Liveaboard Rookies looking for a place to Live

[Boat junkie]

My wife and I are Empty Nesters, we are currently looking a marina to live in. We currently have a 25ft Wellcraft that we keep in Clearwater Fla, and a Tiara 3100 that we keep in Maryland. The Liveaboard boat will more than likely be a 50-70ft. Hatteras MY. I'm retired military, and my wife works remote. We can literally live anywhere from the mouth of the Chesapeake to the gulf side of Florida. Where are all the good spots?


Thanks, in advance.

[CharmCityBoater]

My experience... Stop using the term live aboard when talking to marinas. It is a dirty word. You are looking for a transient slip. Find a marina that has a place for 2-3 months. After being there for a month or two you will better know the marina and be able to feel-out how they deal with live aboard folks.

Accept the fact you may bounce around a few times before ending up someplace that will work. Most marinas have so called "live aboard people" but they are people who have proven themselves to the marina owners / management and have earned the privileged. Do not think for a minute that a marina is going to allow you to become an immediate live aboard without you proving yourself.

Just my $0.02

[Boat junkie]

Originally Posted by CharmCityBoater

My experience... Stop using the term live aboard when talking to marinas. It is a dirty word. You are looking for a transient slip. Find a marina that has a place for 2-3 months. After being there for a month or two you will better know the marina and be able to feel-out how they deal with live aboard folks.

Accept the fact you may bounce around a few times before ending up someplace that will work. Most marinas have so called "live aboard people" but they are people who have proven themselves to the marina owners / management and have earned the privileged. Do not think for a minute that a marina is going to allow you to become an immediate live aboard without you proving yourself.

Just my $0.02

Thanks

[Fore and Aft]

CharmCityBoater is so right. Boat Junkie there are so many unspoken socially acceptable traits you learn growing up. It's not until you start living in a marina or campground that you realise not everyone was taught the same things. I still can't believe our marina had to put up a sign saying no washing dogs in the shower. It's those sorts of things and others that makes marinas audition their live aboards.
Cheers

[rwidman]

Many towns and cities have ordinances prohibiting "liveaboards". Also, many marinas have a clause in their operating permit from the local government prohibiting "liveaboards". You will do better referring to you and your wife as "full time cruisers".

That said, if you can truly live anywhere, why would you want to tie yourself down to a single place? The advantage of a boat is, you can untie it whenever you want and move a few miles or a few states away.

So what are the best places? It depends on what you and your wife like (and what you can afford). Certainly, the FL Keys are nice. I personally enjoyed the Gulf Coast of FL, but the Chesapeake Bay has great cruising opportunities in the warm seasons.

[sailorboy1]

I have cruised up and down both sides of Florida. There are no "best" spots, just different ones. The only true reason to live on a boat is not to stay in a spot, but to journey to different ones. So just look up places to visit in Florida and then look for a place there to be able to park the boat till you are ready to move to the next

[HippieTye]

have you checked military bases? i know the Keys have some good options for veterans

[Foswick]

Maybe it would be helpful if you describe what makes a "good spot", to you. Some marinas are really nice with all of the amenities, but the people are insufferable. Some are busy with people coming and going all day - others are quiet with rarely a person in sight. Some cater more to commercial fishing boats and the like, others strictly cater to recreational boaters.

How much do you plan to do on board and how much do you plan to go ashore for? Will you shower on board? Laundry? I know some liveaboards that don't even cook on board, and instead eat out for every meal.

What kind of sailing do you like to do? (By the way, if the plan is to simply live on the boat and never really sail it ... I just wouldn't recommend it. There are several people at my marina that live aboard and their boat hasn't moved in years. I guess it is technically cheaper than an apartment, but it tends to make you unpopular - at least around here people look down on that.

To me, the best arrangement is to have a slip that you can sublet. Then, you have some place to stay during the off-season, but then you can sublet during boating season when moorage is in high demand and you will want to sail about anyway.

Another good arrangement is to find someone with a private or commercial dock that is underutilized. Every now and then, you will find someone who is happy to make a few bucks on that unused capacity, and also to have someone on site outside of business hours. Generally, these aren't glamorous locations, but can sometimes be made quite comfortable and tend to be quiter at night than a marina.

Also, is it important to live in a warm climate? Do you prefer the east coast or the good coast? Are you firm on staying in the US?

It's entire possible, and completely valid, to not have the answers to many of these questions. But, if you don't know yet, then I would take the advice above and avoid tying yourself down to one spot, but instead to take advantage of your freedom. You might end up some place that you decide to stay, you might not.

Enjoy the ride. It's pretty good.

[Lepke]

Retired Military have better options in base marinas than any private marina. It doesn't have to be the branch you retired from.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Lepke

Retired Military have better options in base marinas than any private marina. It doesn't have to be the branch you retired from.

Maybe. Sorta. Depends...

We've looked at many on the lower east coast... but combination of location, fetch and/or rebuild in progress (e.g. JAX NAS), slip sizes and slip availability (e.g, Cherry Point MCAS), our boat, etc... have so far prevented us actually staying in one.

Well worth a check, though.

-Chris