buying a used $50.00 zodiac

[stingray74]

Hello all my question is this, I live in B.C Canada and am wanting to purchase a used 10' zodiac boat that is in need of repair from Washington state. The seller is asking $50.00 for the boat, it does not have any papers it has the reg. # number on the stern still. Can anybody suggest what procedures I should take or
problems that might arise once I get it back to Canada customs. The boat has no trailer, I guess in a sense its just a used dingy in my eyes. Any help would be great

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: buying a used $50.00 zodiac

this it?

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/boa/1944679372.html

 

[stingray74]

Re: buying a used $50.00 zodiac

Nope the listing has been deleted?!?!?!?!?

 

[rwidman]

Re: buying a used $50.00 zodiac

Hello all my question is this, I live in B.C Canada and am wanting to purchase a used 10' zodiac boat that is in need of repair from Washington state. The seller is asking $50.00 for the boat, it does not have any papers it has the reg. # number on the stern still. Can anybody suggest what procedures I should take or
problems that might arise once I get it back to Canada customs. The boat has no trailer, I guess in a sense its just a used dingy in my eyes. Any help would be great

If you're buying a used $2,000 boat for $50.00, I suspect one of two things:

1. It's been in the sun so long that the fabric is shot and it has a dozen leaks with more to come.

2. The seller found it floating somewhere, it's not really his, and he wants to make $50.00 on it.

I'm thinking #2 since he has no title.

 

[Aviator5]

Re: buying a used $50.00 zodiac

If the transom is rot, than the boat is pretty much junk.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: buying a used $50.00 zodiac

Canada customs won't care as long as you pay the HST tax on the $50

Boats with engines under 10HP do not have to be registered in Canada. If you want to put a 15HP on it someday, there's some nonsense involved in registering it as a used boat, but I did it with an old Avon 3.40... it just took a couple trips to the Service Canada office.

 

[James Baker]

Re: buying a used $50.00 zodiac

Can you do a reverse look up for the owner, using the registration number? I did it once and wound up driving 3 hrs to the original owners house and getting him to sign the boat over to me. I did however, have the title.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: buying a used $50.00 zodiac

Finding the titled owner can be a real hassle in some states. Privacy laws often prevent motor vehicle agencies from disclosing who or where the real owner is.
Here, you have to go through a series of steps which begins with a state police hull inspection and NCIC check, and includes four newspaper ads in the area where the boat was either found or titled if you know that info, and you need to send two certified letters to the owners last known address. If none of the above results in contact with the owner, you must bring proof that your search has failed and then it's a matter of a court order to obtain an abandoned title. For most boats found without a title this is rarely worth the legwork and expense.

I'd be suspicious of the lack of a title but from dealing with boats and cars for so many years, I'm not at all surprised when someone says to me they can't find or don't have the title anymore. If an owner has a boat, he only needed the title when he first registered it, after that, it most likely got stowed away in a box or safety deposit box somewhere. Quite often an owner could have died, leaving the title in a safety deposit box which no one else knew about and the next of kin will never find it and most likely doesn't care to go through the expense of getting the title just to dump some old boat.