So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border? Does anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so far...
Mark

JayPique wrote:
So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border? Does anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so far...
Mark
It took me 30 seconds to find this link:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...nto%20the%20us

JayPique wrote:
So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was
wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border?
Does anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so
far... Mark

Bad move Jay. Relying on input from a usenet newsgroup on legal matters is
pure folly. Bad on you for even asking that question. Do more google.
Call the guys at customs. Don't rely on what you will hear in a newsgroup.

--

-Mike-

On Fri, 5 Sep 2014 10:27:33 -0700 (PDT), JayPique
wrote:

So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border? Does anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so far...
Mark
Depends where it was made. Canadian or American, no problem. (NAFTA)
If it is Euinese, Taiwanese, or Japanese you may need to pay some
duty. Otherwise it would just be taxes if applicable. Coming North,
we need to pay HST or GST on the full value of the equipment.

On Fri, 05 Sep 2014 13:34:33 -0400, Bill
wrote:

JayPique wrote:
So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border? Does anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so far...
Mark
It took me 30 seconds to find this link:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...nto%20the%20us
Personal use or commercial (resale) are two totally different
situations.

On 09/05/2014 12:27 PM, JayPique wrote:
So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was
wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border?
Does anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so
far... Mark

http://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CBP%20Form%206059B%20English%20%28Fillable%29_0.pd f

Depending on just how much and what, you'll probably want to do some
other checking on whether they'll expect more than just the declaration
form; they're used to the normal touristy things all the time; and while
I'm certain it's not uncommon at all in the larger scheme of things, it
won't be quite so common as the hand-knit woolens or single-malt from
Scotland...

I think duty-exempt is $800 or so altho it's been a number of years
since came back so don't know if it's been modified or not. I do _NOT_
know what duty rate(s) are at all, though...

Anyway, as somebody else says, contact Customs first and discuss what
you're thinking of.

--dpb

--

Have a look at this to see if it can assist you in the decision process.

http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?p=313943#p313943

On 9/5/2014 1:27 PM, JayPique wrote:
So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border? Does anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so far...
Mark

Have a look at this to see if it can assist you in the decision process.

http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?p=313943#p313943

On 9/5/2014 1:27 PM, JayPique wrote:
So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border? Does anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so far...
Mark

In article ,
JayPique wrote:

So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was
wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border? Does
anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so far...
Mark

Call customs. Asking here is just ****ing into the wind.

--
³Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness
sobered, but stupid lasts forever.² -- Aristophanes

On 9/8/2014 11:13 AM, Dave Balderstone wrote:
In article ,
JayPique wrote:

So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was
wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border? Does
anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so far...
Mark

Call customs. Asking here is just ****ing into the wind.


Not really. Just print out the replies you get and show them to the guy
at the border. He'll accept that as proof you can bring them in,
especially if it is someone like Leon that has a good reputation.

On 9/9/2014 9:29 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 9/8/2014 11:13 AM, Dave Balderstone wrote:
In article ,
JayPique wrote:

So I'm thinking of bidding on some used machinery in Canada, and was
wondering what I need to declare when I come back across the border?
Does
anyone know the fees? I'm having little luck with google so far...
Mark

Call customs. Asking here is just ****ing into the wind.


Not really. Just print out the replies you get and show them to the guy
at the border. He'll accept that as proof you can bring them in,
especially if it is someone like Leon that has a good reputation.


LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son, and I
visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the other in
Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all of us went to
Burlington to see the other aunt. My wife and the Buffalo aunt went in
her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with Texas Plates.
I thought I would never convince the border guard, going in to Canada,
that my truck was not loaded down with guns and that I was not there to
shoot the place up. After declaring no guns several times, he told me
to get in the line a quarter mile up where all the vehicles were being
searched and dismantled. I did not. There was no police chase. ;~)

Leon wrote:


LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son, and I
visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the other in
Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all of us went
to Burlington to see the other aunt. My wife and the Buffalo aunt
went in her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with
Texas Plates. I thought I would never convince the border guard,
going in to Canada, that my truck was not loaded down with guns and
that I was not there to shoot the place up. After declaring no guns
several times, he told me to get in the line a quarter mile up where
all the vehicles were being searched and dismantled. I did not. There was
no police chase. ;~)

Wow - that's really weird. I've crossed that border so many times that I
can't count the trips and I've never seen a line as long as you describe -
even after 911. Not disputing you - just saying I've never seen that as a
regular crosser of the Canadian border. We see people with all sorts of
license plates cross over every day. Lot's of you redneck types that insist
on nothing but the best woodworking tools - but somehow you guys get
through. To be honest - I've watched plenty of out of state plates cross
over only to be pulled over myself (with NY plates) for "regular"
questioning. Went pretty quickly though. Never have ever seen 1/4 mile
long lines.

