BajaNomad

Mexican Secondary & Trailer Boat

BajaBruno - 5-30-2012 at 08:53 PM

I had an interesting experience at the Tijuana crossing today. I crossed about 8AM, and despite getting a green light they flagged me into secondary. The very nice customs fellow only wanted to see my boat registration--not the truck or trailer, just the boat. He didn't look at anything in either the truck or boat.

He took the registration and went back to the transom for a while, presumably to compare it to the hull ID number. Then he came back, handed back the registration, bid me a good day and sent me off.

Has anyone else had them do this?

On an unrelated note, H/W 1 to Guerrero Negro is in the usual form--great in some stretches and lousy in others. No military delays southbound. Traffic after San Quentin was moderate northbound and very light southbound.

The El Rosario Pemex is installing new banos! They look pretty nice, too. No doors yet, but the plumbing works. The crew was typically very professional.

BajaBlanca - 5-30-2012 at 08:59 PM

Did you have stuff in the truck ? Incredible that they did not search it if you did ...

Santiago - 5-30-2012 at 09:02 PM

Yes. On questioning, they said they were 'having problems' with stolen boats coming into Baja. They tried to verify the engine also but I'm clueless on how they would do that? Three years ago I left my boat in Baja and never tow it anymore - a lot easier in some respects.

bajachris - 5-30-2012 at 09:10 PM

We have had them check registration on trailers, quad runners, camper,etc. better carry everything with you. We forgot the trailer registration and had to go home to get it. Would have been a bummer if we had to back to Canada instead of north county San Diego just to get our registration. However it still, wasted a good part of the trip down.

shari - 5-30-2012 at 09:16 PM

you forgot to mention that the Vizcaino Pemex now has industrial rolls of toilet paper...twice in a row this month!!!! things are definately looking up in baja sur...AND they give the highest exchange rate I've seen (I thought I told Udo to fill up there and use his US $)

bajachris - 5-30-2012 at 09:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBruno
The El Rosario Pemex is installing new banos! They look pretty nice, too. No doors yet, but the plumbing works. The crew was typically very professional.


They were working on that bathroom when we went through in February. Jeez they take forever.

BajaBruno - 5-30-2012 at 09:29 PM

Blanca, yes, the camper shell area was filled with fishing/boat stuff. I was surprised, too.

Santiago/Chris. I see, well, that may explain a lot. I'm lucky that just the night before I went through all the registrations and made sure I had current copies of everything. Not wasted time, I see.

Shari, I got, I think, 14 pesos to the dollar at the Santander ATM in Ensenada. It made my 400 peso stay at the Cowboy Hotel pretty damn reasonable!

I wasn't planing to go down your way, but considering the road construction at Santa Rosalia and that I am towing a 20' boat, I may think about it. I'm not sure I have the clothes for it, though. It's cold in Guerrero Negro!

vacaenbaja - 5-31-2012 at 01:02 PM

If you forget your trailer registration and don't live farther away than the nearest auto club, you can always get a dupicate fairly quick there instead of going all the way home,
if during normal business hours.

J.P. - 5-31-2012 at 07:35 PM

If you are coming into Mexico and towing anything they will pull you in to check the papers that's usually all thy want to see.

Udo - 6-1-2012 at 06:23 PM

I DID top off in Vizcaino, Shari, thanks for the tip. But after driving to your place, and driving to La Bocana (pedal-to-the-metal), we needed to fill up again in La Bocana. We were 6th in line for gas. And just after that we picked up the oysters (@35 pesos a dozen!).
Quote:
Originally posted by shari
you forgot to mention that the Vizcaino Pemex now has industrial rolls of toilet paper...twice in a row this month!!!! things are definately looking up in baja sur...AND they give the highest exchange rate I've seen (I thought I told Udo to fill up there and use his US $)

woody with a view - 6-1-2012 at 06:43 PM

they looked us over pretty well last month. the girl couldn't find the VIN number on the boat so i pointed out the matching stickers on the front of the boat which corresponded to the same numbers on the regy and she was happy. motor was in the back of the truck along with our stuffs and they never blinked....

thebajarunner - 6-1-2012 at 07:40 PM

Secondario is getting to be a real pit....

We got trapped there in March- stopped to get our visas stamped and trapped!

