Squatter On Your Mooring Ball ( Canada )

[Ironhorse74]

There is only one real answer to this. We work up an old number six on them

Mr. Taggart and Hedley Lamarr - YouTube

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

seems many are using this thread to be big tough talking a-hole types, you know the type that the same people normally complain about

come people, you can not go around setting boats adrift, sinkng them, lighting them on fire, etc, do you really feel that's acceptabe behavior

Quite, is there an anchor on board this boat, could you not just move it 500 yards and stick the anchor down, then replace your anchor ball with a small plastic bottle and length of rope for a few weeks.

Pete

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

seems many are using this thread to be big tough talking a-hole types, you know the type that the same people normally complain about

come people, you can not go around setting boats adrift, sinkng them, lighting them on fire, etc, do you really feel that's acceptabe behavior

Only if its a Hunter!!!!!!

[charliehows]

looks to me elysium you dealt with the problem pretty well correct - fyi here in sydney harbour we have a pretty civilized system of mooring management; the maritime authority owns all mooring leases, an individual can only lease a mooring space if they are a registered boat owner, the lease holder puts down the mooring tackle and must have it inspected yearly. A quick phonecall to maritime usually gets action underway immediately and the maritime are pretty happy to tow unregistered boats away and junk them - needless to say it doesnt happen much. if the boat is rego'd they'll call them and tell them to move it. Because its fairly civilized no-one gets too hot under the collar about it - so none of your wild west stuff, or going to court etc. I've been on both sides of the thing at different times - when the maritime says you have to move your boat they'll explain the circumstances and give you a bit of leeway (in my case i didnt just tie up on someone elses mooring, imho thats pretty low on the scale of rudeness unless its overnight and you stay on the boat so you can move if the owner turns up, I bought a boat and had to try and make it seaworthy but once the ownership transferred the mooring got leased to someone else before i was ready - bit harsh at the time.) on the other side, i came back to my mooring to find another boat tied up, called the maritime, gave the reg no and they called the owner who came down later in the day and moved his boat - no dramas.

[captain58sailin]

I have seen those movies, I just don't know how they can jump up or down 30' or get their mouths to move so much for a few words. Right, Love Blazing Saddles!

[Opie91]

Originally Posted by jackdale

We, at least in Canada, live in a civilized fashion with a healthy respect for the law.

Really, the squatter must not have got the memo...

[stevensuf]

im with the move the boat crowd!

[Kalinka1]

Further to shorebird's comment. Your right. once you give permission then it is no longer theft but a civil matter ie landlord and tenant dispute and Police will not/cannot do anything without a court order! Best not to be a nice guy in this situation as it will bite you in the?

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by cburger

Looks like you found your squatter

I think you mean you've found a squatter taking over another squatters squat.

Every timeI make the run from Lake Ontario south I find that more and more anchorages are being taken up by people installing private mooring balls. By what right do people claim public property as their own, excluding others and paying no taxes on it.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

I think you mean you've found a squatter taking over another squatters squat.

Every timeI make the run from Lake Ontario south I find that more and more anchorages are being taken up by people installing private mooring balls. By what right do people claim public property as their own, excluding others and paying no taxes on it.

Guess its the same right that allows someone else to drop a hook somewhere for the summer...
and not move till fall...

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Guess its the same right that allows someone else to drop a hook somewhere for the summer...
and not move till fall...

Never stay anywhere more than 3 days and don't block anyone from using that spot when I leave.

[Blue Crab]

Well, speaking of those law abiding Canadians: long ago and far away, a Canadian registered boat was left in a local mooring field one night. In a very desirable spot. Other spaces were available so no one was too concerned. The boat went round and round for ... wait for it ... FOUR years. One windy night it was gone. Tidal action and wind moved the boat over to the bridge where it was damaged and never seen again to my knowledge.

Chatter among the wharf rats was "good riddance". Soon a local wharfer had moved his boat to the spot, redone the mooring chain and pendant and occupied this desirable location. Two years later, said rat was heard to admit he'd liberated the foreign vessel on that breezy evening under a cloak of darkness.

I've been on the water my entire life, and for all the tough talk this is the only situation I actually know happened. As pointed out above, there may be legal ways to handle this if the municipality has title to the moorings, or a HM but in this spot there was no controlling authority. TowBoats don't work for nothing and the CG has important things to do.

I'm confused about this situation. As a boat lover, I hate that someone did this, yet ....

Editorially, I don't like moorings. It sounds ok til you factor in that the water belongs to all of us, and a mooring field severely restricts anchoring areas and inevitably leaves fouling possibilities on the bottom. In my experience, moorings lead to absentee owners. Here in Beaufort, NC, we have a great place to anchor but the area is choked by year-rounders, some of whom are of the derelict type, some not so but with owners who live in the big city some 3 hours away.

Overpopulation is ruining a nice planet.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Never stay anywhere more than 3 days and don't block anyone from using that spot when I leave.

That busy huh..!!
Hmmmmm... wonder how hard a surveyors course is....

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Guess its the same right that allows someone else to drop a hook somewhere for the summer...
and not move till fall...

I'm wrestling with this question b/c a mooring is not the same thing as an anchor. A private mooring theoretically blocks anyone else from using that space -- whether the owner is there or not. It is tantamount to permanently privatizing a public space. I think there are reasonable uses of moorings (such as in the OP's case), but as is becoming apparent, the proliferation of them is becoming a problem in some areas.

We've heard about some entirely reasonable approaches where moorings are understood to be available to all when not in use by the owner. An owner has an added privilege (not a right) to ask that someone move on should they need their mooring, but otherwise they are available to all. Unfortunately, North American society seems much more focused on notions of private property. The idea of sharing quickly gets branded as communist.

[boatman61]

I know a guy who goes to the Med islands every summer... he carries two old inflatables and spare oversize hooks.... drops one when he gets to Ibiza... ties a dinghy to it then heads for Mallorca where he sets the other with the dinghy...
Then he cruises around with two guarantee'd moorings in busy anchorages...