Purchasing the largest and cheapest boat just for mooring / anchoring?

[KeelMe]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Saw an eBay ad for a 35' O'Day in awful shape, but included an ongoing berth lease off Manhattan for $400 a month.

Sold in a few hours.

We were in New Orleans a few years ago. To get a good slip you either have to get on a list and wait a few years or buy a boat in a slip, take over the slip, and resell the boat.

Needless to say, we owned two boats for about three months that year. The boat was a special kind of awful. I bought it for $12,000 but couldn't give it away, I tried. After three months I had it hauled and cut up. After selling off all of the bits and pieces. I ended up paying $4000 to jump the line and get a slip in a good marina.

[KeelMe]

Originally Posted by windycityxx

I've met a few as well who live in marinas without any engines at all.
Could make a lot of sense considering the situation.

Most of the nice marinas (in the US) require you to have a working engine on your boat.

We have tied up at hundreds of marinas in the past 30 years and we have seen how the rules have changed to keep the floating bums out of the marinas. I know of a few marinas that keep scorecards on every boat. When you score gets to a certain point you are asked to leave...or they do their best to piss you off enough that you leave on your own.

[Bleemus]

Originally Posted by KeelMe

Most of the nice marinas (in the US) require you to have a working engine on your boat.

We have tied up at hundreds of marinas in the past 30 years and we have seen how the rules have changed to keep the floating bums out of the marinas. I know of a few marinas that keep scorecards on every boat. When you score gets to a certain point you are asked to leave...or they do their best to piss you off enough that you leave on your own.

Very true. If you are on a fifty foot boat you bought for 5k it is probably considered an eyesore to the Marina's who have a line of wealthy retirees on their nicely polished boats who want the same slip or mooring. Which one will the marina choose. Take a guess.

[Denny Vitton]

Bad Bad idea!!!
Florida has a lot of boats you are describing. Most if left on a mooring or anchored out end up not sea worthy or abandoned. The first storm they end up sunk or on someone shore. This causes many of us that cruise and anchor out great concerns. More and more areas are prohibiting anchoring because of this bad behavior.
Don’t do it 👎

[SV Sailfish]

Here's a thought...

Go on Craigslist, find a free give away piece of crap boat, put it on a mooring and start a YouTube channel. Then, parade lots of bikini clad, drunk party girls for the camera, (white trash at first cause you are broke) and make a bunch of money from YouTube suckers dreaming to do just what you are doing. Oh wait... it's already being done.

OK, second idea... just find the same boat as above. Live on it and collect welfare, food stamps, etc. Oh wait... that is already being done also.

Damn... I'm out of ideas mate.

[gulfcoastsailor]

Got a lot of boats in Florida that meet that description👍
We call them derelicts😜

[hellosailor]

"just put on a mooring"
Well, if you don't care about engines working, or sails (what a waste of money those can be), or the age of the rigging, or how may leaks are in the deck...Sure, a dirt cheap boat can be a bargain pool float.
Then again there's the couple that bought a cheap boat a year or so ago, and lost their keel and the entire boat outside St. John's Pass (near Tampa) just this past winter. And if your 30-40' boat happens to sink at the mooring? You'll lose everything, but still get a bill for wreck removal and environmental cleanup fee$.
Pretty much like knowing nothing about cars, and seeing a great deal for a $200 car in the classifieds. There's a reason they're so cheap. It is rare to find one that is structurally sound, but "just" needs sails and an engine. Which could of course, make it a bargain if you really didn't care about those things.
Recent ads have had an Albin Nimbus in Canada for $17k and a Swan in Maryland(?) for half of that. In each case, the boat was someone's project boat, the interior stripped out, no engine, no sails, pretty much bare hulls. If that's all you want...it can be your deal.

[Calif.Ted]

About like someone parking their $1000 40 ft. motorhome in front of your house.

[SV Sailfish]

Originally Posted by Calif.Ted

About like someone parking their $1000 40 ft. motorhome in front of your house.

Like cousin Eddie in Christmas Vacation?

Good one mate!

[Wayfarer1008]

Seeing these comments reminds me why Cal 20"s are called 2-20's buy the boat for 2,000 bucks and spend 20,000 to make it competitive. and in the end its worth 2,000.