Not like the 'good old days"
(were they really good as we remember?)

woody with a view - 6-1-2012 at 07:47 PM

of course they were.

next time when you are ready to split from getting your visas just drive up to the red/green light and hold your visas out the window. they will ask if you have been searched and you say no. you are now at the front of the line and holding up traffic so the next inspector will give you the rubber glove treatment and away you go!
:biggrin:

[Edited on 6-2-2012 by woody with a view]

thebajarunner - 6-1-2012 at 07:54 PM

You give me a great idea, we usually have several vehicles together and we wait til everyone has papers cleared,
Next time each vehicle gets papers and sprints for the light

"We meet at the first toll booth bano"

No more waiting around for the others

boats and borders

captkw - 6-1-2012 at 08:01 PM

been over the baja border with a boat too many times to count and the boat got checked every time without faiL !! and glad they check !! once towing to costa rica in honduras got stopped by a cop on the side of the road with his biclycle in nowwhere..and he tryed to get the mordida and somehow knew that calif pink slip's for boat's DO NOT have the calif. bear water mark on/in them !! still to this day, dont know how he knew that !! anyway,, when I get mad my spanish come's out REAL good and had a stand off when he relized that I was about bury him on the spot,,he backed down and I drove off..amazed over the whole thing out in the middle of nowhere and no nother traffic....K & T

woody with a view - 6-1-2012 at 08:05 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by thebajarunner
You give me a great idea, we usually have several vehicles together and we wait til everyone has papers cleared,
Next time each vehicle gets papers and sprints for the light

"We meet at the first toll booth bano"

No more waiting around for the others


just keep it to yourselves.:lol: pretty soon they'll be handing out numbered ticket stubs when you pull in.:light:

dtbushpilot - 6-1-2012 at 08:55 PM

I'll be towing my 26' Blackman Billfisher across at SY with an inflatable and 6hp outboard in the back of the pick up along with a ton of fishing and boat related stuff. This will be my first time towing more than a single axle trailer, what's my best move? I have an FM2 so no need to go to IMM. Do I pull into the "items to declare" lane knowing I will be going there anyway? The inflatable "rib" will be new and not registered, I will have an MSO and receipt, the boat is USCG documented in my name. The boat is very large for a 26 footer. Cross early in the AM or later? Any advise would be appreciated.....dt

dtbushpilot

captkw - 6-1-2012 at 09:13 PM

hola,on the kind of load it might a good thing to get a lead car with a wide load sign (spanish) and yellow flasing light...nice boat... BTW and question ? what's the dt stand for? and some good radio's (vhf) as I like to tell folk's " driving the baja hwy is like flying on a 727..hours of boredom with moments of shear terror " and I suggest ckecking the trailer a coulbe times a day for loose nuts,wheelbearing running warm and tiedowns and dont tow with a cover on and get the boat as light as possible !!!! IT'S not a pickup bed !! and if its outboard or a I/O I put a thick wall pcv pipe hanging back of the transom 4 or 5 feet on the top of both gunnels and paint the ends brite red !! that will hopefully kept the idiots back away a bit. I think that boat is conventinel drive,,no need and I have also used pvc pibe on the sides out at a slight angle to get the bus's a little more on their side of the road..any question u2u me..K & T :cool:

[Edited on 6-2-2012 by captkw]

[Edited on 6-2-2012 by captkw]

woody with a view - 6-1-2012 at 09:18 PM

DT, i wouldn't try to fit into the declare lane. if you have all your ducks lined up i'd just try to go thru the far left lane (just to be a berga!) and see what happens. they're gonna pull you over but i've seen them wave trucks over past the area de revision.

pulling out of declaration south bound is TIGHT! i'd try to avoid it at all cost!

Bob and Susan - 6-2-2012 at 05:25 AM

yea dt...just drive thru..

that boat is an easy drive down the road

you wont need a guide car

no sweat...roads are good except the santa rosalia grade

go slow down that thing...trailer brakes smoke when it good

EdZeranski - 6-2-2012 at 07:49 PM

Quote:


The El Rosario Pemex is installing new banos! They look pretty nice, too. No doors yet, but the plumbing works. The crew was typically very professional.


I talked with station people supervising the re-Bano project. They said the inspector has to come from Ensenada to OK each phase of the remodel but they, the inspectors, are infrequent in their visits and never arrive when scheduled....

