Hi all! I would like to buy a fishing boat for my dad in the next few years, and I have started saving for it.

I don’t know much about boats, but I know he absolutely loves his Jeanneau Merry Fisher 610 HB, and his favourite thing in summers is to take the boat out on the Black Sea and fish at sunrise. My dad has worked so hard his whole life to give his family everything, and I would like to do this in return for him.

As I’m hoping my dad will move countries to be close to me at least 6 months of the year, I was wondering if I could get some advice on whether owning a fishing boat is a feasible thing to do. Would an EU boat permit still be valid in Norway? Are the taxes on the boat and costs for the harbour very high? I appreciate all of your help, takk så mye!

11 comments

  3. Harbour place is one expense that can go high, another one is where to store it in the winter.
    I grew up knowing several families with boats even if they weren’t well off, but usually they owned the boat space after having it passed down, or they had “harbour” place far away from popular places.
    So you can probably get something not too expensive, but it is still gonna cost you a bit

  4. In my town, a place at the marina cost anything from 30-60k annually. Then you have maintenence and fuel. I think it’s fairly expensive and fairly difficult, unless you’re pretty darn well off. Unless you’re talking a rowboat.

  5. A lot of hassle if you are not an enthusiast.

    Need to be taken up and stored in winter. Moved by car. Etc. Boat place is a big challenge.

    Suggesting to buy a boat place with your dad and start uo with something simple like a viking 440 might be a better way to establish the hobby.

  6. Depends a lot on the boat. You can get boats varying in price from 10k NOK to millions. Bigger and more expensive boat also means bigger and more expensive spot in harbours and more expensive maintenance.
    Roughly, with a boat worth ~100k, you could expect
    – Harbor place around 20-30k a year (in Oslo, cheaper away from the capital) or around 10k a year if you’ve been a paying member (~500 a year) of a harbour society for 5+ years
    – Winter storage on water for a couple of thousands or storage on land for 3-5k (but cheaper/included if member if a harbour society)
    – yearly maintenance of the hull; around 5-10k depending of how much you need to fix
    – yearly registration at the Norwegian society for sea rescue is around 2k. If your engine breaks (which happens) it’s very useful, or they charge around 3k per hour for assistance for non-members
    – Expect things to break all the time, add 5-10k/year or more in random shit being broken

    And of course all the hours spent maintaining and fixing it.

    For some people it’s a lifestyle and very much worth it, others will have PTSD from their first boat.

    All this is super roughly calculated and highly depending on type of boat, engine, size, age and such.

    Edit/disclaimer: these prices when you do all the work yourself. Mechanics and such will be a lot more expensive.

  8. It can range all the way from very, till not at all. Step one. Get a spot where you can dock the boat. As you can see on the marinas, there are not a tradition for trailering the boat to and from the water as you want to use it. The boats tend to stay on the water for the whole season.
    Look around at the local marinas if they have available space. In the Oslofjord, this may already prove difficult, due to lack of space.

    Secondly, is the marina open whole year round, or do you need to store the boat on land for the winter? Lifting the boat out of water and storing it can be difficult and or expencive, depending on where you are.

    Maintenance and running costs are way more expencive than with a car. Keep that in mind.

    Marine petrol is taxed the say way as road petrol and do therefore cost quite a lot. 23-26kr is not unheard of. Diesel is taxed as construction fuel, and is therefor around 15-18kr.
    The rule of thumb I grew up with, is that if you run the engine for more than 40 hours a year, a diesel engine would be the more economical option.
    Personally I’m a traditionalist and prefer inboard diesel with shaft drive propulsion system. Preferably with a single engine for lower running costs.

    Outboards have gotten very popular the later years, so the 40 hour rule may no longer be entirely correct.

    What boat to choose depends somewhat on where you are. The Merry Fisher 625 series is a decent boat for fishing. The closed wheelhouse is very nice to have for rain or cold weather.

    For pricing, if I take my area it reads somewhat as this.
    Used merry Fisher 625. 175000kr

    Marina full year on water. 12000kr/year

    Lift on land and maintenance 1 week. 5000kr
    May be done every second year.

    Bottom paint and hull maintenance. 500kr

    Engine maintenance 2500kr

    General service and maintenance including navigation upgrades and so forth. 5000kr

    1000 liters of petrol 25000kr

    Insurances, license fees and SAR membership 10000kr/year

    Very generally.
    Prices is for doing Maintenance yourself. If you want to get a man to do maintanance, triple the prices.

  9. Costs for a spot at the harbour will be high.
    Costs for parking near the harbour will be high.
    Costs for the boat will be high.
    Costs for fuel will be very high.
    Costs for winter storage will be high.

  10. A boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into.

    This size of boat is almost permit-less, but having a radio course and a quick safety/local practices course is probably a good idea.

    If your father does not have a Norwegian citizenship, you will need to be on the boat when it is fishing, or he needs to buy a fishing quota. As a Norwegian civilian, you have something like a one ton quota per year. Further permits and approvals might be needed if the boat is to be registered as a foreign-operated fishing vessel. [More info](https://www.fiskeridir.no/English/Fishing-in-Norway/Sea-angling-in-Norway).

    The main cost will be storage for the 6 months it is not in use. Others have covered this, and it is very place-specific in regards to cost. Talk to some of the professional fishermen around where you live, or other people who do this type of work for a living. (not the marinas or storage places themselves, as they have a financial interest in presenting their own solutions)

  11. About your license:

    In Norway you need a license for anything longer then 8m, lager engin then 9.9 hp and that can go faster then 9.9 knots. (Weekend class with a written test at the end, easy enough to get)

    If the driver was born after 1980.

    Born before that you can pilot up to 49 feet.

    A lot of the eu license are usable too.

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