Hello Trawler Forum -new guy from China...

Greetings! I am a US citizen, but stationed in the PRC (non-military). Beijing is far from the nearest marina, which I think is on Hong Kong, but I have the intent of buying a used trawler in the coming years. I have been in China for three years, and have another three to go. I have yet to view local builders (Nordhavn, Seahorse, Selene, DD), but I know there are plenty. The biggest issue right now -and what prevents me from taking the plunge, is the almost complete lack of marinas here in China
Glad to join the forum,
Dubnuh

Welcome, it must be an interesting place.
Good luck!

Welcome Dubnuh,
Enjoy the research and the dreaming!
Man - if I was stationed in China, I'd be even more tempted to sail home in a Diesel Duck than I am now.

I can understand your frustration being far from any boats. I'm currently working in Iraq and there aren't many pleasure craft over here either.

Dubnuh said:

I have yet to view local builders (Nordhavn, Seahorse, Selene, DD), but I know there are plenty. The biggest issue right now -and what prevents me from taking the plunge, is the almost complete lack of marinas here in China
Glad to join the forum,
Dubnuh

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Beijing is a hell of a long way from Hong Kong. There used to be a couple of members on the forum from Hong Kong, one had an Island Gypsy but he has not posted in quite a while now.It might be possible to track him down and PM him with some questions.

It would be good to get some local knowledge.

Oh, and by the way welcome aboard.

Ni hao.

For mine, I'd recommend doing as much research as possible, including on here, save hard, do whatever boat tyre-kicking you can if you visit the coast or when home on leave, then do like Auscan above suggested. Buy a decent passagemaker and (with help) sail her back home. But that's just me.
Welcome aboard.

Thanks everyone, and yes, NiHao!
I'd really like to get a contact in HK who know passagamakers, but in the meantime i've found some too-good-to-be-true deals on a few Seahorse and GB's. I'm very impressed with the Seahorse, but will likely narrow my focus to Nordhavn (N46, N55 -maybe N43, who knows), Flemming (not built over here), The DD 462 like ICE, or KK 48 Whaleback.

ICE

http://www.kadeykrogen.com/articles/pages/powerandmotoryacht48whaleback.htm

Seahorse 52 - Brokerage at Simpson Marine

Of course these choices could change once I actually set foot on any of them. Now, what about the multihulls...

Ni Hao from someone who recently traveled to China (Hong Kong, Zuhuai, Doumen and surrounding area). While there I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Nansha Marina for an in the water boat show (Nansha is not far from Zuhuai). Yacht CN 2014 Although there were not a huge number of boats in attendance, maybe 75 or so, there were certainly enough of a variety to make it interesting.

What I learned about recreational boating in China is that moving your boat within Chinese waters, even short distances, requires lots of permissions and paperwork, $$$, etc, which, as you can imagine, is a big hassle and that's why boating, other than commercial fishing and barges etc, is not that popular.

That said, China is changing rapidly in this area and there are many who are petitioning the authorities to make boating/yachting more user friendly etc. I think it's only a matter of time when the restrictions for movement will ease and China will then grow it's local recreational boating scene.

You might want to give a shout out to Bill Kimley at Seahorse Marine and talk to him about recreational boating in China. He is heavily connected and well known in the boating world there in China. You can also talk with him about his DD's, Coots and or his SHM fiberglass 52's.

Additional info. : Zhuhai becomes yachting centre in China | Macauhub English

Dubnuh said:

The biggest issue right now -and what prevents me from taking the plunge, is the almost complete lack of marinas here in China

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Having worked in a few cities in China I can tell you that there are very definitely marinas in that country. There are some new ones in Xiamen, for example, where recreational boating is quite popular. Rick Boggs, formerly of this forum and who works on yachts on a worldwide basis, sent me an e-mail saying there are world-class marinas and yacht clubs in Quindao and Tianjin. Shanghai is loaded with marinas and large and small yachts. The times we have worked in Shanghai our hotel overlooked the river and there were any number of private boats cruising around.

Many builders have recently initiated strategies to sell to the Chinese market as they feel it's ready to explode. And these are not just the ones building there. Grand Banks, for instance, is built in Malaysia and sees tremendous potential. There have been some huge yachts sold to Chinese businessmen over the last few years and a few boat builders now Chinese owned that would surprise most. Sunseeker is. Ferretti (which includes Ferretti, Riva, Pershing, Itama, Mochi, CRN, and Custom Line) is.

When we were working in Xiamen a few years ago, the place was plastered with SeaRay billboards. Motivated, I'm sure, by the big new marina/condo development that was being built on the northeast shore.