How to buy a boat in Canada

1. Registered vessel or PCL?

Canada has two parallel paperwork tracks, and the boat you’re buying is on one of them:

• Registered vesselsare entered in the Canadian Register of Vessels at Transport Canada. Registration is mandatory for commercial vessels, for any vessel being financed with a registered marine mortgage, and is required by many foreign ports of entry for “papers.” The boat gets a unique official numbercarved or affixed inside the hull, and a name that’s reserved nationally.
• Pleasure Craft Licence (PCL)vessels are licensed (not registered). The PCL is free, lifetime, and assigns a hull-side number beginning with the provincial prefix (e.g. “K” for Ontario in some series). Most Canadian recreational boats with motors over 10 hp are on PCLs, not registrations.

You can convert a PCL to a registration and vice versa, but you can’t have both at once. If you plan to finance, cruise internationally, or ever flag the boat for charter, registration is the right answer regardless of where the seller has it today.

2. Make a written offer

The instrument is an Offer to Purchase or Purchase & Sale Agreement. The Yacht Brokers Association of America (YBAA) form is common in Canada; provincial broker associations also publish their own. Key clauses to confirm or insist on:

• Subject to survey and sea trial, with a defined acceptance period (typically 10–14 days after the last contingency event).
• Subject to financing if applicable — Canadian marine lenders want a recent survey and clean Transport Canada records before funding.
• Subject to clear title — seller warrants the vessel is free of registered mortgages, PPSA/RDPRM liens, and maritime liens at closing.
• Deposit in escrow: typically 10%, held in the broker’s trust account. Provincial broker regulations require trust accounting; if a broker tells you the deposit goes to operating, walk.
• Inventory list attached to the offer — dinghy, outboard, electronics, sails, tools, spares.
• Tax treatment spelled out: who collects GST/HST/PST at closing, and on what amount.

3. Survey and sea trial

As in the U.S., the buyer pays for and chooses the surveyor. Look for a SAMS Accredited Marine Surveyor (AMS) or NAMS Certified Marine Surveyor (CMS) with experience in the vessel type and the local cruising area. The IIMS (International Institute of Marine Surveying) also accredits surveyors in Canada.

The day typically runs:

1. Haul out at a local yard ($300–$1,000 depending on size and lift type — Travelift vs. crane).
2. Out-of-water survey: hull moisture, gelcoat, keel/rudder bearings, through-hulls, prop, shaft.
3. Splash and sea trial: full RPM range, instrument verification, sailing trial if applicable.
4. In-water inspection: rig, electrical, plumbing, electronics, safety gear.
5. Engine survey by a separate engine specialist, ideally with oil sample analysis.

4. Acceptance, renegotiation, or walk

Inside the acceptance period you may:

• Accept as-is at the agreed price.
• Renegotiate with a price reduction or a holdback. Pick one per item — fix-before-close or money — never both.
• Reject and recover your deposit in full. You forfeit survey and haul-out costs. Cheap insurance.

5. Lien check: registry plus provincial PPSA/RDPRM

Canada splits its lien records, and missing a layer means missing liens:

• For a registered vessel, order a Transcript of Registerfrom Transport Canada’s Vessel Registration office. The transcript shows the ownership chain and any recorded mortgages.
• PPSA searchesin the common-law provinces (Ontario, BC, Alberta, etc.) catch non-mortgage liens registered under the Personal Property Security Act — typically by the debtor’s name and sometimes by vessel serial number.
• In Quebec, the equivalent civil-law registry is the RDPRM(Registre des droits personnels et réels mobiliers). Search it if the seller, the vessel, or the prior owner has any Quebec connection.
• Maritime liens for crew wages, salvage, or necessaries (fuel, repairs) can attach to the vessel without appearing in any public registry. The bill of sale should warrant against these, with the warranty surviving closing.

6. Closing, bill of sale, and Transport Canada filings

At closing:

1. You wire the balance to the broker’s trust account.
2. The seller signs the Bill of Sale. For a registered vessel, this is Transport Canada Form 6 (Bill of Sale) — the prescribed form that NVDC’s Canadian counterpart will accept for ownership transfer.
3. The seller delivers original ownership documents (Certificate of Registry or PCL paperwork), keys, manuals, maintenance records, and the inventory items listed in the PSA.
4. The broker disburses funds, pays off any registered mortgage directly to the lienholder, and releases the deposit.
5. You file the change-of-ownership with Transport Canada (registered vessels) or apply for a new PCL in your name (licensed vessels).

7. Pleasure Craft Licence and GST/HST/PST

If the boat is on a PCL, transfer is by applying for a new licence in your name via Transport Canada’s online portal. The PCL is free and lifetime; renewal applies only when ownership changes, the vessel is modified materially, or contact information changes.

Tax treatment depends on province of delivery and province of principal use:

• GST (federal goods and services tax, 5%) applies on most private-to-private boat sales by registered sellers and on all dealer sales. Private sales between non-registered individuals are often exempt — but the rules are not uniform.
• HST (in HST provinces — Ontario, NB, NS, PEI, NL) replaces GST + PST with a combined rate.
• PST/QST in BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Quebec applies separately and often catches private-party sales that GST misses.

Don’t guess. Have the broker put the tax treatment in writing and confirm with the provincial revenue ministry before closing. On a $300,000 boat, getting the province of delivery wrong can cost five figures.

8. Cross-border buying (U.S. ↔ Canada)

Canadians buying U.S. boats — and Americans buying Canadian boats — face an extra layer:

• Importing into Canada: GST is due on import. PST/QST/HST may also apply on first registration in your province. The boat must clear CBSA on entry; have the bill of sale, the seller’s deletion documents (if the boat was USCG-documented), and a current survey or appraisal.
• Importing into the U.S.: file CBP Form 1300 (Vessel Entrance or Clearance Statement) and pay the duty if applicable. The U.S. duty on recreational vessels is currently 1.5% of value; verify with CBP for current rates.
• For documented vessels, the seller must delete the registration in their country before you can register in yours. Time this carefully — a gap between deletion and re-registration leaves the boat unflagged.

9. Insurance, moorage, and after-sale

Bind insurance before closing. Canadian marine underwriters will ask for the recent survey. Confirm moorage; major Canadian centres (Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, Victoria) have multi-year waitlists at the best marinas.

Common pitfalls

• Assuming PCL = registration.They’re not equivalent. A PCL is not accepted as “papers” for international cruising and can’t carry a registered marine mortgage.
• Forgetting the PPSA/RDPRM search. The Transport Canada transcript shows registered marine mortgages but not provincial liens. You need both.
• Guessing on GST/HST/PST. Province of delivery and province of principal use both matter; the tax bill compounds.
• Timing the import wrong.Canadian buyers of U.S. boats sometimes close before the USCG documentation is deleted, leaving them with a boat that can’t be registered in Canada until the seller files the deletion. Put deletion before closing in the PSA.
• Skipping the engine survey.Same advice as in the U.S. guide — an oil analysis costs $40 and finds problems a visual won’t.

The Canadian process protects you only if you use every layer of it. Don’t let a friendly seller or a hurried broker convince you to skip the PPSA search because “the boat’s on a registration, we already checked.” Different records, different liens.