Log XIV - Artemis 1 (Shipping - Part 1)

The length of my boat is 33ft but with the addition of the bow pulpit and transom swimming platform, the total length adds up to 38ft. She has a width and height of around 13ft each and therefore cannot be fitted into a standard 40ft container. She had to be transported using a flat rack.

Photo of another boat on a flat rack

A flat rack is simply a metal deck with a wooden cradle on top for the boat to sit on. The boat will be secured by using straps tying down onto the flat rack. This method of shipping will cost much more than using a container as there is no space efficiency on a container ship due to the unusable stacking space on top of the rack.

Since the re-conditioning work took 3 months to complete, I had ample time to look for a reliable and cheap shipping agent. I had requested for quotations from both US agents and local Singapore agents and my conclusion is - engage an US agent for the interstates and international shipping and local agent for shipping within Singapore. This will be the most cost effective but you will have to do some coordination work yourself when the boat arrives.

Please try to get as many quotations as possible especially on the international shipping. You will be surprised that the costs can vary by tens of thousands. As a reference, the highest quote I had gotten was $40k and the lowest was $15k. But please do not be too happy if you get a very cheap quote because some of them may not be reliable and worst case scenario, they may be scams. I had approached a few shipping companies and somehow my information was shared to other shipping agents which I did not request quotation from. I received calls at night from unknown shipping companies asking for my boat information and offering their services. These are the companies that gave me the lowest quotes.

I felt insecure using the cheapest shipping company and so I did a background check. I was shock that this company with the cheapest quote was not even listed in the US list of approved shipping agents. I could not imagine what will happen if I engage them. Perhaps I can still get my boat in the end but I better not leave the fate of such a big investment to chance. In the end I engaged a shipping company with a proven track record and the costs was around $20k. This price was way off my budget by the way because I made the mistake of extrapolating the costs based on normal container shipping rates when I was planning the purchase.

Contacts were given to the shipyard and the shipping agent so that they could coordinate the loading out.

The boat was transported over 600km on road across the states from Gulfport in Mississippi to Savannah in Georgia. And after a 2 weeks delay at Savannah port due to some labour shortage issue, my boat was finally ready to begin her voyage across the oceans to this little red dot.

Oops did I forget to shrink wrapped the boat before shipping? Sadly yes, I really had forgotten to ask the shipping agent to do it. She would be collecting dust from half the globe for 6 weeks as a welcome gift to her new owner.

Log XIII - Artemis 1 (Re-conditioning)

As mentioned in my earlier post, re-conditioning your boat in the US will generally be cheaper because of the huge boating industry over there. However there are certain things that I will recommend you to do it locally such as the installation of marine electronic equipment i.e. chart plotter, radar, fish finder/ sounder, auto-pilot, etc. because the warranty for these equipment usually do not cover overseas.

You will also require the technician/ electrician assistance once a while to troubleshoot your electronic equipment. It will be good to know the local agent well by purchasing your equipment from them.

So what are the stuff you can ask the US yard to do for you? The most important thing is to ask them to clear all marine life i.e. barnacles from the hull.

This is crucial because there are laws forbidding foreign marine life to enter the borders of some countries. I'm not very sure how strict it is in Singapore regarding this, but if your boat is going to be shipped from US to Singapore, it will definitely stop by many countries. A wiser decision is to clear the barnacles before shipping to avoid any trouble with the law. And if you are clearing the barnacles, you might as well ask them to apply the anti-fouling paint too. This is essential if you intend to berth your boat in the water. Barnacles attack the hull very fast even with the anti-fouling paint, not to mention if the hull is unprotected.

Looks much nicer after application of the anti-fouling paint isn't it? These are the rest of the services that I had asked the US yard to do for me prior to shipping.

- Replacement of water heater (it's hard to get 110V rating water heater here, so I took the risk of changing it there. Foresee that water heater will not spoil so easily.)

- Installation of sound insulation in engine room.

- Replacement of tachometer.

- Repair windshield wipers (just some troubleshooting of the wiring to make it operational again.)

The list was not long but it took 3 months to complete.... It was last December when the boat sailed to the ship yard. Shortly after was the Christmas and New Year break. This break was further extended when the repair guy went for a 3 weeks road trip in his caravan. And finally when he was back, delivery for some of the parts were delayed due to the harsh winter.

Anyway long story short, I was very happy and excited when everything was done and I thought that I could just turn the key and happily sail into the sunset when the boat arrives, but I was wrong. All the above repairs were just the tip of the iceberg...

Log XII - Artemis 1 (Pre-Purchase Part 2)

The boat inspection report will contain the information of all the equipment and accessories on your boat, with the findings and recommendations for the defects. It will also give a valuation of your boat and you better keep your fingers crossed that the valuation is lowered than what you had offered so that you can use it as a bargaining tool for the final negotiation.

