Considering a Liveaboard life - Residency

[Subcook69420]

Hello,

I've had it....and I truly believe that I can actually pull this off. I'm a Navy vet.....so I have sea time under my belt, but maybe not to this caliber, I'll admit that. Story for another day.

Here's the question :

How does one pull off state residency ? For example..... I have to renew my license/state issued ID. We all know they will not send to a PO Box (that some marina's will provide). Some fun facts :

- No, I have no family to piggyback residency off of
- Once I move out, and onto the boat, I wouldn't even have a connection to
the current state.
- I'm currently based out of NH, USA ... to keep the marina's/slips at bay, I
have the intention of doing 6 months out of the yr in the New England
Area (northen, Ma...NH,.....and southern Maine, ME. -- figures crossed,
approaching a marina for a liveaboard slip...hopefully this theory works,
but I think that's a convo for another thread.


All that said, I'd love to here stories, and proven techniques to hear how folks get beyond this barrier. I'm a service connected 50% disabled vet,....so we can all assume on that note that the feds will want a, " Permanent address". Make sence ?


Any ideas ? If this applies to you...thoughts, insights, and ideas are very much encouraged.

Thank you,

Mike

[markxengineerin]

https://www.sbimailservice.com/cruisers-home-port/

You might check this out, no personal experience, just heard of it

[Subcook69420]

Thanks ! ... this is a pretty cool concept. I've heard of these services, but haven't come across one yet.


I guess I'm more concerned about how to establish actual residency in a state. What you sent if a mail forwarding service geared towards liveboard folks. But in order to yhave this work, you mail would have to be forwarded FROM the primary residence, which.......is really what I'm trying to figure out. Being alone, not really any family or friends...how does one establish a primary residency if your primary residency is on a boat ?

[Kettlewell]

Hi, this is doable. First, about 95% of your snail mail is not necessary. Change everything possible to email communications only. Yes, you need a genuine residence street address someplace for your driver's license, health insurance, voting, etc. IMHO for most people the best option is to find a trusted family member or friend who is unlikely to move and just use their address. If you do the first thing they will only get a handful of mail a few times a year, and most of it can be discarded. The government doesn't care where you live as long as it is a legit non-commercial street address. Now, a few services like SBI have figured out how to come up with a street address that authorities will accept. Check out their info on becoming a Florida resident. A lot of cruisers use this service and make it their "home" address. But, for most of us, I still think it is best to find the friend or relative who will be your "home" address. Choose a place you want to go back to for when you have a driver's license renewal or need to see your doctor and have your health plan pay for it. https://www.sbimailservice.com/becom...rida-resident/

[mvweebles]

I have used St Brendan's for a few years. I changed all my addresses to my SBI address, even my driver's license and car registration. Pretty straightforward.

[John_Trusty]

I suggest calling St Brendan’s and chatting with them. They’re more than a mail forwarding company and have extraordinary customer service.

They have seen it all, and can advise you on how to “move” to Florida on a boat, perfectly legally. I was already a Florida resident, but the process was very similar and surprisingly easy. I have a Florida drivers license, voter ID, even a library card from Clay County. I, along with 10,000 of my neighbors at 411 Walnut Street, are happy residents of Green Cove Springs, Florida.

BTW, your state taxes are determined by where you earned money, not your home address. I used to live in a state and worked across the border, so I earned money in the other state and paid (higher) taxes than the neighbors on the same street. If you earn money in the state, you still file state taxes with the state, but if you are a pensioner it’s wherever you live.

[letsgetsailing3]

If you plan on living in a state six months in a liveaboard slip, that's likely your residence.

[Subcook69420]

...Yea, very much alone in this world, otherwise I'd go to friends/family first.


Everyone seems to speak highly of these guys over at SBI, So I'll definitely check them out.

Does anyone have any other ideas ...just incase that falls through ?

[Kettlewell]

Does anyone have any other ideas ...just incase that falls through ?

There are things like UPS Stores and other mail acceptance services in every state, and some people use these places without problem. They offer you a street address in addition to your mailbox address. But, more and more I hear of people who suddenly find that places like banks and driver's license agencies will no longer accept these as legit addresses. Some people use marina addresses, but I would be very wary of doing so. Do you want important mail, like a new credit card, showing up at your marina office? If they will even accept your mail for you. There are also RV-oriented mailing services that operate similarly to SBI. In fact, a lot of SBI customers are RVers. One of the biggest RV outfits is Escapees: https://escapees.com/mail-service/domicile/

Another option is to pay a local business person to handle your mail for you, like an accountant or lawyer. I suspect this route would be expensive.

One thing is to give yourself plenty of time for things like opening a new bank account, and then having your benefit checks arrive there. It can take several months for Social Security to switch banks. Every bank has online banking these days, but I like to use dedicated online banks with good dedicated apps. I have also found it is important to keep multiple credit and debit cards with you since you will be mostly using them to get cash and pay for stuff, and you never know when one ATM will reject one card or the other.

Another thing to do, IMHO, is move all of your important files into the cloud, like Google Drive or Apple. That way you are not reliant on onboard computer drives that fail regularly. My goal is to have my online life set up in such a way that if the boat sinks with my phone and computers onboard I can just walk into any store ashore, buy a new phone and laptop, and then have everything I need from my cloud accounts.

