help needed ... Which Dutch municipal (Province Friesland) allows 2 live on a boat ?

[Skip JayR]

Hello everybody ... long time not been here. Hope everybody is fine after 2 years of Covid-19 pandemic. I got sick in 03-2020 of C-19, took me long time till 02/2021 to recover, still I am handicapped of "Long Covid Symptoms", little bit. But ... never give up, right ?

My urgent request:

"Do you know a city/village/community in the Northern part of Netherlands where I can live (officially) on my own wood-in-wood built boat , and also do some repairings while my floating home is in the w"ater ? (see data sheet attached about measurements and equipment of Zeil Sloep Anna Jacoba)

(Rec.: Best would a municipal in the Dutch provincy South West Friesland, as this is the part of Netherlands with the biggest competences in wooden boat building.)

Tks in advance giving attention to and for your support.

P.S.: with following post I give you an update to understand the requirements.

[Skip JayR]

I hope you dont mind I give a short update and some background infos:

I live on the Dutch sailing sloop Anna Jacoba already 12 months (inclusive winter in Netherlands). She is a 61 year old lady, a 37 footer (LOA) / 29 ft (WL) ... time is running fast.

For my regular work on traditional sailing ships (under Dutch flag) we had been hit very hard in Netherlands, de facto 2020 and 2021 had been two fully lost seasons because of never ending lockdowns. - And how the Ukraine war - now on the edge of 3rd world war - might affect our charter business in Europe, who knows. Lets hope the best.

With Covid and Brexit my search for a multihull to live on had some bigger hurdles. Finally I found this little 37 ft two master North Eastern of Amsterdam in 04/2020. It is a Dutch Zeilsloep, a former live rescue boat, built wood-in-wood 1961. She was convderted till 1991 to a cutter rigged Gaff Ketch. Some photos here: https://tinyurl.com/annajacob

I met this old lady not in best conditions, as the former owner didnt care for her for 8-9 years (2012-2021), no winter/summer cover, no wood varnishing, no ventilation.
So 2020 I was busy to replace the rotten tiller and carved a new one, repaired big patches of rotten parts in the attached rudder, and the engine needed a fully overhaul. Got water in the engine block. Finally with new impeller (water pump), vacuum valve, alternator, diode bridge, new AGM battery bank (2x 185 Ah consumer + 1x 75 Ah starter battery), new smart impulse charger (10A), 3 new injectors the 30 year old engine (Vetus 3 cylinder, 23 hp/Mitsubishy Aluminium block) which had only 1,490 hrs on the clock, is purrying sweetly like a cat.

There is still lots of work to do, e.g. repair of 3 meter crack in the wooden main mast, rotten parts of the foredeck, replacement of 2 stringers in the engine room, replacement of galvanized rivets in the hull (clinker planking) and more ....

The original plan was to transfer Anna Jacoba end of October 2020 to the village Workum in South West Friesland, around 100 km North Eastern of Amsterdam, as there are many shipwrights, specialists for wooden boats. (Some photos here: https://bit.ly/AnnaJacoba-in-Workum ). Unluckily I had no access there to to a wood workshop. Everywhere the same answer: "We have too much to d"o. It was disappointing that the the refit on Anna Jacoba didnt move on at all.

Finally Anna Jacoba had to leave its winter port before Easter and since two weeks she is now in Heeg (around 23 km South West of Working) in an industrial port (on private ground of a company specialized for high pressure tanks). Some pics here: https://bit.ly/AnnaJacoba-in-Heeg

The owner/founder guaranteed - when I had visited this place before in March - that I can work on the boat. As you might know, a wooden boat has not a good living on the hard, the hull dries out, and the planks open. So best, she stays as long as possible in the water. E.g. Repairs of Rigging, repainting of deck and superstructure/roof, repair of hatches etc. ... all this can be done while Anna Jacoba is in her element. Such work is not allowed in regular yacht marinas in Netherlands because of strict regulations by the Ministry for Infrastructure and Water management (Rijkswaterstaat).

But ..... I was very wrong to be in the right place ... Why ? see following post.

[Skip JayR]

Why I was wrong to be in the right place for the summer repairs ?

Having arrived in Heeg shortly before there had some more talks with the owner/founder of the high pressure tank where the tiny private harbour is settled. It seemed going everything right.

As pensionist he had already overhanded his company to his son, and his daughter in law was in responsibility to manage all the yachting business (winter storage, crane, summer water places etc. ...).

In a meeting yesterday with both, son and daughter in law it became lcear, that they have very different expectations about their customers:

- no work on the boats (while in the water)
- no 7x24h stay on the boats

De facto I have to look now urgently for another place (in Friesland) I can stay till end of October, to work on Anna Jacoba and to live on her.

Has anybody a hint ?