--

-Mike-

OFWW wrote:
On Tue, 9 Sep 2014 12:38:27 -0400, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:

Leon wrote:


LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son,
and I visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the
other in Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all
of us went
to Burlington to see the other aunt. My wife and the Buffalo aunt
went in her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with
Texas Plates. I thought I would never convince the border guard,
going in to Canada, that my truck was not loaded down with guns and
that I was not there to shoot the place up. After declaring no guns
several times, he told me to get in the line a quarter mile up where
all the vehicles were being searched and dismantled. I did not.
There was no police chase. ;~)

Wow - that's really weird. I've crossed that border so many times
that I can't count the trips and I've never seen a line as long as
you describe - even after 911. Not disputing you - just saying I've
never seen that as a regular crosser of the Canadian border. We see
people with all sorts of license plates cross over every day. Lot's
of you redneck types that insist on nothing but the best woodworking
tools - but somehow you guys get through. To be honest - I've
watched plenty of out of state plates cross over only to be pulled
over myself (with NY plates) for "regular" questioning. Went pretty
quickly though. Never have ever seen 1/4 mile long lines.

You're like my Grandma, always ruining Grandpa's stories.

Damn! There I am - Grandma again...

--

-Mike-

On 9/9/2014 11:12 AM, Leon wrote:
LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son, and I
visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the other in
Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all of us went to
Burlington to see the other aunt.

You drove through Canada to get from Buffalo to Burlington? Was that a
scenic route or something?

My wife and the Buffalo aunt went in
her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with Texas Plates. I
thought I would never convince the border guard, going in to Canada,
that my truck was not loaded down with guns and that I was not there to
shoot the place up. After declaring no guns several times, he told me
to get in the line a quarter mile up where all the vehicles were being
searched and dismantled. I did not. There was no police chase. ;~)

I can't remember offhand how many times I've been through USA/Canada
Customs. I'm guessing 20 trips; by car, train, plane and boat. While
we've never had any real trouble, we have noticed a generally more
aggressive stance from US Customs (we are US citizens) than Canadian
Customs.

My first time was by train, back in maybe 1976. It was Wintertime. The
train stopped at the border and a Canadian Customs agent boarded our
car. He spoke excellent French-accented


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On 09/09/2014 12:11 PM, Greg Guarino wrote:
....

I can't remember offhand how many times I've been through USA/Canada
Customs. I'm guessing 20 trips; by car, train, plane and boat. While
we've never had any real trouble, we have noticed a generally more
aggressive stance from US Customs (we are US citizens) than Canadian
Customs.
....

As purely visitor, generally true in my experience as well. OTOH,
traveling _to_ Canada in a support role with tool kit for online coal
analyzers at various locations in Saskatchewan, Canadian customs was
extremely touchy and hard-to-please on the work-by-non-Canadian issue.
Learned eventually to just say "no" irregardless of the reality of who
was going to actually touch the machine and assure them it was only
"advisory" role from the manufacturer while onsite personnel would
perform the dirty-hands stuff...which, of course, was a complete
fabrication but it was expedient to avoid the extra hassles required
otherwise. Regardless that we were there twice a year on contract w/
Sask Power, it never got any easier over 10 years...

--

On 9/9/2014 11:12 AM, Leon wrote:
LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son, and I
visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the other in
Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all of us went to
Burlington to see the other aunt.

You drove through Canada to get from Buffalo to Burlington? Was that a
scenic route or something?

My wife and the Buffalo aunt went in
her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with Texas Plates. I
thought I would never convince the border guard, going in to Canada,
that my truck was not loaded down with guns and that I was not there to
shoot the place up. After declaring no guns several times, he told me
to get in the line a quarter mile up where all the vehicles were being
searched and dismantled. I did not. There was no police chase. ;~)

I can't remember offhand how many times I've been through USA/Canada
Customs. I'm guessing 20 trips; by car, train, plane and even boat.
While we've never had any real trouble, we have noticed a generally more
aggressive stance from US Customs (we are US citizens) than Canadian
Customs.

