Liveaboard Fees

[sailorwoman]

British Columbia liveaboards: Are you living at a dock that requires you to pay a monthly liveaboard fee? If so, how much do you pay? What services, if any, do you receive for your liveaboard fee that are not provided to non-liveaboards at your dock?

My husband and I belong to the BC Nautical Residents Association, BC Nautical Residents Liveaboard Association, an organization that advocates for liveaboards. One of the BCNR's investigations concerns liveaboard fees. Thanks in advance for your response!

[Chasing Summer]

Saw you post ... plan to sail up there one of these years. I have a Spencer 42, hull 17. Doing a complete interior reuild. http://chasingsummer-s42.blogspot.com

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, sailorwoman.

[bajabound]

I wasn't aware this association existed, how wonderful! Thanks for the link

[ahnutts!]

Originally Posted by sailorwoman

British Columbia liveaboards: Are you living at a dock that requires you to pay a monthly liveaboard fee? If so, how much do you pay? What services, if any, do you receive for your liveaboard fee that are not provided to non-liveaboards at your dock?

My husband and I belong to the BC Nautical Residents Association, BC Nautical Residents Liveaboard Association, an organization that advocates for liveaboards. One of the BCNR's investigations concerns liveaboard fees. Thanks in advance for your response!

We pay a little extra for power ($40 or $50). They assume Livaboards use more. They're probably right. I sympathize with marina owners that don't want liveaboards. They can be a pain in the ass and many are. Best way to get marinas to treat us better is to not be a pain in the ass.

[nwdiver]

The City of Vancouver charges a yearly liveaboard licence fee and it should as liveaboards use city infrastructure should as roads, waste disposal, and parks, the fee is to recapture some of the costs as you don’t pay property taxes and marinas are not taxed by the city because they are on Prov/Fed property. Many years ago we fought for liveaboard spaces in the city and the city thinking we would bail said OK but we want 1k yearly per boat, we paid thus started more legal liveaboards in Vancouver. The battle will soon begin again as the City densifies and turns green, the carbon footprint of a 40 boat at a dock is very small, marinas are very high density and the housing is very affordable compared to 350-400k condos in the city. Spruce Harbour Coop has been very successful and with a very long waitlist their is obvious appetite for more liveaboard space in Vancouver.

[wolfenzee]

I live in Washington State, just across the border from BC. Our live aboard fees are $65/mo + metered power (no parking fee), using electric heat in winter, frig, lighting and power tools (am rebuilding my interior while on board) on a cold month it comes to about $60 tops. Someone commented on the fact we have to pay a live aboard fee...and I pointed out that if I lived in a house, the garbage, sewer and water bill would actually be higher.

[minaret]

Here at Shilshole we pay something like $50 a month for the liveaboard fee, but slips are metered for power so we pay for that as well. However, last time I lived in Elliot Bay Marina, just around the point, it was $150 per person to liveaboard. Needless to say we were only there of necessity for a few months. All told slip fees with liveaboard fees, excise tax, pumpout, etc. etc. is just over 1k per month for us. We have a similar liveaboard society which has been battling the port for years on all sorts of issues. Victories are few and far between, the Seattle Port Comission is notoriously corrupt...

[bobofthenorth]

In theory there was some additional fee while we were at Van Isle but it was pretty openly ignored. I expect in happier times they would enforce that more strictly but last year they seemed happy to have the berth agreement. Similar at Cow Bay - officially there are no liveaboards - but there's quite a few stayaboards. Since it officially doesn't happen there's no additional fee.