Boat Buying Options

[Ranger06]

I currently live in Dubai, retired military, doing some contract work in the UAE. I dont have much of a plan, the contract is open ended, could stay for 5 years, could leave after a year. Ultimate goal is to buy a boat, live on it here, then sail it out of here and sail on my retirement for as long as I like. Without getting into the "long keel/production boat/blue water capable" discussion, just wondering what my options are.

Boats here are outrageously expensive. For what I could buy a Beneteau Oceanis 43 for, I could get 2 out of the Moorings fleet in the Med. My question is this... How hard (expensive) would it be to buy an ex-charter boat in Greece and get it to the UAE? I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to the boat. My only requirements is that it has to have AC so that I could live on it all year here, has to have at least 2 cabins (preferably 3) and has to be capable of sailing out of here.

Looks to me that an ex-charter boat of of the Med, Maldives or Seychelles is my best bet. Buying a solid BW cruiser in the Caribbean also works, but again, I can't invest the kind of money required to have it shipped over nor do I have the time/experience to do it myself.

Any suggestions?

[valhalla360]

Dubai is probably easier but I'm working part time in another GCC country and slips are crazy expensive and unless you install a massive air/con, keeping up with 120F heat is going to be beyond what most standard air/con installations will be able to keep up with.


Obviously, you can cruise it from the Med if you have 2-3months but I haven't kept up on the pirate issues, so follow up on that.


I'm sure you can have it shipped by freighter just not sure of the details to the GCC area. We were looking at a 34'x14' catamaran from the US east coast to Europe and were looking at around $10-12k to have it shipped.

[Ranger06]

Thanks Val,

Yep, it definitely gets hot here. I looked at that Bene 43, the owner said he lives on it all summer long and says its bareable...then again, he was trying to sell. His slip wasn't that outrageous and it was right out on the palm. Not bad considering what I'm paying for rent.

I dont have the time to sail it in from the Med, not even close...nor do I want to play around in the gulf of Aden and run the risk of being in the next Navy SEAL movie!

But ya, shipping isn't cheap either. I asked for a quote to ship a Lagoon 440 from the Carib to here on the deck of a transport a few months ago. I want to say it was in the $20k-$30K range. Again, would have to be a helluva deal to justify $30k to get it here.

was hoping there are other options.

[valhalla360]

If a lagoon 440 is twice the cost there, it may be worth the $30k to bring it over.


One other thought, are there import duties you would have to pay? That could explain why boats are so expensive there. If not, it could be a money maker. Buy the boat live in it for a few years and sell it at a 50% markup when you are done.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Ranger06

I dont have the time to sail it in from the Med, not even close...nor do I want to play around in the gulf of Aden and run the risk of being in the next Navy SEAL movie!

But ya, shipping isn't cheap either. I asked for a quote to ship a Lagoon 440 from the Carib to here on the deck of a transport a few months ago. I want to say it was in the $20k-$30K range. Again, would have to be a helluva deal to justify $30k to get it here.

Assuming that piracy thing around there is under control... there are delivery captains (a few of us here on CF), so you could look into estimates from some of them.

Sorry to say you're way out of my area, otherwise I could offer a deal just because we have similar screen names.

-Chris