The most important component of your boat is of course the engines.

However the inspection will only cover visual checks, engine/ transmission oil analysis and a sea trial to test their performances. Any latent defects can only be found through thorough inspection by an experienced mechanic which is hard to find when you are so far away, unless you have contacts over there. So you will just need to rely on the limited information you have on the engines and take a calculated risk.

The visual checks are mainly for exterior corrosion. All marine engines will corrode over time. It is just how well you maintain them. For exterior corrosion, it can be quite easily rectified by painting a layer of anti-corrosion paint over. This shall be covered in more details in my post on protecting your engine against rust.

In my opinion, the engine/ transmission oil analysis is not that helpful. It shows the content of the various compounds found inside the oils and highlight which of them are excessive. However you cannot pin point where the problem is until you really use the engines. The excessive compounds detected may just simply due to an overdue engine oil change. You can save this oil analysis costs if you want to.

Before the sea trial, the inspector will do an engine compression test.

This will test whether the cylinders can hold sufficient pressure. If the pressure is too low, there are many implications. The solution can be as easy as replacing a damaged gasket or as complicated as replacing a broken piston. So if the compression test is not satisfactory, I will suggest that you reconsider your options as you do not know what engine problems you will be dealing with in the future.

The sea trial will give you an idea of what is the boat's maximum and cruising speed and at what RPM.

You can check this information against the engine manufacturer's specifications and see whether does the performance match. Take note that the performance will be lower than the specifications due to the engine age, wind and current conditions during the trial, and the condition of the hull. My boat engines were running at about 80% of the specified performance which I feel is good enough considering the age of 14 years and not to mention the condition of the hull with barnacles infestation.

The inspector will also highlight if there are any obvious problems during the sea trial such as excessive cranking during startup, excessive exhaust smoke, engine temperature and pressure consistency, steering transmission, etc. I will not be able to cover all the possible problems that can happen during a sea trial. If you are unsure of certain issues, you can drop me an email or comment below and I will try to help to the best of my knowledge, or you can ask Mr Google know-it-all.

Log XI - Artemis 1 (Pre-Purchase Part 1)

Once the price is accepted by both you and the seller, you will have to put a deposit to show that you are really serious.

For my case, the deposit was 10% of the selling price. You can either use internet banking (if you are transferring to a bank that is in your bank's list) or you can use telegraphic transfer (if the bank is not in your bank's list). Both services will incur a transfer fee from your side and there will be another transaction/ conversion fee from the receiving bank. So you will have to factor these 2 bank charges in when you do the transfer so that the receiving party can get the full payment. Most of the time, you will not know what are the charges from the receiving bank, you may have to ask the agent or in my case, I just put in an additional USD$25. You can request the agent to cover for the rest if the fee is exceeded.

After the agent receives the deposit, you can request for an inspection and sea trial. Since you are not physically there, you can appoint a third party inspection company to do all these for you. Try to find a company that is near to the boat's location or they may charge extra for the longer journey.

I will strongly recommend that you engage the inspection service before finalization of the purchase. If the inspection turns out to be perfect (which is highly unlikely), you will have a peace of mind. But if the inspection is not so satisfactory, you can either use the inspection report and request for more discount or just drop the deal entirely. My inspection included the engine oil analysis with a sea trial and it cost about USD$1,500. There were some defects found which were not reflected in the boat description put up by the agent. So I managed to get another USD$4,000 off the previously agreed price due to the newfound defects.

Basically it is a win-win situation for you to do the inspection. If the report is satisfactory, you know you are getting a good deal. If the report is unsatisfactory, you can use it to further lower the selling price, which in most cases, the discount will be more than the cost for the inspection.

On top of that, you will be more aware of the defects of the boat and you can decide whether you want them to be fixed over there or do it when your boat reaches your country. Since boating is very common in USA, generally the repair costs are cheaper as compared to Singapore - where most of the services related to marine are very expensive.

Just bear one thing in mind. Boats are not like cars, especially cabin cruisers. There are much more equipment and stuff to maintain, so it is very difficult to find a used boat that is in turnkey condition. There are bound to have some parts due for servicing. With this expectation in mind, you will not feel so frustrated about the defects and will enjoy the buying cum learning experience more.

In my next post, you will know what are the things to look out for to service before shipping your boat across the globe.

Land Log XI - Back to Lazarus Island

Let's take a break from boat purchase this week. We went back to Lazarus Island again, but this time round we did not take the public ferry, my friend ferried us there using his boat.

This is really a beautiful place. Want to know how beautiful is it?