[Subcook69420]

Yea, every now and than I'd probably need the new credit card's. Big thing is a state issued ID/License, along with needing a physical address for the VA (Specifically VA Hospital). I know typically state's want a hard, fixed address, especially now with the smart/Star ID cards (need that to fly domestically)....so for me it's not JUST about a reliable mail service, it's about having a hard residency.

If SBI can help with that.....it's be convenient as I'd be planning on doing around months of the year in FL anyway, and the other northern MA/NH/Southern ME, give or take a month on either side (what can I say ?....tired of New England winters, and don't like the idea of being shacked up in a boat during one, ha ha.

It's good to know there are some options out there. Other than finding a livaboard vessel itself, I think the biggest challenge after residency and just finding a liveaboard slip friendly marina, but I already know that will take extensive research.

[Kettlewell]

I think you need to take things in stages. Don't cut your land ties and move addresses before you have found the boat and decided where you want to keep her. I would say search for and find the boat first, then cruise to areas you are considering as your base and learn more about those places. Not sure how the VA system works, but if you need an address near a particular VA facility than that might make a huge difference in what mailing/homeport service you end up using. It looks like there are several VA Clinics located around Jacksonville FL and St. Augustine, so within reasonable distance of the Green Cove Springs address that SBI gives you.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Subcook69420

Yea, every now and than I'd probably need the new credit card's. Big thing is a state issued ID/License, along with needing a physical address for the VA (Specifically VA Hospital). I know typically state's want a hard, fixed address, especially now with the smart/Star ID cards (need that to fly domestically)....so for me it's not JUST about a reliable mail service, it's about having a hard residency.

If SBI can help with that.....it's be convenient as I'd be planning on doing around months of the year in FL anyway...

We've used SBI for several years, but only for mail handling while we've been mobile. They're good at it.

They say that can provide everything you need to establish residency, too... and while we haven't needed to do that... I'd expect they can fix you up if FL suits.

We lived/worked in FL for a while, remote work assignment, and generally we liked it well enough. Lots of services are funded by hotel taxes...

There are those pesky occasional hurricanes, but FL is actually pretty good about prep for those. There are insurance implications, both for home ownership and boating things.. although if you liveaboard and can therefore move your "home" out of state, that at least might give you a leg up on that.

-Chris

[thomm225]

So I guess you have slept a few nights on a small sailboat already.

If you haven't, I wouldn't worry about addresses etc just yet before you give it a try.

I've seen lots of navy guys try the liveaboard thing here in Norfolk.

One of maybe 6 have made it work.

The one guy and his wife were on a 45' boat except for a few months when they couldn't keep it warm enough.

Several Navy Seals have tried it then moved to the expensive marina apartments and sold the boats.

The Little Creek Navy Base sometimes has traffic backups for a couple miles so if you are a liveaboard on Little Creek you can ride your bike to work in about 10-15 minutes, but most don't last the liveaboard lifestyle.

[CarlF]

If you are going to have a slip in New England for six months, the address of the marina becomes your address. I’ve never known a marina that won’t accept mail for its slip owners.

But your residential address doesn’t need to be your mailing address. SBI is more focused on cruisers with no real home port. I would suggest using Ipostal1.com which works like SBI but you have an address in your state for $10/month. The address is not a PO Box. It is a street address with a number after it - like an apartment number. You can even go pick up your mail in person.

I would also carefully research whether you want to use the “live aboard” word. In many places this refers to someone on a non-navigable boat. A cruiser who is six months one place and six months somewhere else is not usually considered a live aboard. Same when dealing with your insurance company. Remember that the marina will require an insurance policy - although “liability only” is enough.

Some marinas have a maximum number of nights per month that a cruiser can sleep on his boat. Even here the rules often get waived for people who aren’t any trouble. Definitely approach marinas in person not by email or phone. An agreeable single old guy without kids or big dogs with enough income to keep his boat in good shape is likely to find a spot - although it might take a few months while they throw out someone they don’t like as much.

[Subcook69420]

Originally Posted by thomm225

So I guess you have slept a few nights on a small sailboat already.

If you haven't, I wouldn't worry about addresses etc just yet before you give it a try.

I've seen lots of navy guys try the liveaboard thing here in Norfolk.

One of maybe 6 have made it work.

The one guy and his wife were on a 45' boat except for a few months when they couldn't keep it warm enough.

Several Navy Seals have tried it then moved to the expensive marina apartments and sold the boats.

The Little Creek Navy Base sometimes has traffic backups for a couple miles so if you are a liveaboard on Little Creek you can ride your bike to work in about 10-15 minutes, but most don't last the liveaboard lifestyle.

Funny you should mention. I personally have not slept a few nights on a small sail boat personally, BUT I have over 90 days submerged on a submarine (Groton, CT - not Norfolk) I understand that very much apples and oranges, but the kids are graduated and out of the house....I don't need all this space. Having space isn't really a concern....even the surface pukes had more space than we did, ha ha.

Not rellly soing this to venture the world. More so lower cost of living, and if I don't like my neighbors, or if I'm in the FL part of the rotation and there's a hurricane, I can just pull anchor and leave (If hurricane was the case, I'd probably just go in the opposite direct, because afterall......it's a boat !