a slip. They REALLY don't like live-aboards and junky boats. They'd much rather have Yacht owners who pay the bills, shine up their 400k boats and make the place look nice and pretty.

Originally Posted by GlassBottle

I am in fact very willing to live on anchor, self-reliance is my jam.
Think my best bet to find something would be to simply ask around marinas, anchorings etc if they got something they want to get rid off?
Finding something filthy but in decent shape for cheap sounds a lot better and safer than dragging something out of the water haha, thanks for replies.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by GlassBottle

I am in fact very willing to live on anchor, self-reliance is my jam.
Think my best bet to find something would be to simply ask around marinas, anchorings etc if they got something they want to get rid off?
Finding something filthy but in decent shape for cheap sounds a lot better and safer than dragging something out of the water haha, thanks for replies.

good oh

by self reliance, i mean a boat that can supply own basic needs eg electricity / cooking / fridge.

of course you can get by without any of these but do you want to ?

you can also get by without a watermaker...if you cart water to the boat each day (this gets old quickly...)

another must is a reliable dinghy/outboard

as for 'asking around the marinas'...be aware that there are 2 marinas in papeete. they are expensive, in demand and you won't find derelict boats there

mostly such are at anchor and as i said, i will be hard to find an owner to buy from.

boats are also bigger than 20' (usually more than 30') as nearly all have reached tahiti after an ocean voyage of several thousand miles, before owners lost interest.

keep an eye on this facebook page - you may see something, or even post a 'wanted' notice

https://www.facebook.com/groups/tahi...eet/?ref=share

cheers,