[Fore and Aft]

Skip JayR that's a problem here in Queensland as well. The good old days where the rules were more flexible are long gone. I wonder if you would have more luck in the UK?
Cheers
Drew

[Skip JayR]

Originally Posted by Skip JayR

... she was convderted till 1991 to a cutter rigged Gaff Ketch. Some photos here: https://tinyurl.com/annajacob

Just noticed, that the link misses one key. The photo gallery (Google Photos) is here

[Skip JayR]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Skip JayR that's a problem here in Queensland as well. The good old days where the rules were more flexible are long gone. I wonder if you would have more luck in the UK?
Cheers
Drew

Hi, Drew ! Tks for answering. - Yes, I thought about U.K. as there "wooden boat building" is still a bigger hancraftsmanship, while in Netherlands is dominating the competence in steel building. In the past, there had been 500 ship yards in Friesland, who built wooden boats. Most are gone, maybe 10 are remaining which most of them I have visited in winter.

One is close by in Sneek (just 10 minutes by car), the Jachtwerf Joh. van der Meulen. Its more than 300 years old, in 7th generation. But the harbour place is fully booked out.




The owner Henk van der Meulen is the last one. His children are not interested to keep this business up and lead it into the future.

U.K. has the hurdles given by the Brexist since beginning 2021. I'd have to request a visa and to import Anna Jacoba to there.

An alternative might be the Republic of Ireland which still is EU member. Cork has a wooden boat community. Meitheal Mara offers also a training program about boat building.

There is the Baltimore Wooden Boat Festival. For 2022 it seems yet not seeing a revival after 2 years of lockdowns.

Ireland had great wooden boat building, e.g.the Limerick Trading ketch, as seen in following Ilen, a 56 ft ketch which was recently restored. Its Ireland's last wooden ship which is still sailing.


Only one single shipyard for wooden boat building is still existing in the Republic of Ireland. Its Hegarty's Boatyard in Oldcourt close to Skibbereen on the banks of the river Ilen. Around 10 km North Eastern of Baltimore.


For now Anna Jacoba is not ready for crossing the English channel safely. Repairing the cracked main mast, replacing at least 2 rotten stringers in the engine room, and stabilizing the foredeck, where the framing is missing longitudinal beams with knees are the minimum of work, to make her seaworthy for such a passage.
This double ender by its original construction an open life rescue boat has till nowadays no bulkheads, so it needs lots of pre-cautions to keep such a delivery on the safe side.

[hurricanehole]

Thks for Dutch boatyard link. Sure would like to visit. Wonderful boats!

[iGrf]

You probably know this already but there is a very active Dutch forum for sailors, most of it is in Dutch but posting in English is no real issue.


Here is a link to the area of the forum where you can post your question :


https://zeilersforum.nl/index.php/fo...en-ligplaatsen


Good luck in finding a place to live aboard.


Greg





BTW I love you boat it looks great !

[Make_My_Day]

Officially no one can live aboard a yacht in the Netherlands. It is required to have a fixed address that municipality (gemeente). Most marinas will not allow liveaboards to use the marina address.

However there are several solutions depending on your immigration status. Assuming you have legal residency in the Netherlands:

You can have what is called a “briefadres “. That is being registered for post at address where you don’t physically live. This is because the more people that live at an address the more they must pay the municipality for services. If you know someone where your located that will let you use their address for a briefadres, that may be one avenue.

Alternatively, several people we know live aboard in Kampen. Also a city with a rich traditional maritime history and skill set. Might be worth investigating.

The marina in IJmuiden allows liveaboards to use their address to register but that is nowhere near Friesland.

Lastly, the law was changed and came into effect this year, that requires the gemeente to provide people with an official registration address, if they don’t have one. This may be a possibility to look into and locate your vessel accordingly.

Hopefully this provides some assistance.

Good luck

[Skip JayR]

Tks, MMD.

Yes, I have heard of Ijmuiden.

I am aware of the legal regulations in NL. Of course I have a BSN (social seurity) number and legal permission as EU member to stay and work in NL.

But obviously Dutch marina owners/harbour masters define "living on a boat" differently. It's not about the legal status where you have your home address registered.

As you say since 01/01/2022 its EU law that municipalities are being required to register everyone without a home address. A so c as called letter address.
https://www.rvig.nl/brp/verzamelwet-...-op-briefadres

The municipality must provide a suitable mailing address if the person (e.g. being homeless, refugee/immigrant) cannot provide on it's own a postal address (e.g. by lack of renting an appartement).

But this is not the issue here. E.g. my boat neighbour is Dutch, and pensionist. So all sailing season he stays on his boat, just loves to do steadily some optimizations, upgrades (installing shower, heating system, winter isolation and so on). But the upper named harbour owners dont like to see it. They want that people just come on weekend. On the other hand, they expect to pay heavily overpriced money. For one box 960 Euro from April till September.

What situation we live in, that a person cant decide on his own, how and when to use its own property (boat) ? That's ridiculous. I dont think such odd demands from harbour side are legal.
The reasons behind are other nature I think, e.g. people who stay 24hx7d on boats create more waste water, more garbage, consume more infrastructure (e.g. water, electricity, showers, washing machines etc.). Such costs/boat a Marina owner likes to keep low to be profitable.