Just Wana Float My Boat-

[dplast]

River taxi's, crewed sailing and power yachts, converted rice barges offering luxury river cruises and assorted young thai hot shots in power boats selling there services. How about private farang ownership of basic water craft, houseboats, converted commercial craft, locale built - power and sailboats for private use?

Any thoughts or insights on floating my boat? Thanks - Doug

[Thetyim]

Difficult to get reliable info on this one.

It would be a good solution to the house ownership problem in LOS

I asked about a owning a boat on the Sirikit Lake and was told to just go ahead and do it. Anyone know for sure ?

[Kringle]

I would also like to know about this and i don't care if it has to be in my wifes' name. Are there any laws or rules that you cannot do this on any lake or river. I would like to find something I could dock close to the shore for easy access for supplies and such.

[Goldenbead]

My husband has a boat. While it is not in the water at present (for sale) we had no problems buying it, registering it and then mooring it on the beach at Rawai. The guy we bought it from did all the paperwork for us. We never had any problems.

[ZZZ]

To own a boat is probably the same as with a car. All boats have to be registred.

To drive the thing you also need to get a helmsmans license, see instructions below from the Phuket Marine Office. Apparently it's hard to get in Pattaya as the local rent-a-captain maffia operates at the jetty and charge you 500bath a day to be the designated licensed helmsman.

Not sure of the situation in Bangkok.

“You must come to the Phuket Marine Office and bring with you the following:

- Your passport and a letter from a consulate or embassy of your home country verifying that the passport is genuine, accurate and valid;

- Three two-inch photos of yourself;

- A medical certificate verifying that your are fit to skipper a boat.

- If you have it, a certificate to show that you have two years’ experience or more as captain of a yacht.

- If you have an existing master’s certificate from another country, you should bring it with you for us to look at. We may be able to issue you with a Thai license without a test.

You do not need a work permit but we must be sure that you have the relevant knowledge to skipper a boat. The size of the boat is irrelevant. The license states only the function on a boat that the holder may perform – skipper or engineer for example.

If we decide that you must take a test, you should be aware that although the regulations are already available in English, the information booklet about the test is currently available only in Thai.

An English translation is being done and will be completed soon. The price of the booklet is 500 baht.

Test forms, too, are only in Thai, but you may bring a translator to the exam with you.

The Phuket Marine Office has already received authority from the Marine Department in Bangkok to issue Thai skippers’ certificates to foreigners. ”

Friday, May 14, 2004 Kittipong Wasukri, Phuket Marine Office

[surfline]

My husband has a boat.  While it is not in the water at present (for sale) we had no problems buying it, registering it and then mooring it on the beach at Rawai.  The guy we bought it from did all the paperwork for us.  We never had any problems.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

what sort of boat is it?

[fxm88]

Just out of curiosity does anyone know the laws for houses built over the water? What kind of ownership issues apply to that? Can one (Thai or otherwise) own submerged "land"? Do these houses come with registries (for marriage, birth, voter registration, etc.)? What about houses built over inland lakes?

I am reminded of some American states that allowed "riverboat" or "dockside" casinos -- in practice it was usually a floating barge semi-permanently attached to a riverside dock. Some clever operators started building inland lagoons, pumping over some river water, floating a casino on it and calling it a "riverboat". But America is a nation of laws and lawyers and they're still fighting it out in the courts. I think in Thailand it'd be a little harder to quote the law at some powerful local autocrat.