The work does look good and the folks were very happy with my compliments.

EdZ KG6UTS
Loreto for a few more days.

Alan - 6-3-2012 at 07:48 AM

DT - I have towed my 23' Striper down numerous times to La Paz and most places in between. I can't really advise on which lane to cross in because I have always had something to declare or at least get my FMM so I always make the stop in secondary and have never had a problem and minimal delay. Yes they always check the boat paperwork. (The VIN # on US made boats is molded in the fiberglass on the right rear corner).

Stay along the malecon in Ensenada! Missed my turn northbound one year and ended up going right through town. With all of the low hanging wires I thought for sure I was going to wipe out their entire powergrid :lol: Thankfully I just cleared them but I was puckered the whole time!

Lots of improvements to the hwy over the years and more and more areas are getting shoulders but not all areas yet. As previously stated, downshift on the Santa Rosalia grade so you will still have brakes if you need them.

I run an outboard so I always zip-tie a red flag to it as I was stopped once and given a warning.

Make sure you have your boat and trailer insured by a mexican policy while towing and have a seperate on the water policy. On my last flight down I talked with a guy who had his boat stolen from anchor and was out of luck because he only had a towing policy. I used Discover Baja for my insurance and last January I actually had to use it when a semi forced my trailer off the road. The claim was settled in just over a month to the limits of the policy and Discover Baja stood by me through the whole process. Everytime I couldn't get a response to an email all I had to do was cc: Discover Baja and suddenly I had a response in less than 24 hrs. They are an awesome travel club and I highly recommend them. I have now replaced the Striper with a Parker 2310 that I will be towing to La Paz in October.

alan

captkw - 6-3-2012 at 08:09 PM

be glad your striper was a outboard as most are inboards and have issues in fuel punps and rust..parker is a good make..question ??? where were you stopped for not having a red flag for a outboard ?? as a marine tech and boat yard owner,,that takes the cake of a lot of boat towing storys that I have ever heard !! myself have towed to alaska to panama.. and so many times in baja that I cant count at all if asked at the perly gate.. K & T ..:cool:

[Edited on 6-4-2012 by captkw]

Alan - 6-4-2012 at 08:20 AM

captkw- It was so many years ago I can't remember where they cautioned me about the red flag for the outboard but it made sense to me because raised to the towing position it does stick out behind the boat a ways so I have just obliged them ever since.

Yes that was definitely my most hair-raising tow experience. Came around a corner just above Catavina to find a semi straddling the centerline. We both managed to steer around one another to prevent a head-on but that dropped my trailer tires off the pavement with about an 18" drop that broke both axle mounts on the right side. Somewhere during the ensuing fishtailing my boat ended up on it's top out in the desert. I managed to keep my truck on the pavement with the shiney side up. It was pretty devastating at the time to see my boat smashed out there but in the long run I guess I am better off. A Parker is a much better built boat than the Striper and it has the identical engine of my Striper - Yamaha 225. Another up-side is that my engine had over 1200 hrs whereas this one only has 120. I am getting a new 48 gal bait tank installed right now and hoping to pick it up later this week so I can get in on the WSB bite that has been going off.

WHAT WSB BITE?

captkw - 6-4-2012 at 09:50 AM

where are the ghost's biting ?? and yes a parker blows away a striper !! hands down !!have not heard of any wsb,but my head has been down in the bilge working like mad this time of year..but will stop and chase ghost in a second !! best fish in the world in my humble mind...LOL K & T :cool: ps where were at when you were told to hang a red flag on your outboard....thats f---ing nut's !!

woody with a view - 6-4-2012 at 10:38 AM

i had a TJ cop stop me for my longboard hanging 2' out the back of my truck once. a little hagling and he finally turned over my driver license. he must have saw the 2 phone numbers i have taped to the back for Sindicatura del Gobierno Municipal (TJ and Ens). he handed me my papers and literally burnt rubber leaving.:rolleyes:

edm1 - 6-5-2012 at 06:06 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by woody with a view
i had a TJ cop stop me for my longboard hanging 2' out the back of my truck once. a little hagling and he finally turned over my driver license. he must have saw the 2 phone numbers i have taped to the back for Sindicatura del Gobierno Municipal (TJ and Ens). he handed me my papers and literally burnt rubber leaving.:rolleyes:


Could you share us those phone numbers?