My first time was by train, back in maybe 1976. It was Wintertime. The
train stopped at the border and a Canadian Customs agent boarded our
car. He wore a knee-length businessman's wool coat and spoke excellent
French-accented English. He checked our IDs (Driver's Licenses,
acceptable in that era) asked where we were going (Montreal) and the
purpose of our trip (pleasure). He told us where some of his favorite
restaurants were, hoped we'd have a good trip, and moved on to the next
row.

The return trip was a different story. Two uniformed, armed U.S. Customs
agents boarded our car. One asked us a number of questions, rapid-fire,
comparing our answers with our IDs. The second repeated all the same
questions a couple of minutes after. They opened luggage, checked one
woman's hat to see what kind of fur it was and generally made an
intimidating show of it. They spent an especially long time with one
American man who looked to be of Vietnam-era age. (I'm a little younger).

On one trip a few years ago we had our daughter and her friend in the
car with us. Both girls were about 17 years old. We had all manner of
paperwork, just in case, in case we were questioned about bringing a
minor (not in our family) into Canada. The trip up went smoothly. The US
agent on the way back was quite aggressive though, barking hhis way
through the usual questions. "Isn't today a SCHOOL day??" he asked,
after staring the girls down through the rear window. Yes, it was a
school day. We had taken two A-students out for a long weekend.

We've met some more laid-back US agents too, usually at sleepier
crossings like Jackman Maine and Derby Line Vermont, but they tend to
have a certain edge to them. These days I guess that's unsurprising.


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On 9/9/2014 12:38 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:


Wow - that's really weird. I've crossed that border so many times that I
can't count the trips and I've never seen a line as long as you describe -
even after 911. Not disputing you - just saying I've never seen that as a
regular crosser of the Canadian border.

I crossed about 10 days after 9/11 and it took most of an hour going in,
half hour coming back. The good n ews, they had to open trunks to check
for bombs. I had some liquor and wine that should have been charged
duty, but they just wanted to get cars moving. He just closed the trunk
and waved me on.

We have truckers coming and going every week and some were complaining
about the long lines and long wait times for a few months.

Since then, I've heard no such complaints and my own crossings have been
quick and smooth.

On Tue, 09 Sep 2014 13:11:11 -0400, Greg Guarino
wrote:

On 9/9/2014 11:12 AM, Leon wrote:
LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son, and I
visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the other in
Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all of us went to
Burlington to see the other aunt.

You drove through Canada to get from Buffalo to Burlington? Was that a
scenic route or something?

I assumed he meant Burlington Ontario. ;-)

My wife and the Buffalo aunt went in
her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with Texas Plates. I
thought I would never convince the border guard, going in to Canada,
that my truck was not loaded down with guns and that I was not there to
shoot the place up. After declaring no guns several times, he told me
to get in the line a quarter mile up where all the vehicles were being
searched and dismantled. I did not. There was no police chase. ;~)

I can't remember offhand how many times I've been through USA/Canada
Customs. I'm guessing 20 trips; by car, train, plane and boat. While
we've never had any real trouble, we have noticed a generally more
aggressive stance from US Customs (we are US citizens) than Canadian
Customs.

I've never had issues on the US side. I have run into some really
surly guards on the Quebec side. We had our stuff ripped out of the
trunk once and had to repack suitcases on the roadside.

My first time was by train, back in maybe 1976. It was Wintertime. The
train stopped at the border and a Canadian Customs agent boarded our
car. He spoke excellent French-accented

I've heard of it being in the back seat of a car but I guess a train
works. I guess a little French helped set the mood. ;-)

On 9/9/2014 1:26 PM, dpb wrote:


As purely visitor, generally true in my experience as well. OTOH,
traveling _to_ Canada in a support role with tool kit for online coal
analyzers at various locations in Saskatchewan, Canadian customs was
extremely touchy and hard-to-please on the work-by-non-Canadian issue.
Learned eventually to just say "no" irregardless of the reality


I don't carry tools and I take my wife so they think we are tourists the
few time I've gone for work.

One of our suppliers h ad a plant in the US and similar plant in CA.
The tech people have the same problem. They are always just carrying
samples or going to a meeting. Never to "work".

On 09/09/2014 1:00 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 9/9/2014 1:26 PM, dpb wrote:


As purely visitor, generally true in my experience as well. OTOH,
traveling _to_ Canada in a support role with tool kit for online coal
analyzers at various locations in Saskatchewan, Canadian customs was
extremely touchy and hard-to-please on the work-by-non-Canadian issue.
Learned eventually to just say "no" irregardless of the reality


I don't carry tools and I take my wife so they think we are tourists the
few time I've gone for work.

