Interested to hear from anyone who has purchased a boat overseas and had it shipped back to the US. Looking to learn about the experience good and bad.

I have bought 3 boats, 1 from finland, 2 from Sweden. The people over there were great to deal with. US customs and border patrol were a nightmare. Based on my experience- do not ship the boat on a trailer, they will claim it doesn't meet US DOT standards (although they can't produce any written standards) and demand that it be destroyed or shipped back. - any wood used in shipping (dunnage, blocking, etc) must be specially treated and stamped.- Be very careful of engines and if they are EPA approved.
Any issue will delay completing the shipment, which will trigger demurrage fees. They do not care about the costs involved.

I won't be importing anymore boats.......

Or agree on the price including shipping, put the money in escrow, and tell the seller that when the boat is here, free and clear, you will take delivery. So, at that point you have put all the money up, but it is their headache.

Use a very good broker and let them take care of all the headaches. They'll need to source an export company also. You'll need an importing agent at the receiving end too and they must communicate with the broker and the export company.

Getting a boat out of the U.S. and over to Thailand is a nightmare, could never have done it without an experienced broker. Different obstacles from America to Thailand but I think the basics of crossing your T's and dotting your I's still apply for Europe to America.

Unfortunately, everyone will want their pound of flesh and that's not going to help your overall cost but it would take a brave guy to risk cutting corners and trying too hard to save money.

Good luck if you decide to pursue something!

RR

Take the advise from Keith (kb5050) he has done it many time getting his Argo cats to our side of the pond.

If Im right this is a american build boat ( the orange nortech )whit mercruiser engines so might be easier as a european build boat
I was 2 weeks ago and have looked at it its a very nice really cool color that you cant see on the picture

You wont get the engines to pass EPA regulations, the hassle will be unbelievable, far easier to just buy a US boat.

If the boat and engines are manufactured in the US and shipped overseas and then brought back, it would be a problem?

Not worth all the aggravation unless the boat is really cheap, if so get a broker to take care of the whole process it might just save your sanity.

http://www.epa.gov/sites/production/.../420b11015.pdf

I don't see how it could be but who knows.... might be worth a phone call to the EPA to make sure.