Buying a boat in Ireland

A week on a hire cruiser is the best test there is: if you come home planning the next trip, you may be ready for a boat of your own. This page walks through buying one for Ireland's lakes, rivers and canals, from the first viewing to a berth for the winter. It is practical guidance, not legal, tax or financial advice.

Decide what the boat is for

Start with the water, not the boat. Where will you keep it, and where do you want to go? A cruiser that is perfect for Lough Derg may not fit through a Grand Canal lock, and a fishing boat for Lough Corrib needs a trailer rather than a berth. Which boat for Irish inland waters sets out the length, beam, draft and headroom limits of each waterway.

Then add up what the boat costs to keep, not just to buy: a berth, insurance, servicing, fuel, Smart Card units for locks and services, and a lift-out or a winter berth each year. Ask the marina or club you have in mind for its prices before you agree a deal.

Where to look

• buz.ie, our own marketplace: boats, RIBs, kayaks, outboards and parts listed by boaters and dealers in Ireland (boats for sale). Jetty Hop and buz.ie are run by the same team. We do not check the listings.
• Marinas, boatyards and clubs along the waterways: notice boards and word of mouth still sell a lot of boats.
• Brokers and dealers, who handle the paperwork and often take part-exchanges.

Viewing a boat: what to check

Go in daylight, ideally with someone who owns a boat, and allow at least an hour. Ask to see the boat out of the water as well as afloat if you can.

• Hull. On fibreglass (GRP), look for blisters below the waterline, cracks around fittings and soft patches on deck. On steel, look for rust, especially along the waterline and in the bilge. On wood, press for soft spots.
• Engine. Ask to start it from cold. Watch for smoke and listen for knocks. Check the oil, the coolant and the service records, and on an outboard look for a steady stream of cooling water from the small outlet (the "tell-tale"). See Outboard engines and spare parts.
• Bilge. A little water is normal; oil, diesel or a constantly running bilge pump is not.
• Gas and electrics. The gas bottle should sit in a locker that drains overboard, with hoses in good condition. Batteries, the shore-power lead and the switch panel should look tidy and dry. Fit a carbon monoxide alarm if there is none (Safety on board).
• Toilet and holding tank. Inland boats pump out at service points; check the deck fitting and the tank.
• Covers and canopy, steering, controls, ropes, fenders and the anchor.
• Safety kit. The law requires a suitable lifejacket for every person on board (S.I. 921/2005); budget for new ones if they are old or missing.

Then take it out. Twenty minutes under way, including some time at cruising revs, tells you more than any photo.

Get a survey

For anything bigger than a dinghy, pay for a survey by a qualified marine surveyor before you commit. A surveyor checks the hull out of the water, the engine, gas, electrics and safety equipment, and gives you a written report you can negotiate with; your insurer may ask for it. The International Institute of Marine Surveying and the Yacht Designers & Surveyors Association list their members, including surveyors in Ireland. A boatyard can lift the boat out for the inspection; our map shows boatyards and slipways.

The paperwork the seller should hand over

• A receipt or bill of sale with both names, the price, the date, the hull identification number and the engine serial numbers.
• Proof that VAT was paid. Revenue asks anyone buying a second-hand boat to make sure evidence of VAT payment is handed over with it: an invoice showing the VAT, a certified copy of the import customs declaration, or the material invoices of a home-built boat (Revenue, Customs Manual on Import VAT, section 5.2).
• The CE documents of a boat between 2.5 and 24 metres built since the Recreational Craft Directive applies: the builder's plate on board (with the CE mark, design category, maximum load and number of persons), the hull identification number on the transom, the declaration of conformity and the owner's manual (Directive 2013/53/EU, Annex I).
• The Waterways Ireland registration number and any canal permit, and the service history.

Register it, and get a permit for the canals

Every boat on the Shannon Navigation, the Shannon–Erne Waterway and the Erne System must be registered with Waterways Ireland. The only exception is an open, undecked boat with an engine of 15 horsepower or less on the Shannon, or 10 horsepower or less on the Erne. Registration is free, you register once for all three waterways, and the number must be displayed on the outside of the boat (Waterways Ireland). For a boat that is already registered, Waterways Ireland has guides for the seller to remove it from their account and for you to register a previously registered vessel.

The Grand Canal, Royal Canal and Barrow Navigation need a canal permit instead, applied for online with conditions such as evidence of insurance. Permits run from 1 November to 31 October and must be shown on the outside of the boat (Waterways Ireland permits):

Lough Corrib and Lough Neagh are not Waterways Ireland navigations and have their own arrangements; each waterway page in our waterways list sums up the local rules.

Insurance

The canal permit needs evidence of insurance, and marinas, clubs and boatyards set their own conditions, so ask what they require. Get quotes before you agree a price: the type, age, value and engine of the boat all change what cover costs, and an insurer may ask for a recent survey.

