Transport of 50’ monohull from SE Asia to W. Coast of US

[Vingt-Knots]

As I write this our factory new Moody 45DS is on a transport vessel, the mv Erasmusgracht in the mid Atlantic with an ETA into Bonaire of July 18th. The actual cost of the transport was some $27,000 USD. SevenStar is the shipping company. They are very professional and easy to work with, even with a 2 month Covid-19 delay in Europe. We could not move the boat from Greifswald in Northern Germany to Antwerp where the Erasmusgracht departed from. Due to the continued lock-downs in Bonaire we are not sure when we will be able to meet up with her. A local Marine company will be handling the arrival and moving the boat to its new home at the Harbour Village Marina for us. It was a wee-bit hard to find a Marina slip, a lot of boats are still ‘stuck’ in Bonaire. So a nice shout out to all the fine folks on Bonaire who came to our aid.

[John Saylor]

Vingt-knots,

Appreciate the tangible and very applicable story. Did you look into other Caribbean destinations and did you confine consideration to below 12 degrees: ABC + Trinidad? I hope to see you in the your chosen cruising ground in the future.

[Vingt-Knots]

Hi John,

We already had a house on Bonaire that is just a few minutes from the Marina. So the boats ‘home’ port was kinda already selected. Plus it does meet our Insurance requirements for a Hurricane Season location. Typically we would back in Canada for the early part of the Hurricane Season and we would limit our sailing to the ABCs and south of 12 the rest of the season. However with the current political unrest in Venezuela our south of 12 options are a bit limited. Out of Hurricane Season we would head North East. Our boats name will be SET SAIL and will she will be flagged in Bonaire. So if you or any other CFer finds themselves in the Bonaire area and need some shore time, look me up.

Cheers.

[robert sailor]

It's easy enough to buy a boat in Europe and sail it to the Caribbean, we did exactly that but buying in Asia and sailing to the East Coast is a non starter even sailing it back to the West Coast is a bit like work as your going against the prevailing winds. If you head south past New Zealand you can catch prevailing winds but it's a more boisterous sail. If you go north of the Marshall Islands you can sail to Midway Island and then the West Coast, sailing is a bit easier but lots of windward work plus it's a long sail. Don't ask me how I know!

[larsfforsberg]

Lots of good info in this thread. It sure sounds like a pain in the butt....or an adventure!, depending on how you look at it. To truly circumnavigate, one has to go all the way around, which necessitates getting from SE Asia to somewhere, if you stop in SE Asia I guess. I'm still thinking that it doesn't matter where you start if you are planning on doing the whole thing. Why not start where you can buy cheap, and refit cheap? Why not get the boat you want, wherever it lies, and start there? It seems to me that while it is easy to get stuff in the US, the labor costs are through the roof, and slips are not cheap. If you plan on coastal cruising then the US has tons of boats down if Florida for sale. If you want aluminum, France. If you want steel, Scandinavia, Alaska, or Patagonia. It seems like the bargains are in hard to get to places, where someone hit the wall. To me, those look like cool places to start....but I'm a lunatic.

[John Saylor]

Thanks all. Very illuminating. The question(s) which have largely been answered really centered on the economics of a purchase, ignoring for the moment the logistics, (which cannot be ignored really in a COVID riddled world). How big of an adventure do I really want?

The reason for my original post is illustrated by this hypothetical: if I could buy the sea-ready boat I am seeking for $100K less in a far flung location than domestically, recognizing it may be $30K to get it back to my desired cruising area, (ignoring COVID restrictions for the moment), does that make sense to consider for a net savings of $70K. Really depends upon specificity of boat; where is the far flung location relative to ultimate destination; and magnitude of savings + associated brain damage of dealing with survey, purchase etc on foreign soil, among other considerations you fine people pointed out.

If the conclusion is "it ain't worth it", then I can confine my search to US and maybe Europe, recognizing that an Atlantic crossing (E to W) is vastly different than a delivery from Oz or SE Asia.

There is very little of what I am looking for that is available in N Am. and Europe is appears to be just a bit more expensive "pound-for-pound". Just trying to intelligently confine the search. There seem to be relatively few 50' aluminum centerboarders in the US, but there are a few.

I am willing to accept that it's a stupid idea; it would join a long list of others I have indulged over the years.

[Nicholson58]

I suggest you look on the Great Lakes. Fresh water means no rust. Season is short and most boats here are dock queens, going out only on nice weekends. Blisters are rare. The only caution is ice damage in the rudder. Systems and electronics may be old but you want to refit anyway.

[John Saylor]

Good thought. I will have a look.