What to use as a hailing port

[Iduna]

Originally Posted by RKO

I will use Hell For Certain, KY.

Or just use Hell, Michigan.

[Rhapsody-NS27]

I agree to avoid California.

I bought my boat in Tennessee and the PO had it stored in Arizona. When I bought it, California sent me a few pieces of mail trying to tell me I had to pay taxes. I had to send them some documents showing that I purchased and had the boat stored outside of CA. Never heard anything since.

[EllesBelles]

Originally Posted by fishsail18

We have two years left of our 5 year plan. We are selling everything (house, cars, toys)pretty much everything that won't fit on the boat, and moving on the boat and taking off. We will be sailing to Chesapeake for the summer and Bahamas for the winter. We don't have any family here and no real desire to return. What do I use as a hailing port? and what address do I use for a drivers license, Insurance, passport etc..?
I appreciate any input.
tnx

The only thing I'd add is that some US states will take your choice of a locale in their state for a hailing port as reason to try to tax you. At least this is true for California.

I chose a town in California where I used to live and raised my children as a hailing port for sentimental reasons. It's a small town - a village really, and not even on the water. And I haven't lived there for over three years.

Sure enough, I got not one, but several letters from the California Board of Equalization. They tried to tax the boat just because I had used the California name for the hailing port and the USCG communicated that to them.

After I documented that the boat wasn't in California when we bought it or for the several years since, they finally let it go. But beware of this issue before you choose your hailing port!

[Dr. Sea]

Have you ever noticed how many boats hail from Wilmington, DE? Delaware does not tax boats. You gotta love it.

[jmcdboater]

I'll offer my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

My wife and I have been living aboard for 2 1/2 years, now, and we have had our struggles with this issue.

We are in Northern California, San Francisco Bay & Delta.

I was still employed by the State of California when we first moved aboard, so we tried having a Postal Box at a UPS Store close to my job.

+*%{]#~>€+^#><{\~¿#^!'ihb. It was Never close enough, never convenient to go get the mail.

Then we moved marinas, and the marina office assured us they would receive our mail for us. We had been cautioned about the difficulty of changing away from the marina, because as a business address, the US Postal Service will not assist you in any mail forwarding when you need to change.

Couple this with the idea that the receipt of your mail depends on marina employees, and here in Northern CA, there'll not always the best. The best part is, four slips away on the same pier was Jim McDonald, a liveaboard, and I am Jim McDowell, a liveaboard. We got to know each other's mail very well!!!

So, I don't know if any of this helps you, it has helped my eye-hand coordination tremendously, I've done it all on my iPad, a letter at a time! LOL

MY SUGGESTION IS, DO ABSOLUTELY as much ch as you can online, that's what I do now, so the delivery is no longer an issue.

BTW, you DO NEED A Street address here to keep merchandisers happy, and a picture I'd to get a box, that way the postal box services know you're not a terrorist or drug dealer wanting to receive that kind of stuff...

If anyone read this whole thing, thanks for your consideration p.

[Hudson Force]

When we first moved aboard in 1972 we used the address of one of our parents. From the late 1970's through the 1990's we used a combination of marina addresses and PO Boxes. For the last 16 years we've been more mobile with more distant cruising in retirement and Saint Brendans Isle has worked very well for us.

I'm aware that people can use names of places as their documentation port or "hailing port" that are not related to an actual port that they frequent. I recall talking to the owner of a vessel with "Key Largo" on his transom and sharing some thoughts of a few favorite anchorages there,- "Gilbert's, the Crib & Snooks". I was surprised that he's never heard of these places, but then he said that he'd never been to Key Largo, but just liked the way the name looked on his boat. I was polite, but I couldn't respect that behavior.

We meet a number of new liveaboard cruisers that rejoice in their cruising freedom by claiming that they have no "home port". This sounds romantic; however, when asked where their doctor, dentist, bank accounts, mail service, storage unit, dog's vet, etc. are located, then their "roots" usually become apparent. Nancie and I have different home towns from our earlier lives before we married and moved aboard. We put her's on our transom.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Rhapsody-NS27

I'm not sure what this Real ID thing has to do with where mail is sent. UPS Store gives you a street address, and PO Box could work as well depending on ones situation. I'm sure people who RV/camper full-time use one or the other as needed. Still, I would think this is an option.

Not sure about the Real ID thing but when we sold the house, the Secretary of State, said we couldn't use a PO Box for our license unless we live in the PO Box.

She was happy to let us use the marina address but that didn't work as we were leaving that marina in a couple weeks. Eventually, we put my parents address down.

There are mail services that will let you claim an address. Not strictly legit but no one seems to care.

Do be careful about selecting a new address as it may have tax implicaitons.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Iduna

Or just use Hell, Michigan.

Naw, just up the road is Climax, Michigan.