Trailers and slipways

A small boat on a trailer opens up every lake with a slipway. With an ordinary car licence (category B) you may tow a trailer of up to 750 kg gross weight, or a heavier one if the car and trailer together weigh no more than 3,500 kg; above that you need a BE licence, which covers combinations of up to 7,000 kg (NDLS, cars and trailers). Stay within your car's towing limit too.

Our map shows slipways from OpenStreetMap; at a private marina, ask before you launch. Zebra mussels and invasive weeds travel on hulls, engines and trailers: check, clean and dry the boat and trailer every time you move to another lake or river (Special Marine Notice 1/2026, invasives.ie).

A berth, and the winter

Public moorings are for cruising, not for keeping a boat. On the Shannon and the Shannon–Erne Waterway you may stay at most five days in a row at a public harbour, or seven days in a month (Shannon Navigation Bye-laws 1992, bye-law 17(3)); on the Erne public moorings allow 48 hours (Waterways Ireland). A boat you keep needs a berth at a private marina or a club, or an extended mooring permit on the canals. See Mooring.

For the winter:

• Shannon and Shannon–Erne Waterway: a winter mooring at a public harbour from 1 November to 31 March costs €63.50 for 2026–27, booked online; power and water at public moorings are switched off over the winter (Marine Notice 107/2026).
• Canals: there is no winter mooring on the Grand and Royal Canals or the Barrow (permits).
• Erne: Waterways Ireland has no winter mooring on the Erne; ask the marinas.
• Ashore: many boatyards lift boats out and store them on hard standing over the winter, which is also the moment for antifouling, anodes and a hull check. Lay up the engine as its manual says (Outboard engines and spare parts).

Buying in Northern Ireland or Great Britain

Northern Ireland follows EU rules for goods under the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland (now the Windsor Framework), so there are no customs formalities or tariffs between Ireland and Northern Ireland (Revenue, eCustoms notification 44/2021). Prices will be in sterling, and the same checks and papers apply, proof of VAT included. If the boat came into Northern Ireland from Great Britain after 2020, ask the seller for the import papers.

Great Britain has been outside the EU's customs and VAT area since 1 January 2021. A boat brought in from England, Scotland or Wales has to be declared to Revenue, with customs duty where it applies and Irish VAT at the standard rate on its customs value (usually the price plus transport and insurance), before it is released for use here. VAT paid in the UK does not count, and a private buyer cannot reclaim the import VAT (Revenue, Customs Manual on Import VAT, sections 1.5 and 5.2, eCustoms notification 44/2021). Whether duty is due depends on where the boat was made and the proof of origin; ask Revenue or a customs agent before you agree a price.

There is a second check: the boat must meet the Recreational Craft Directive. A boat between 2.5 and 24 metres that was never placed on the EU market with a CE mark (for example one built for the UK market after 2020, or one from North America) has to pass a post-construction assessment by a notified body before you, as a private importer, may use it (Directive 2013/53/EU, Articles 12 and 19; in Ireland S.I. 65/2017). That can cost more than the boat is worth, so ask for the CE paperwork first.

If you live outside Ireland

Plenty of boats on the Shannon and the Erne belong to owners who live elsewhere in Europe.

• No skipper's licence. Ireland does not require the skipper of a private pleasure boat to hold a licence (Inland Waterways Association of Ireland). The law does set ages: the owner or skipper must make sure that nobody under 16 drives a jet ski or a boat that can do 17 knots or more, and nobody under 12 a boat with an engine of more than 5 hp (3.7 kW) (S.I. 921/2005, regulation 4; Code of Practice for the Safe Operation of Recreational Craft). A course is still worth doing before you take a cruiser onto the big lakes.
• A boat from another EU country. As a general rule, goods brought in from another EU member state pay no import VAT here, and Revenue asks owners to keep proof that VAT was paid on board at all times (Revenue, Customs Manual on Import VAT, paragraph 1 and section 5.2). A boat over 7.5 metres that is three months old or less, or has sailed 100 hours or less, counts as new: Irish VAT is then due, paid to the local Customs office within three days of its arrival (Revenue, new means of transport).
• Registration with an address abroad. The registration and canal permit rules above apply to your boat too. Ask Waterways Ireland how to register with an address outside Ireland before you agree a price (craft registration).
• While you are away. Ask the marina or boatyard what they do for a boat whose owner lives abroad (checks after a storm, rainwater pumped out, batteries charged, a lift-out for the winter) and agree it in writing with the price. See A berth, and the winter and Mooring.

Before you pay

• See the boat and its papers before you pay anything, and never pay a deposit for a boat you have not seen.
• Pay by bank transfer to an account in the seller's name, and get a signed receipt.
• Be wary of a price far below similar boats, of a seller who cannot show the boat, and of pressure to decide today.
• Once it is yours: register it, insure it, note the engine serial numbers, and book your first trip.