Inflatable Catamaran Shipped to the USA: Landed Cost, Duty and Timelines (2026)

If you are in the United States and you have found your way to an Australian boat builder, you have probably already asked the only question that matters: can I actually get one, and what does it cost me at my door?

Yes, you can. We ship inflatable catamarans and monohulls to US addresses every week. Here is exactly how it works, with nothing hidden until checkout.

The short version

• The price we quote a US buyer is a landed price: boat, freight, import duty, customs fees and delivery to your address.
• We prepay the duty. Nothing is collected from you on arrival — no broker calling for a payment before your boat is released.
• Air freight runs 7–14 days once your boat leaves the factory. Build time is separate.
• Australian GST is removed on export. You are not paying our domestic sales tax.

Why the landed price is the only number worth comparing

The trap with importing anything sizeable is that the advertised price and the amount you eventually part with are two different numbers. A boat quoted at one figure arrives, and then a customs broker you have never spoken to invoices you for duty, a merchandise processing fee, a brokerage charge and a handling fee. People budget for the first number and get ambushed by the second.

We quote the second number. Every international quote we issue breaks out:

1. The boat, with Australian GST removed
2. Air freight to your country
3. Import duty and customs charges, prepaid by us
4. Any credit we are applying to your region

That is the figure you pay, and it is fixed in writing for 30 days.

What US buyers pay in import charges

Inflatable boats enter the United States under heading 8903 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. For a boat of Chinese or Hong Kong origin — which includes ours, as our hulls are built in our own Hong Kong-managed facility — the charges stack up as a standard duty rate, an additional Section 301 trade measure, and a merchandise processing fee, plus customs brokerage.

We have written that up in detail in a separate guide, because the arithmetic surprises people. The important part for you: we absorb the administration and prepay the lot. You are quoted one number, delivered on DDP terms — Delivered Duty Paid.

Because those trade measures fall on the buyer rather than the builder, we also apply a Tariff Relief Credit to US package orders. We wear a share of the import cost rather than let a trade dispute decide whether you can afford a boat. That credit appears as a line on your quote.

How long it takes

Two clocks, and it is worth keeping them separate in your head:

• Build. Your boat is made to order — hull colour, floor type and fit-out are yours to choose. Allow 14–21 days.
• Freight. Air freight to a US address is 7–14 days door to door.

So from order to on-the-water is realistically four to six weeks. Sea freight is available and is free, but it is 30–40 days on the water on top of the build, which for most buyers is a summer missed.

What actually arrives

The boat ships as a packed bag, which is the whole point of an inflatable catamaran — it comes in the back of a normal vehicle and lives in a garage rather than a marina berth. Depending on the package you order, the delivery includes the hull, floor, seating, the hand pump, repair kit and carry bags.

What we do not ship internationally is an outboard motor. Engines carry their own emissions certification and shipping restrictions in every market, and the honest answer is that you will buy a better-supported motor locally, from a dealer who can service it. Our boats are built to take a standard short-shaft outboard, and every product page states the maximum horsepower rating.

The hull, and why it matters more than the badge

The single number that separates a boat you keep for a decade from one that disappoints you in year three is the fabric. Our premium hulls use 1500 GSM, 1.2 mm VALMEX Heavy Plus — a German-made reinforced fabric with a rated service life of 10–12 years. A great deal of what is sold as a serious inflatable boat is built on 1100 GSM, 0.9 mm material. That is a third less thickness at every seam, every rub strake and every point where the hull meets a trailer, a rock or an oyster-covered piling.

Our catamaran hulls are CE certified to ISO 6185-3 and EU Directive 2013/53/EU, and carry a 7-year hull warranty.

One thing to plan for: US registration and titling is handled state by state, and it is your step, not ours. We provide the documentation you need for it. Check your own state boating agency for what a vessel of your length requires.

Paying from overseas

International orders are paid by card or bank transfer through the same secure checkout Australian buyers use, in your own currency. For a considered purchase at this level, most overseas buyers start with a written quote rather than a card payment, and we would encourage that — it gives you a fixed price, an itemised landed cost and a human on the other end of an email.

Getting your number

The quickest way to find out what a specific boat costs delivered to your address is to ask for a written quote. It comes back with the landed figure, the itemised duty and freight, and the credit applied to your region, and it holds for 30 days.

Explore the Aerowave range

• Inflatable boat accessories
• Inflatable catamarans
• Aerowave Sport Series Offshore