One of our suppliers h ad a plant in the US and similar plant in CA. The
tech people have the same problem. They are always just carrying samples
or going to a meeting. Never to "work".

_Eventually_ (but it took me about 8 years before got the funding
approved by which time I wasn't in the gig for much longer) I managed to
get a full toolkit and a place to store it at one of the plants that was
on the way to the rest. That meant only did have to have the spare
parts in hand and if knew of any hardware problems ahead of time could
just ship them ahead...often, however, the builtin diagnostics weren't
sufficient to uncover the more subtle issues that tended to arise and so
almost always took a spare data acq board "just in case". (This was in
fairly early days of the PC-for-industrial use and used a pretty
delicate board for the gamma-spec data acq that was prone to channel
dropouts that were erratic and hence hard to detect w/o specific
testing. Generally they weren't hard faults and so didn't upset the
machine excepting for an occasional measurement. Since they cycled on
3-sec interval, one anomalous ash measurement would hardly show up;
excepting that when it started, the symptom would gradually continue to
get worse. The vendor swapped the cards out so it was simpler to just
replace them and get them reworked rather than try to write more robust
code to try to catch the oddball counts when they occurred...

--

Leon wrote:
LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son,
and I
visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the other in
Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all of us
went to
Burlington to see the other aunt.
-------------------------------------------------------
"Greg Guarino" wrote:
You drove through Canada to get from Buffalo to Burlington? Was that
a scenic route or something?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Leon wrote:

My wife and the Buffalo aunt went in
her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with Texas
Plates. I
thought I would never convince the border guard, going in to
Canada,
that my truck was not loaded down with guns and that I was not
there to
shoot the place up. After declaring no guns several times, he told
me
to get in the line a quarter mile up where all the vehicles were
being
searched and dismantled. I did not. There was no police chase.
;~)
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Greg Guarino" wrote:

I can't remember offhand how many times I've been through USA/Canada
Customs. I'm guessing 20 trips; by car, train, plane and even boat.
While we've never had any real trouble, we have noticed a generally
more aggressive stance from US Customs (we are US citizens) than
Canadian Customs.

My first time was by train, back in maybe 1976. It was Wintertime.
The train stopped at the border and a Canadian Customs agent boarded
our car. He wore a knee-length businessman's wool coat and spoke
excellent French-accented English. He checked our IDs (Driver's
Licenses, acceptable in that era) asked where we were going
(Montreal) and the purpose of our trip (pleasure). He told us where
some of his favorite restaurants were, hoped we'd have a good trip,
and moved on to the next row.

The return trip was a different story. Two uniformed, armed U.S.
Customs agents boarded our car. One asked us a number of questions,
rapid-fire, comparing our answers with our IDs. The second repeated
all the same questions a couple of minutes after. They opened
luggage, checked one woman's hat to see what kind of fur it was and
generally made an intimidating show of it. They spent an especially
long time with one American man who looked to be of Vietnam-era age.
(I'm a little younger).

On one trip a few years ago we had our daughter and her friend in
the car with us. Both girls were about 17 years old. We had all
manner of paperwork, just in case, in case we were questioned about
bringing a minor (not in our family) into Canada. The trip up went
smoothly. The US agent on the way back was quite aggressive though,
barking hhis way through the usual questions. "Isn't today a SCHOOL
day??" he asked, after staring the girls down through the rear
window. Yes, it was a school day. We had taken two A-students out
for a long weekend.

We've met some more laid-back US agents too, usually at sleepier
crossings like Jackman Maine and Derby Line Vermont, but they tend
to have a certain edge to them. These days I guess that's
unsurprising.
-------------------------------------------------------------
My how times have changed.

During the '80's, actively sailed the Great Lakes, mostly Lake Erie.

It was not uncommon to sail over to Canada and back to US on a
summer week end.

When you got to Canada, there was a phone booth at the dock
with the toll free number to Canadian customs.

You called in and answered a check list of maybe 10 questions
which included where you were coming in from, how long you
were going to stay, did you have any firearms on board, and
how much booze you had on board.

If it took 10 minutes total, it took 10 hours.

On the return trip, just sailed back to my dock. Never let the US
side know I'd ever left US waters.

There was a Canadian who loved to race, belonged to at least
3 US yacht clubs just so he could race. He sailed across and back
every couple of weeks all summer long.

Don't know how he handled dealing US customs, but it didn't interfere
with his racing.

Those were fun years.

Can't imagine how things are done today, but it can't be much fun.




