live aboard...not allowed??

[capn_billl]

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

Some Florida marinas may be grandfathered.

The marina I'm in currently is not.

I stayed at several marinas while cruising, and made clear I was staying aboard "temporarily".

I had no issues staying aboard even a month.

9 days at my permanent marina gets the lease contract with State of Florida taped to my window, 10 days gets a knock.

They Stated the State DOES enforce this, and they may lose license to operate if they don't comply.

[capn_billl]

Sorry, link didn't work.

https://myfwc.com/boating/regulations/

[concreteidea]

I wish people would stop grouping live aboards in one group and assume we are all bad people. I have stayed long term (1 month to 1year) at many different marinas. We have found most of the people that are full time cruisers are good people. There are many marinas that have great live aboard communities.
How about the advantages of having someone always at the marina watching out for problems? I have found boaters very willing to help their neighbors. I find it comforting to know someone is around to help, should the need arise.

[Coquina]

Originally Posted by concreteidea

I wish people would stop grouping live aboards in one group and assume we are all bad people. I have stayed long term (1 month to 1year) at many different marinas. We have found most of the people that are full time cruisers are good people. There are many marinas that have great live aboard communities.
How about the advantages of having someone always at the marina watching out for problems? I have found boaters very willing to help their neighbors. I find it comforting to know someone is around to help, should the need arise.

Who said they were all bad? Our bunch of liveaboards look out for things around the marina and are generally a happy bunch.
We did have some bad ones and they got the boot. Not all marinas, towns, or states make the effort to sort good from bad when it is so easy to ban ALL of them. I plan to be one at some point and thus don't like to see the "floating homeless" wreck it for everyone else including me

[Seymore]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

To most people and you all those who make the rules, it's a boat, not a house.

They make the rules. If it helps, this is a good but unconstructive place to complain about it.

Discuss it here to get your arguments together, and then take it to your Congressman and Senator in Washington, and TELL THEM WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW.....!!!

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Yes, when you are a "transient", no problem, although sometimes they'll change your berth, as they need the slip for someone permanent.

Over the years, we've run across many places where rules exist, and are applied selectively, in various venues. It's not only marinas that do it, but police, and probably others.

Ann

Hi Ann,

I have lived aboard permanently since 2001 and in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland have never had any problems with being a "live aboard". However on crossing the border into New South Wales at Tweed Heads I was not there ten days before being accosted by a waterways officer and being handed an information sheet regarding restrictions on living aboard.

New South Wales has always had an aversion to folks living aboard. The place was settled in 1778 to get the criminal classes then living aboard imprisoned in hulks mainly anchored on the Thames river in the UK to live ashore at a place where they would not disturb the neighbors (That's the UK neighbors, they did not give much consideration to the neighbors at their new address)

[goboatingnow]

Around me here there are a number of liveaboards , we all hang out our washing , we all get along , boats are reasonably maintained. I was in vathy recently and a lovely Anglo French young guy is living on a boat that’s very much the worst for wear but he was a delight ( last of the sea nomads if you ask me )

I don’t see the issue with a percentage of down at heal boats , what’s the issue. I see plenty of upmarket craft just left To slowly decay here too.

Americans seem to be obsessed with “
Image “ .

Anecdote , I was driving around in Illinois with my cousin-in-law , a house builder , he pointed to a few developments and said local ordinances prohibited a certain size , oh “ I said , you can’t build too big “ ( this would be a common restriction where I’m from ) , no he “ you can’t build below a certain size “ as it would affect valuations.

Wow. Talk about protecting privilege

[Coquina]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Around me here there are a number of liveaboards , we all hang out our washing , we all get along , boats are reasonably maintained. I was in vathy recently and a lovely Anglo French young guy is living on a boat that’s very much the worst for wear but he was a delight ( last of the sea nomads if you ask me )

I don’t see the issue with a percentage of down at heal boats , what’s the issue. I see plenty of upmarket craft just left To slowly decay here too.

Americans seem to be obsessed with “
Image “ .

