Life On Sail

It takes up to a month to get your boat registered with the new owner.  When buying a used sailboat, we need to get the ownership transferred.  Everything can be done online.  Except that our seller didn't do it online, so we couldn't do step 1 below.  Also our seller printed a template that didn't allow 2 owners on the sales agreement.  Therefore Nico is the sole owner at the moment.  Altogether, we had to do the registration the old way, by snail mail.  Which is very lengthy, especially since we live on the boat now, and we don't have any printer.  Eventually we made it and sent it all to the DDTM. How to register your boat in France 1. Get Seller’s Transfer Code    - The seller declares the sale on demarches-plaisance.gouv.fr via FranceConnect and gives you a transfer code. 2. Collect Documents      - Bill of sale that contains all boat info (HIN, length, etc.)), the "carte de francisation", your ID, your proof of...

Boat owners We signed for the boat today, and the previous owner has received the money transferred from HK. We are now officially boat owners! We bought the boat for 50,000 euros, though it’s worth 70,000 euros or more based on market value. It was sold at a lower price because a LOT of things need fixing. So, we’re planning a 20,000-euro refit to bring it back to market value —or higher. There are only about 200 of this model ever produced, and some are now worth 100,000 euros. We visited many boats in France and Croatia before deciding on this one because it fits our needs. It’s comfortable for living aboard! However, there are issues—it wouldn’t be fun without them:   Insurance We don’t have proper insurance yet. I asked Nico to take care of it weeks, or even months, ago… but on the day of signing, we still didn’t have one. So, we grabbed one hastily without thinking it through or comparing options carefully. Also, when you buy an older boat (over 20 years old), you need a boa...