Lew

On 9/9/2014 11:38 AM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Leon wrote:


LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son, and I
visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the other in
Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all of us went
to Burlington to see the other aunt. My wife and the Buffalo aunt
went in her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with
Texas Plates. I thought I would never convince the border guard,
going in to Canada, that my truck was not loaded down with guns and
that I was not there to shoot the place up. After declaring no guns
several times, he told me to get in the line a quarter mile up where
all the vehicles were being searched and dismantled. I did not. There was
no police chase. ;~)

Wow - that's really weird. I've crossed that border so many times that I
can't count the trips and I've never seen a line as long as you describe -
even after 911. Not disputing you - just saying I've never seen that as a
regular crosser of the Canadian border. We see people with all sorts of
license plates cross over every day. Lot's of you redneck types that insist
on nothing but the best woodworking tools - but somehow you guys get
through. To be honest - I've watched plenty of out of state plates cross
over only to be pulled over myself (with NY plates) for "regular"
questioning. Went pretty quickly though. Never have ever seen 1/4 mile
long lines.

Ummm I said the line was a quarter mile up, not long. 5~6 in line
waiting to be further interrogated. ;~) Car seats sitting on the
ground beside the vehicles.

On 9/9/2014 12:11 PM, Greg Guarino wrote:
On 9/9/2014 11:12 AM, Leon wrote:
LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son, and I
visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the other in
Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all of us went to
Burlington to see the other aunt.

You drove through Canada to get from Buffalo to Burlington? Was that a
scenic route or something?

Burlington, Ontario, Canada is only 60 miles drive from Buffalo. ;~)


My wife and the Buffalo aunt went in
her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with Texas Plates. I
thought I would never convince the border guard, going in to Canada,
that my truck was not loaded down with guns and that I was not there to
shoot the place up. After declaring no guns several times, he told me
to get in the line a quarter mile up where all the vehicles were being
searched and dismantled. I did not. There was no police chase. ;~)

I can't remember offhand how many times I've been through USA/Canada
Customs. I'm guessing 20 trips; by car, train, plane and boat. While
we've never had any real trouble, we have noticed a generally more
aggressive stance from US Customs (we are US citizens) than Canadian
Customs.

My first time was by train, back in maybe 1976. It was Wintertime. The
train stopped at the border and a Canadian Customs agent boarded our
car. He spoke excellent French-accented


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"Lew Hodgett" wrote

-------------------------------------------------------------
My how times have changed.

During the '80's, actively sailed the Great Lakes, mostly Lake Erie.

It was not uncommon to sail over to Canada and back to US on a
summer week end.

Dang, I was active on Lake Erie sailing from mid 70's to the mid to late
80's. I wonder if we ever did the "where there are two sailboats, there
will be a race" thing, together?

I sailed out of Port Clinton, ranged from Toledo to Kelly's Island to the
Put-in-Bay area. Oday 25, reworked with a Yanmar diesel inboard, ourselves.
--
Jim in NC


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On Tue, 09 Sep 2014 13:11:11 -0400, Greg Guarino wrote:

I can't remember offhand how many times I've been through USA/Canada
Customs. I'm guessing 20 trips; by car, train, plane and boat. While
we've never had any real trouble, we have noticed a generally more
aggressive stance from US Customs (we are US citizens) than Canadian
Customs.

Same here. We did get picked for thorough inspection once on a bus
between the Amtrak station in Seattle and the Via Rail station in
Vancouver. Still quite friendly so I asked why us. Was told it was
random - they always do a couple of the tourists to see if the others
start acting nervous.

Now getting into Ireland in a camper van in the '70s was a different
story :-).

On Tue, 09 Sep 2014 13:11:11 -0400, Greg Guarino
wrote:

On 9/9/2014 11:12 AM, Leon wrote:
LOL. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my wife, son, and I
visited her two aunts in 1998. One lived in Buffalo, the other in
Burlington. We visited the Buffalo aunt fist and then all of us went to
Burlington to see the other aunt.

You drove through Canada to get from Buffalo to Burlington? Was that a
scenic route or something?

My wife and the Buffalo aunt went in
her car, my son and I followed in our pick-up truck with Texas Plates. I
thought I would never convince the border guard, going in to Canada,
that my truck was not loaded down with guns and that I was not there to
shoot the place up. After declaring no guns several times, he told me
to get in the line a quarter mile up where all the vehicles were being
searched and dismantled. I did not. There was no police chase. ;~)

I can't remember offhand how many times I've been through USA/Canada
Customs. I'm guessing 20 trips; by car, train, plane and boat. While
we've never had any real trouble, we have noticed a generally more
aggressive stance from US Customs (we are US citizens) than Canadian
Customs.

