I live in
Europe.... so I cannot say something about US coasts. Maybe you like to know little bit about how it goes here as you will see, that there is no common standard. And generally we can say: the conditions are difficult, everywhere.
In "good old Europe" we have very extreme conditions for people living on board. E.g.
Amsterdam can be seen as the "European capital" of living on a boat... it is part there of "normal life". Very beautifully...
But: You only can lay with a boat in the channels of
Amsterdam or elsewhere in NL if you own the
water property. The prizes are huge, easily you have to buy 150,000 Euros to get such a place... only then you can lay legally with a boat there.
Because
Netherlands is under sea level by climate change and global warming the whole country is threatened. Many land based owners fear to be drowned in next 50-100 years. So living on a boat becomes more and more attractive. The prizes go up steadily over last years.
You can get used boats for 100,000 in perfect condition for living on, very typically so called Barges or Tjalks in the size of 20-30 meters length. Here some sales offers and pictures...
Barges for sale, used barges, luxemotors, tjalks, free photo ads - Apollo Duck
The boat in
Netherlands can be seen as the smaller part of investment. The bigger
money is the property. - The idea behind is clear: Dutch
government want avoid, that there are many "illegal boaters" hanging around in the capital and
water channels of Netherlands. Without the property police has the option to stop this living immediatelly.
In U.K. the situation is very, very differently... we can say contradictory to the situation in Netherlands. The boaters may stay only up to two weeks in one place... then they have to move on.
Why this philosophy ? - Because
government fears that if a boat lays long time in one place, the surrounding becomes very messie kind. So the boaters in U.k. are always on the move... which can become very stressfully as the infrastructure of the
English channels (e.g. Toilets, fresh water, mobile
phone net etc. ...) isnt stable. So this way of living isnt very attractive to many and the community of British living on a boat folks have to fight steadily for their rights
In
Germany "living on a boat" is not allowed regularly. One needs a land based
registration. It is a very stupid thinking in my understanding but so it is... German mentality never had been that of a real seafarer nation, e.g. we know it from Dutch people. There is a very low understanding and tolerance for this kind of living style. Its still labeled with the image of "hippies" of the 70ths.
Only some very few German federal states and communities have decided on their own to create a
legal frame where it is allowed to live on the boat. E.g. in Hanseatic City Hamburg... but its not the "living on a boat" philosophy behind.
It is the image of "Floating homes", e.g. as we know from
Florida... swimming houses on pontoons. And it is seen as a "luxury life style". The floating homes are huge expensive, double the prize as we know builders from Netherlands.
I only know one community in North of
Germany on the coast of North Sea where the local city government designed a new law couple of years ago which allows to live regularly on a boat. The length and type can be very different, from "light fire boat", former police patrol coast guard boat to old
fisher trawlers or
motor boats... all is possible. The
single condition: the owner must have an
insurance which covers every kind of damage which can happen in the harbour. E.g. a fire is burning down the boat, or the boat is sinking in the harbour and it needs a very costly salvaging, e.g. because of water pollution etc. ...
Only some few insurances in
Europe offer services for
liveaboard vessels. Rarely to get. If so one just need to answer some few questions, e.g. age of boat, size of boat (inclusive sail area) and sea area. E.g. an
insurance has a different prize if a boat is in Mediterranian sea alone over whole year or is cruising around the globe crossing oceans. Different risks... roughly for a middle size
liveaboard vessel the yearly amount is something between 900-1200 Euros insurance covering a damage size of 5 or 10 million.
In my understanding one should look for a place to stay for "living on board" where he is welcome as boat owner. I think, it is important to think about alternatives. Eg. as I like to emigrate to
Canada (East Coast, Nova Scotia) I have learnt that its no problem at all. Everywhere I can lay with a boat on a
mooring. Thats fantastic. I have a thread about the
legal aspects of NS here:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...da-154264.html
Life is too short to fight against antipathies.... we need to look around to have well wishers and people with an understanding for our needs and ideas of life style, isnt ?