Costs to Live Aboard

[a64pilot]

Silly question, but my insurance didn't ask if I lived aboard, am I supposed to tell them if I decide to? Why does it matter?


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[FamilyVan]

I use Northbridge general insurance. Which is based in Winnipeg, so my guess is they might be strictly a Canadian company.
And yes, I would inform your insurer that you are a live aboard, especially if you have a valuable boat.

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[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by Wrong

First, a hard reality check. Depending on demand for slips, especially liveaboard slips, you'll be spending time on two waiting lists. First for a slip for the boat. Depending on location, more or less years. Only then can you apply for liveaboard status. Typically liveboard populations are restricted to a percentage of the total number of slips available. Again, depending upon location, you'll be waiting - assuming you're approved - for more or less years...

Living aboard on the hook may be done more quickly, but requires a different skill set. Good luck.

This is not true everywhere. We lived aboard in San Diego for 5 years, 3 different boats, 3 different marinas, never spent day one on a waiting list. I understand it's a little harder now, but still plenty of people doing it and plenty of marina owners willing to "not see them" if they keep a clean boat and a low profile.

Here in the Baltimore area there are plenty of places you could be living aboard tomorrow if you don't mind freezing your rear end off in the winter. Some are legal and will charge you extra, some just have selective vision.

[Lepke]

I am retired, 50 miles from a big city and currently at a private dock. I grew up on the water, served in the navy, worked tugs and owned a commercial fishing boat. Proper boat maintenance can be more than house upkeep, but you don't mow the lawn every week in the summer. No bushes to trim nor gutters to clean. There are docking deals if you look for them. Private docks or boat yards that want to have someone around can be found. I pay $350/month for an 83' boat at a private dock. Power cost me just what the dock owner is charged... no surcharge, so .068/kwh on the Columbia River. If not here, I would be at a commercial fishing port for about $550 a month. In a Seattle or Portland marina it would be $1000+. Better marinas have internet and tv hookups. I have my own receivers and use Dish tv and Excede satellite internet. Both more expensive than cable. The small, close by grocery stores are about 20-50% more expensive than a competitive national chain. I drive 15 miles for groceries. I have a PO box at a commercial mail/copy center. They receive any package short of palletized and will box and remail my mail when I'm traveling. Unless it's changed, USPS only takes their own packages, not UPS, etc.
You'll need a survey. Hagerty Insurance - Vintage, Collector and Antique Insurance - is the marine insurance I use. But areas with lots of boats usually have marine insurance brokers. Hagerty underwrites many of the brokers bigger boats. The more competitive brokers are usually around ports where there is a large commercial presence. If you don't have a masters license, around here you have to have a boaters card, I think all states are in on it. Another way to tax those evil rich people. You probably should have the card when you apply for insurance, although an any tonnage, any ocean masters license doesn't seem to get any real discount on insurance. This is a wood boat built 73 years ago with no mortgage. In port I only carry liability, about $700/yr. Loss for ocean beyond 25 miles and Alaska/Canada runs about 10% of value. So in 10 years I will have bought another boat.
Laundry is another expense if you can't do it on board.
Your state should should have a web site that can estimate registration fees.
I use incinolets for heads. They have a paper liner that drops into a burn pot when flushed. Electric coils around the pot below where you sit, burn or evaporate what you put in it. You can't clog them with paper and anything that will burn will be turned to light ash, no smell. They're not cheap, but the only plumbing is a plastic pipe vent. No weekly trip to a pump out. No sewage pipes and gaskets to deal with if you have problems. It uses about 1 kwh per flush or about 7¢ here. When I'm aboard alone, I dump the ash pan about every 10 days.
Heat in cold weather is my biggest expense. Insulation goes a long way.

[Sharpie Sailor]

I have never paid property tax for my boat or car in Florida, including Charlotte County. If you are looking at Regatta Point in Palmetto, it is a good place. Downtown Sarasota and Saint Pete both have affordable mooring fields.

[hellosailor]

"Silly question, but "
It only matters if the insurer has been doing their homework, and comparing actuarial data for both groups. OTOH if there's a little section of your policy that covers exclusions, and that excludes commercial or residential use of the boat...you could have a policy that allows them to pay nothing.
So, read the fine print. You should be under no obligation to volunteer information about your lifestyle and residence, if they haven't asked for it. Of course, if you gave the broker a "residential" address and you don't live there...that might be another thing entirely.

[a64pilot]

Yeah,
I don't live on the boat currently, but plan to and wondered what that would do to my insurance, I would have stupidly thought a live aboard vessel would be less likely to sink at the dock, and just from a quick look, that seems to happen to more boats than you would think.
I wonder what specific losses would be more likely for someone who lives aboard, cooking fires I feel sure is one of course, but what others?

We have a couple of live aboards on our dock, and I'm very thankful for them as they watch out for my boat a lot better than the Marina personnel that are supposed to.