My first time was by train, back in maybe 1976. It was Wintertime. The
train stopped at the border and a Canadian Customs agent boarded our
car. He spoke excellent French-accented


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Likely Burlington Ontario, not Vermont. Less than what, 50 miles??
from Buff.

I've likely crossed the border 50 or 60 times each way. Generally
pretty good going both ways, but definitely less trouble coming north
than going south.

I've also crossed a lot of other borders and the worst had to be
between Zambia and Zaire. If you wanted it to ta hours, it was
necessary to leave a 20Kw note in your passport.

On Tue, 09 Sep 2014 12:26:31 -0500, dpb wrote:

On 09/09/2014 12:11 PM, Greg Guarino wrote:
...

I can't remember offhand how many times I've been through USA/Canada
Customs. I'm guessing 20 trips; by car, train, plane and boat. While
we've never had any real trouble, we have noticed a generally more
aggressive stance from US Customs (we are US citizens) than Canadian
Customs.
...

As purely visitor, generally true in my experience as well. OTOH,
traveling _to_ Canada in a support role with tool kit for online coal
analyzers at various locations in Saskatchewan, Canadian customs was
extremely touchy and hard-to-please on the work-by-non-Canadian issue.
Learned eventually to just say "no" irregardless of the reality of who
was going to actually touch the machine and assure them it was only
"advisory" role from the manufacturer while onsite personnel would
perform the dirty-hands stuff...which, of course, was a complete
fabrication but it was expedient to avoid the extra hassles required
otherwise. Regardless that we were there twice a year on contract w/
Sask Power, it never got any easier over 10 years...
You ever try to take tools to the US from Canada to do a job???

I carry tools with me every time I drive across the border. When
questioned I just say "would YOU drive THIS to Florida (or
where-ever)ut tools??
We were going to Florida with our friends in their 2000 Camry - and
the US border agent said , with incredulity - "in THIS?"

On 09/09/2014 7:46 PM, wrote:
....

I carry tools with me every time I drive across the border. When
questioned I just say "would YOU drive THIS to Florida (or
where-ever)ut tools??
....

I had toolkit in back of car when driving as well -- but an
obviously professional service toolkit and spare parts isn't _quite_ the
same as a toolkit in the car boot...particularly when one is traveling
by air... I assure you they treat it much differently.

--

"Lew Hodgett" wrote:

My how times have changed.

During the '80's, actively sailed the Great Lakes, mostly Lake
Erie.

It was not uncommon to sail over to Canada and back to US on a
summer week end.
------------------------------------------------------
"Morgans" wrote:

Dang, I was active on Lake Erie sailing from mid 70's to the mid to
late 80's. I wonder if we ever did the "where there are two
sailboats, there will be a race" thing, together?

I sailed out of Port Clinton, ranged from Toledo to Kelly's Island
to the Put-in-Bay area. Oday 25, reworked with a Yanmar diesel
inboard, ourselves.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Bought a Seafarer 30 with a Yanmar YSM 10, one lunger in Fairport and
spent a year there, then spent 3 years in Cleveland.

Moved west to Lorain and finally Sandusky.

Nice part about it was that Rondeau was about 52-54 miles across
Lake Erie from any one of those locations.

The farther west I moved, the shorter the trip to the islands.

Put-In-Bay was it's own reward.

Understand there have been a lot of changes to Rondeau and also
Kelleys.

Lew

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
eb.com...

"Lew Hodgett" wrote:

My how times have changed.

During the '80's, actively sailed the Great Lakes, mostly Lake Erie.

It was not uncommon to sail over to Canada and back to US on a
summer week end.
------------------------------------------------------
"Morgans" wrote:

Dang, I was active on Lake Erie sailing from mid 70's to the mid to late
80's. I wonder if we ever did the "where there are two sailboats, there
will be a race" thing, together?

I sailed out of Port Clinton, ranged from Toledo to Kelly's Island to the
Put-in-Bay area. Oday 25, reworked with a Yanmar diesel inboard,
ourselves.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Bought a Seafarer 30 with a Yanmar YSM 10, one lunger in Fairport and
spent a year there, then spent 3 years in Cleveland.

Moved west to Lorain and finally Sandusky.

Nice part about it was that Rondeau was about 52-54 miles across
Lake Erie from any one of those locations.

The farther west I moved, the shorter the trip to the islands.

Put-In-Bay was it's own reward.

