DECAL COST Rising

[jssailem]

Hi Fellow cruisers. If you are planning on adventuring in the Inside Passage or just crossing the border to visit Victoria and your boat is 30 plus feet in length then you need a U.S. Customs BP Decal. Get it as a Christmas gift to you and the boat before January 1st.

Decal costs are going up on the 1st. of 2018.

"DTOPS User Fees are increasing for both decals and transponders, effective 1/1/2018. All orders placed on or after this date will pay the new fee amount.

• 2018 Fees: Commercial Truck (Transponder) - Annual: $404.35, Commercial Truck - Single Crossing: $13.20, Private Vessel (Decal) - Annual: $28.24, Private Aircraft (Decal) - Annual: $28.24

Fair winds to all and to all a Merry Christmas.

 

[Terry Cox]

Private Vessel (Decal) - Annual: $28.24

Bummer. Just another tax increase on top of all the others. And if I choose not purchase one, what then? Never got a straight answer. Impound the boat, decline clearance, ...?! No decal needed to drive across. Makes no sense here.

One year I got one for free because the agent wrote the credit card number incorrectly, so they were unable to process it, but she sent the decal anyway claiming it was their mistake. Now they have you write the number down.

 

[jssailem]

No rest for the FEES manager. Like you say can they do? Let you stay Off Shore I guess.
Force you (use of the CG) to direct you to the nearest port.
Strip search you and the boat for contraband
You are correct. "They got you " and protests .
Maybe the "deregulating current administration could take it up as a cause?"
Me I just want to go sailing. So it costs a couple of good beer 6 packs.
Oh well.
Maybe SS will be around for the next year and I can recoup the costs from the 2018 raise?

 

[Terry Cox]

Maybe SS will be around for the next year and I can recoup the costs from the 2018 raise?

Such a hoot. Just chump change is all I've ever seen.

 

[jssailem]

Hey they want you to be able to get a couple of big macs so that your cholesterol will go up and you'll be off the SS rolls sooner. It is a conspiracy.

My Christmas gift to me just arrived. New Lewmar Windlass.
January, I'll be looking at installing it so I'll be ready to anchor out this coming spring.
Thank You SBO Shop.

 

[Terry Cox]

New Lewmar Windlass.

Nice, now the installation fun begins. Let me know when you get here and need some help. I'll be driving bus, but do have weekend time.

 

[Mark Maulden]

John, you’re gonna really enjoy that windlass. One of the best things I did (amongst all the others)..

 

[jssailem]

Mark I am anxious to see that new red engine of yours.

You show me yours and I’ll show you mine...

 

[Will Gilmore]

And if I choose not purchase one, what then? Never got a straight answer.

You pay the port entrance fee. The BIG benefit in the sticker is processing time. They can't legally deny a US citizen entry into the US. Funny, but there is no fee to come across the border in a car or by foot. Do the Canadians charge US citizens to come into Canada? Does the US charge foreign sailors coming into the US? What's so hard about sailing that there needs to be a fee associated with it when an RV can cross for free?
- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Alansails]

Because we sail Lake Erie (Great Lakes) we enjoy sailing to Canada (some great destinations)-getting into Canadian Customs is about a 5 minute process by phone-they even ask if Eileen is sailing with me this trip!
Getting back to America to clear customs is a slog!
We have now got into the trusted traveler program with a boat reporting number to hopefully make this easier -We will see.
I do not mind paying to be protected- just that they need to get sorted out to make the process smoother!
We will see.

 

[Will Gilmore]

I do not mind paying to be protected

The way I see it. Sailors are playing for everyone else to be protected. This process isn't to protect the traveler but to protect everyone. If this cost is being sold as a pay for services, then the fees should come out of the general tax base. I also don't mind the fee nearly as much as the time and hoop-jumping. Also, the attitude of exclusion and superiority it fosters among government workers feels unbalanced. It looses sight of who and why they do their jobs.
- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[justsomeguy]

I do not mind paying to be protected-

Forgive me, but ?
Yeah, the streets were safe when the Purple Gang ruled Detroit.

 

[jssailem]

the trusted traveler program with a boat reporting number to hopefully make this easier

Alan. Got my boat BR number last October while sailing in Canadian water. The trusted traveler program made getting the new BR number simple. When I returned to the US I called CBP and it was a 10 minute phone call while on the water crossing Border Passage just South of South Pender Island. The BR number allowed the CBP to populate the computer screen (apparently a unique system that does not share data well with other agencies). The process did require the Canadian authority number issued by Canada. So save all the info in one place. I have made up a new Border form to record the info for my trips in 2018 Finally I received a welcome to the USA and it was done. Note you must have all crew on their data base in order to use the phone in reporting.
Also I learned the SVRS Small Vessel Report System (https://svrs.cbp.dhs.gov/Default.aspx) is not in use by CBP in the Pacific NW. When I asked the CBP office how to access it and file the float plan “Forget that! Just call the office and get a BR number with your Trusted Traveler information. “

 

[Mark Maulden]

Mark I am anxious to see that new red engine of yours.

You show me yours and I’ll show you mine...

Next time I’m at the boat, I”ll try and remember some pix..

 

[jssailem]

Maybe in February when I splash I can cruise up Anacortes way and we can tip a brew at Adrift. They have a good porter.

 

[Hartley]

FWIW, when we entered at Roche in 2015 (without a sticker) all they did was make us order one (they collected the fee) which arrived via snail mail a few weeks later. Now that we're on the right coast, we've found the BP folks don't pay much attention to it - the guy in Eastport, ME said "don't worry about it". In Florida, the SVRS is working, and they don't care either (and you never see an agent anyway).

Hartley
S/V Atsa