Anecdote , I was driving around in Illinois with my cousin-in-law , a house builder , he pointed to a few developments and said local ordinances prohibited a certain size , oh “ I said , you can’t build too big “ ( this would be a common restriction where I’m from ) , no he “ you can’t build below a certain size “ as it would affect valuations.

Wow. Talk about protecting privilege

Two houses ago the community I lived in had a 3800 square foot minimum size. This was fine, this is what we all wanted there. I have seen the results of not doing that, in Florida many areas had no rules at all and a dreamer would buy his lot and put a trailer on it while he got organized to build a house. Fast forward 10-20 years and the trailer is now much worse for wear, surrounded by a few dead cars and a dead bulldozer. The house was never coming. If you want no-rules living there are plenty of places for that too.
Back to boats, there are a few different issues at play. Staring at the high dollar end, in certain expensive metro areas even a very expensive slip and an expensive boat is "cheap living" compared to what is available on land. Absent any kind of controls, it is likely that people who want to actually use their boats as a boat would be unable to find a slip anywhere, every marina would be a floating home neighborhood far too expensive for mere sailors who want to actually go out.
On the other end there are limits too to what people want to put up with. Marinas are usually self-sorting to an extent, you have to at least come up with the slip fee to stay there. Many places have their "shipwreck cove", "corrosion corner", etc. where the worst derelicts end up. These can end up being rather infamous for crime and drug issues. I don't know if it is still there, but there was a live-aboard community anchored out near the runway of Honolulu Airport that was pretty well known for its inhabitants mix of mental illness and criminality and then there is/was the famous bunch of similar derelicts anchored near Sausalito.

[dwedeking2]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Around me here there are a number of liveaboards , we all hang out our washing , we all get along , boats are reasonably maintained. I was in vathy recently and a lovely Anglo French young guy is living on a boat that’s very much the worst for wear but he was a delight ( last of the sea nomads if you ask me )

I don’t see the issue with a percentage of down at heal boats , what’s the issue. I see plenty of upmarket craft just left To slowly decay here too.

Americans seem to be obsessed with “
Image “ .

Anecdote , I was driving around in Illinois with my cousin-in-law , a house builder , he pointed to a few developments and said local ordinances prohibited a certain size , oh “ I said , you can’t build too big “ ( this would be a common restriction where I’m from ) , no he “ you can’t build below a certain size “ as it would affect valuations.

Wow. Talk about protecting privilege

Yep America is weird that way.

In Key West most of the land people consider people that live on boats to be worse than the homeless.

[Coquina]

There seems to be two approaches to living aboard.
Mine is when I tie up after a nice trip I don't want to go home and think about how nice it would be to just be home already. No packing for the next trip either, just untie and go


Then there is the approach where it is the cheapest way someone can find to live. I knew a guy who got a low dollar job in Key West and rented a houseboat to stay on. He didn't know anything about boats, was not interested in boats, and otherwise was not part of any community of sailors. He didn't cause any issues on purpose, but had NO interest in the usual community you expect in many places on boats.

[Tonali99]

It's a lot of work ... but you may find something around the Lauderdale area. Lot of homes wtih unused docks and owners who want to make a buck.
Be sure and consider bridge clearance and even a pump out.

[michaeltorras]

Originally Posted by MIRELOS

I'm in the North East and planning to sail down south; SC, Georgia, Fla. and use one of the marinas in one of those states as a base fro cruising the warmer waters. I have checked most the marinas in those states and find that all the Safe Harbor Marinas which today is a vast majority will not accept live-aboard.
Well!, If I sail 1000 plus miles I intend to stay aboard in a marina, specially at the exorbitant prices they are demanding, I'm willing to get scalped in price but do they also expect me to sleep in a motel while I have a perfectly comfortable boat that I can live in?
It just doesn't make sense.
What are your thoughts?

Hey hey! Come see us at Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick, GA. We do not charge any liveaboard fees. We actually encourage people to live aboard their vessels as we feel it contributes to the community. Our view is that a marina is better with people and a social atmosphere than being nothing more than a parking lot for boats.