The clear turquoise water against the blue sky. You can see Singapore city landscape in the background.

This time round, we had a few students with us who are keen to learn fishing. What a perfect environment to learn something new while enjoying nature.

The fish here are not spectacular but they are enough for beginners to experience the fun of fishing.

All the fish caught were released safely back into the sea. Though we did not catch a fish sizable enough for dinner, we had a fulfilling day. Experience like this is hard to come by in our small island city.

Log X - Artemis 1 (Choosing - Part 2)

A full cabin cruiser usually has a sleeping capacity of 3 or 4 people and preferrably air-conditioned especially in tropical areas.

The kitchenette is normally equipped with a sink, an electric stove, a microwave, a fridge and a coffee-maker.

The toilet comes with shower facilities though they are not so commonly used and I will explain why in my later posts.

But what makes the Wellcraft Coastal 330 stands out is this...

There is a small cozy dining area inside the cabin. If you have not stepped into a cabin cruiser before, it is quite hard to imagine from the exterior looks that there can be so much furnishing inside. This is because part of the boat is submerged in water and you can only see the exposed top portion, you will not know how deep is the draft. *Draft of a boat is the distance between the surface of the water and the lowest point of the boat.

As for the Grady White, most of the reviews I found on the internet were excellent! From the cabin design and facilities to the shape of the hull for a more stable ride. But being a well known brand, the price tag on a Grady is generally higher than a Wellcraft. If I am going to find a Grady that can fit my budget, it will be likely a boat from the 90s.

So in the end, I chose a year 2001 Wellcraft Coastal 330 but without the flybridge as shown in the photo from my previous post.

If you do not know what a flybridge is - it is the open deck on top of the boat. When you compare the photo above with the photo from my previous post here, you will know what is the difference.

After you have decided on the the boat that you want to buy, you can contact the seller's broker to bargain on the price. Usually the listed price has at least a 10% room for discount. The bargaining process will take quite some time because the broker has to convey the messages between you and the seller, and the 13 hours difference in time zone is not helping.

Read on what do you do next after the seller agree to your offered price in the next post.

Log IX - Artemis 1 (Choosing - Part 1)

After importing a boat myself, I realised that not many people had done it before. Most of the boaters will usually get an agent to do everything for them. In case you are one of those who like to do things yourself like what I did, you might find some of the information useful in the following blog posts.

Anyway the posts will be based purely on my single boat purchasing experience, I believe that there are better ways to do certain tasks, and if there is, please drop me a message so that I will know what to do for my next purchase. I shall start from the very beginning - picking a boat.

There are 2 main countries that I looked at when I was choosing my boat - Australia and USA. Of course there are many other places you can choose to look for your dream boat, but I narrowed down to these 2 countries because of the credibility. Unless you have too much cash and want to fly there and stay for a couple of weeks to settle the transaction, most of the communication will be done through emails or phone calls. So the credibility of the local broker you are dealing with is very important.

You will not want to transfer tens of thousands overseas to a country that is known for scams do you?


Australia has the geographical advantage over USA as it is much nearer to Singapore, hence the shipping will be cheaper. The power rating is also similar at 240V. But for USA, the voltage rating is 110V.

This is a typical US 110V wall socket.

Buying a boat from Australia looks like a more logical choice. However, there are many cases of boat owners in USA unable to finance their boat loans due to the economic downturn in the past decade. And I guess this is the reason why the average selling price of boat in the US is much lower as compared to Australia.

At the end of the day if you factored in the higher shipping costs from USA and the costs of installing a transformer to step down the shore power from 240V to 110V, you might find certain bargains in Australia better than US. But without knowing much on the shipping and transformer costs at that point of time when I was choosing the boat, it seemed obvious to me then that I should go for the cheaper boats in the states.

Next is the question of what type of boat you want. I shall not list the types of boat here as you can easily google the types of boat or yacht to get your answers. For me, I know what I want because I have been thinking of buying it since 6-7 years ago and it is only now then I put my first step forward. I was looking for a cabin cruiser with a small living area and designed for fishing.

These criteria narrowed down my search by a lot. FYI, the number of resale boats in USA is more than the number of boats registered in Singapore. So narrowing down your search criteria will save you a lot time. And finally I shortlisted to just 2 models of boat - Grady White Marlin 300 and Wellcraft Coastal 330.

Grady White Marlin 300

Wellcraft Coastal 330

Grady White is well known for making quality luxury fishing boat, so basically you cannot go wrong with this brand. As for Wellcraft, frankly speaking I was not aware of this brand until I started researching on fishing boats. It was shortlisted because I was attracted by the cabin design.

What is the cabin feature that attracted me? And which model did I choose eventually? They shall be revealed in my next post.