Understand there have been a lot of changes to Rondeau and also
Kelleys.

Haven't been back except to Put-in for many years. It is growing, too. I
guess we never went up against each other, but it is interesting that we
have somewhat common background on the lake. I used to do the Sandusky
Cedar Point sail and park weekend every year. Those were some good, good
times.

The reason to put in a Yanmar was for one, an incident at Cedar Point
marina. Leaving, the wind was blowing right towards the rip rap as you
turned to enter the bay. As soon as I turned, the damn outboard died.
Knowing how this often happened, and at the worst times, I also knew there
was not time to get a restart. I had a bunch of rookies onboard, except my
girlfriend who was a still learning, but somewhat competent sailor. I
ordered the main sail up, and they managed to get it shook out and raised,
just in time (20 feet) from hitting the rocks. Next year, dad toured the
ODay plant and talked with them on how to best retrofit the Yanmar, and
bought a few of the parts. It was a pretty good jig and engineering
problem, drilling an approximate 1 1/4" hole at about a 15 degree angle
through more than 2 feet of hull. It involved a big plywood jig to hold a
hole saw pilot bit that had been extended to be about 3 feet long.

I think the one lung Yanmar we got was a 7HP. It was big enough to drive
the boat to hull speed. I did like the increased reliability. :-)
--
Jim in NC


---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
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On 09/09/2014 9:12 PM, dpb wrote:
On 09/09/2014 7:46 PM, wrote:
...

I carry tools with me every time I drive across the border. When
questioned I just say "would YOU drive THIS to Florida (or
where-ever)ut tools??
...

I had toolkit in back of car when driving as well -- but an
obviously professional service toolkit and spare parts isn't _quite_ the
same as a toolkit in the car boot...particularly when one is traveling
by air... I assure you they treat it much differently.

And to make clear, they're particularly aiming at the non-resident who's
on business that's not supposed by reg's to be doing work that residents
are supposed to be able to be doing...that the customer doesn't have the
expertise or the desire to do the task at hand is immaterial to
Customs...

--

On 2014-09-10, dpb wrote:
On 09/09/2014 9:12 PM, dpb wrote:
On 09/09/2014 7:46 PM, wrote:
...

I carry tools with me every time I drive across the border. When
questioned I just say "would YOU drive THIS to Florida (or
where-ever)ut tools??
...

I had toolkit in back of car when driving as well -- but an
obviously professional service toolkit and spare parts isn't _quite_ the
same as a toolkit in the car boot...particularly when one is traveling
by air... I assure you they treat it much differently.

And to make clear, they're particularly aiming at the non-resident who's
on business that's not supposed by reg's to be doing work that residents
are supposed to be able to be doing...that the customer doesn't have the
expertise or the desire to do the task at hand is immaterial to
Customs...

Exactly.

Back in '84 myself and another engineer went on a trip to Calgary to
troublshoot/fix some problems in the Novatel Cellular phone network.
Before I left for Canada, it was made very clear to me that

1) I was going there for "meetings".
2) I was to carry no tools.
3) Any boards/parts I had with me were "samples".

A month or two earlier a couple field-service techs had made the same
trip. They had taken their toolkits and told customs they were going
to repair some cellular base-station radios. That did not go well.

I've been to Canada on business a many times since then, and it's
always the same drill: meetings, no tools, samples. That's always
been pretty much the truth, but you don't want leave any doubt.

I did make the mistake of taking a piece of test equipment and a
computer (this was in the pre-laptop days, when a portable computer
was more like the size of a standard carryon suitcase). I didn't have
any trouble with Canadian customs, but somebody forgot to file the
right documents with US customs for the gear. Due to time
constraints, I had to leave the gear and have the customer ship it
back to us. To get it back into the US, we had to pay import duties
that amounted to more than the stuff was worth. Unfortunately, there
was proprietary information on the computer -- otherwise we would have
let US customs keep it.

--
Grant Edwards grant.b.edwards Yow! HUMAN REPLICAS are
at inserted into VATS of
gmail.com NUTRITIONAL YEAST ...

On 09/10/2014 12:28 PM, Grant Edwards wrote:
....

I did make the mistake of taking a piece of test equipment and a
computer (this was in the pre-laptop days, when a portable computer
was more like the size of a standard carryon suitcase). I didn't have
any trouble with Canadian customs, but somebody forgot to file the
right documents with US customs for the gear. Due to time
constraints, I had to leave the gear and have the customer ship it
back to us. To get it back into the US, we had to pay import duties
that amounted to more than the stuff was worth. Unfortunately, there
was proprietary information on the computer -- otherwise we would have
let US customs keep it.

