# British yacht in the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2011, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-yacht-in-the-us/593882 "2011-08-24T10:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-yacht-in-the-us/593882/1 "2011-08-24T10:36:01Z")
Since I expect to win the state lottery early next year, I was looking at yachts on the internet. Canal boats are a bit of a European specialty, and I found a nice well-founded 46’ narrowboat in the UK. Just what I want. OK, so I pay the man, have it cleaned real good, put it on a ship and bring it to the US. **What regulatory requirements would get in the way of my registering my yacht in the US?** ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-yacht-in-the-us/593882/2 "2011-08-24T11:50:30Z")
I can’t help with US regulations but I have to ask which American waterways you would use a narrowboat on? All the pictures of US waterways I’ve seen look as though they would be terrifying from the helm of a a six foot wide, flat bottomed, low freeboard narrow boat! Even the [Thames](http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=narrowboat+thames+tideway&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1140&bih=716&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=wHtVPqwwVKRs0M:&imgrefurl=http://nbdebdale.blogspot.com/2010/08/tidal-thames.html&docid=YfAlTnmvyVL1QM&w=1600&h=1200&ei=eONUTujWG8fIsgbl28wE&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=657&page=1&tbnh=125&tbnw=165&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&tx=76&ty=98) look worrying to me 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-yacht-in-the-us/593882/3 "2011-08-24T12:43:38Z")
Concur. A narrowboat would be good on a lake/lagoon, but I wouldn’t want to try one outside of inland waters. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-yacht-in-the-us/593882/4 "2011-08-24T13:36:44Z")
Really? (I asked stupidly.) The (wider, American 34’) canal boat we had on our honeymoon seemed so nice. Oh well. Six feet wide? Really? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-yacht-in-the-us/593882/5 "2011-08-24T13:49:09Z")
Oh come [on](http://www.flickr.com/photos/martin-james/3679555460/), Paul. Where’s your intestinal fortitude? ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-yacht-in-the-us/593882/6 "2011-08-24T16:34:07Z")
Six foot ten inches is the standard for modern English narrow boats, which are called “narrow” for good reason. Sometimes ten times as long as wide. Designed for use on near-stagnant and very narrow canals. Who you’d need to register one with, I don’t know.