Boats if you plan to use them in any way shape or form is expensive. Buying a derelict boat to live in as everyone said is not a smart idea and many marina's and harbors are now demanding that the boats be totally operational, inspected by a boat surveyor regularly for sea worthiness and insured.
With any boat the cost of operation even as a floating home go up exponentially with size so meeting the minimum length would be the smart move and that's around 30 feet. 30 foot also has an added benefit in that for the crowd that buy boat mainly in the power category is the size people by as trophy boats to show their lives were successful. After a few years the boat starts to be a chain around their neck and they dump them on the market. I know the sailing crowd will bark in here but you can get a much better deal on an "operational" power than you can on a sailboat. Since your big concern is living on board you have your choice but I have seen really good deals on boats in the house boat category that would fit your needs.

[foufou]

The underlying subject of this post is the cost of housing. There are so many unable to afford housing that all kinds of shelter is sought out. There are plenty living in tents in cities. Or campers all around the country. This is just the nautical version. Please don't trash those not as fortunate as some of us.

[Wayfarer1008]

Seeing you comment about affordable housing I know people are looking to boats for that reason which has me worried about living aboard becoming more visible within the public eye and being seen as a form of cheap housing.


Here in Southern California living aboard a boat is pretty well accepted but it does in most cases require you to be in a slip and pay special rate slip fees for the privilege. That rate can vary from $5 to $45 per foot for a slip in places like Newport Beach and Santa Barbara.

Already restrictions that go against maritime laws are being put in place to limit and or remove the small fleets of derelict boats that are at anchor that appear in places like Portland Oregon and a while back in San Diego bay where the fleets grew to the point that they became a nuisance.

[akprb]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

Very true. If you are on a fifty foot boat you bought for 5k it is probably considered an eyesore to the Marina's who have a line of wealthy retirees on their nicely polished boats who want the same slip or mooring. Which one will the marina choose. Take a guess.

And rightly so that the marina would make that choice.

I was a low income (dirt poor) S Florida liveaboard for several years. First on a J24 if you can believe it and then a palatial Catalina 30 (by comparison).

I always kept them tidy and shipshape.

What kills it for the folks who want to do it on a shoestring are the a-holes who pile every damn scrap of crap they find on their deck, stick a dog or two on for good measure and then break out the blue tarps.

They are the first to scream about their “rights” and the first to bitch about the “wealthy retirees” getting what is in their mind is preferential treatment. (No dig to Bleemus, I don’t think that was the tone he was taking about wealthy retirees).

So if you do this do it right and make it better for the next guy coming down the track. It takes little money to set up a proper “yacht” and the attitude and pride that comes from living self sufficiently and frugally can be inspiring rather than repulsing.

Anyone who’s been around the dock knows exactly who I’m referring to.

[dwedeking2]

Theres a number in our marina that live aboard but dont sail much. No issues. If I was to do that I'd look at a houseboat instead of a sailboat. Better layout for living and less maintenance.

Keeping a boat looking decent isnt really about money, simply washing it and some paint takes care of that. People are just lazy (and rich people hide that by hiring labor).

There is a guy that owns two or three boats like this that he has anchored out that he rents out. Doesnt bother anyone so doesnt seem to be an issue.

I know i save around $400 a month in slip fees vs rent in a one bedroom apt. So i paid for my first boat in a little over 2 years of savings.

[windycityxx]

You can get liveaboard slips for $5 per foot in the Newport Beach and Santa Barbara area?

Originally Posted by Wayfarer1008

Seeing you comment about affordable housing I know people are looking to boats for that reason which has me worried about living aboard becoming more visible within the public eye and being seen as a form of cheap housing.


Here in Southern California living aboard a boat is pretty well accepted but it does in most cases require you to be in a slip and pay special rate slip fees for the privilege. That rate can vary from $5 to $45 per foot for a slip in places like Newport Beach and Santa Barbara.

Already restrictions that go against maritime laws are being put in place to limit and or remove the small fleets of derelict boats that are at anchor that appear in places like Portland Oregon and a while back in San Diego bay where the fleets grew to the point that they became a nuisance.