Oh, I've a zillion of those kinds...was pretty new w/ a new firm thru
which was running consulting contracts (after the coal analyzer gig)
doing coal flow measurement testing with utilities to develop a flow
monitor that could be used in individual coal lines to the boiler. One
cooperating utility was in England. So, when got ready to do the
testing on their unit this new company had a shipping department and
shipped products all over the world so I figured they'd know what to
do/needed be done. Turns out that was bum assumption; they shipped it
but without any customs paperwork. Took me most of two days at the
import impound station at the Stansted airport to get it out from behind
the cage at DHL...

As a very young lad out of school only a few years, met a fellow at an
ANS conference in Toronto from Chalk River Laboratories after presenting
a paper on employer's incore neutron detectors with which we were having
some issues. This fellow's area of research happened to deal with
similar detectors so he offered some free testing in their facilities to
see if could uncover some root causes. Anyway, not knowing any better,
I just rolled it up and put it in a bubble-envelope and put it in first
class outgoing mail. My they got upset in receiving when opened it at
Chalk River!!! I got quite a bit of feedback on that one...and he
never did learn anything useful to help us in our problems, besides.

--

When working for an Test Equipment maker, one of our local Techs went
into Canada with a tool box and boards. No problem getting in and
working. The problem was getting back into the US taking the US tools
and boards back to the US. Customs 'Stole' the boards and tools.
Held him at the border for 18 hours and then released him. He lived in
up state NY anyway - just a pain. If it were me, two or three missed
planes on the way home...

He was servicing IBM Canada and was snagged. From then on the
method was to ship in whatever and take nothing. Bring nothing
and ship everything.


Martin

On 9/10/2014 12:28 PM, Grant Edwards wrote:
On 2014-09-10, dpb wrote:
On 09/09/2014 9:12 PM, dpb wrote:
On 09/09/2014 7:46 PM, wrote:
...

I carry tools with me every time I drive across the border. When
questioned I just say "would YOU drive THIS to Florida (or
where-ever)ut tools??
...

I had toolkit in back of car when driving as well -- but an
obviously professional service toolkit and spare parts isn't _quite_ the
same as a toolkit in the car boot...particularly when one is traveling
by air... I assure you they treat it much differently.

And to make clear, they're particularly aiming at the non-resident who's
on business that's not supposed by reg's to be doing work that residents
are supposed to be able to be doing...that the customer doesn't have the
expertise or the desire to do the task at hand is immaterial to
Customs...

Exactly.

Back in '84 myself and another engineer went on a trip to Calgary to
troublshoot/fix some problems in the Novatel Cellular phone network.
Before I left for Canada, it was made very clear to me that

1) I was going there for "meetings".
2) I was to carry no tools.
3) Any boards/parts I had with me were "samples".

A month or two earlier a couple field-service techs had made the same
trip. They had taken their toolkits and told customs they were going
to repair some cellular base-station radios. That did not go well.

I've been to Canada on business a many times since then, and it's
always the same drill: meetings, no tools, samples. That's always
been pretty much the truth, but you don't want leave any doubt.

I did make the mistake of taking a piece of test equipment and a
computer (this was in the pre-laptop days, when a portable computer
was more like the size of a standard carryon suitcase). I didn't have
any trouble with Canadian customs, but somebody forgot to file the
right documents with US customs for the gear. Due to time
constraints, I had to leave the gear and have the customer ship it
back to us. To get it back into the US, we had to pay import duties
that amounted to more than the stuff was worth. Unfortunately, there
was proprietary information on the computer -- otherwise we would have
let US customs keep it.

"Morgans" wrote:
Dang, I was active on Lake Erie sailing from mid 70's to the mid
to late 80's. I wonder if we ever did the "where there are two
sailboats, there will be a race" thing, together?
------------------------------------------------------
"Lew Hodgett" wrote:



Never going to happen.

The only thing I ever raced for was down below for another cold one.
-----------------------------------------------------
I sailed out of Port Clinton, ranged from Toledo to Kelly's Island
to the Put-in-Bay area. Oday 25, reworked with a Yanmar diesel
inboard, ourselves.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Toledo was about the only port on Lake Erie that I didn't reach.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I think the one lung Yanmar we got was a 7HP. It was big enough to
drive the boat to hull speed. I did like the increased reliability.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Sounds like a YSM-8, the baby brother of the YSM-12 (10 HP) I had.

Yes, those were some fun years.

Lew