Where to anchor my barge/house boat (Key West, FL)

[ArmyDaveNY]

Following.

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by dwedeking2

It's $350 a month. Not sure what the size limitations are.

The reason I asked is because we are 63’ lwl/70’ loa and were too big. I don’t know if a 60’ barge has overhangs at each end making it longer loa.

I bet we scared him off!

[a64pilot]

There are shacks on old dead boats, and there are actual houses on a barge or similar.
This one you would often see in Panama City Fl anchor out at the local party beach. I have no idea where it was kept, I assumed at a local private dock, which is the best for such things.
I think a whole lot of how it’s accepted will be based on several things, first you obtaining some kind of permit and being able to pass all the rules, like where the sewage goes etc.
Secondly it not looking like a chicken shack on an old dead boat hull, and an actual house will help.

[Woodland Hills]

If you have a 5’ walkway all around the home you will have a 500 square foot house to build, bigger if you widen the sides up to 1000 sq if you go full width. Do you have an estimate on how much lumber you’ll need? It’s essentially a one or two bedroom home.

Maybe you could get a mobile home and just roll it onto the barge and strap it down, I think you can get a 14 to 16 foot double wide. You might want to source that once you get down south, there are a lot of trailer parks in Florida.

[Montanan]

https://www.citymarinakeywest.com/Key West City Marina at Garrison Bight has numerous house boats.

City Marina's 245 slips straddle the Palm Avenue causeway in Garrison Bight. On the north side of the island of Key West the marina is the home of The Key West's Historic Charter Boat Row.

City Marina has slips available for live-aboard, recreational and transient customers who wish to stay long or short term.

[captlloyd]

Well a couple things stand out to me. 20 foot beam ? New Jersey to Key West ? Mega bucks to start with. What he would save by building it himself would be ate up by moving costs. Mooring field ? Nope, I don’t think so. The forces on that system in a blow would be tremendous. I seriously doubt that they would allow that. Sounds like he wants to avoid all that messy paperwork thing too, you know registration, licenses, etc. Is anyone chuckling now ?
Look, I am the last one to step on anyone’s dream but somewhere along the line reality needs to step in. Go on Craigslist and find already built big houseboats in all sorts of repair. Start there. What is he going to do when the next big blow come through the Keys with a barge that will barely get out of it’s own way. Oh, that brings up insurance. OK, I’m done.

[letsgetsailing3]

C'mon folks.


How many of us know this is a bad plan?


If he ever comes back, we should be honest.

[Montanan]

Houseboats for sale in Key West.

https://keywest.claz.org/classifieds?q=houseboat



Example:

Date listed 1 month ago
Price $199,000.00
House boat with slip.furnished 2 bedroom 32'x18'.
Garrison Bight Marina which marina appears to be the only ones with houseboats.


I don't see any houseboats in the mooring field. I suspect that the windage load would be far excessive for a mooring arrangement, hence it appears that the houseboats are located in the marina on a slip.

Located north of City Marina, in the area between Fleming Key and Sigsbee Park, is Garrison Bight Mooring Field. The mooring field began with 81 moorings which were increased this year to 149 Moorings thanks to grant from Monroe County's Department of Marine Resources. These moorings host a mix of fulltime live aboard as well as transient boaters. Each mooring system is inspected, top to bottom, every 180 days. Buoy systems with any sign of wear or damage are replaced. Interim inspections and damage is taken care of by the Mooring Field Dock Master.


The State of Florida has followed the City's lead and established a no discharge zone for sewage from boats around Monroe County. This helps to keep the waters clean as well as keeps the City's pump-out service busy. A City Pump-Out Boat, purchased with grant money, continues to provide pump-out services to all vessels in the Key West City Mooring Field.
Please bring your drivers license and vessel and dinghy registrations with you when you check in.

There is a dinghy dock in the Garrison Bight.


New Rates: Effective March 01, 2020
Mooring Field Rates:
$ 20.32 Daily (tax included)
$357.58 Monthly (tax included)

[Montanan]

Monroe County Florida [which includes Key West] Floating Structure Ordinance

https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/Docu...15-2018?bidId=


Note exception (c).

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by Montanan

Monroe County Florida [which includes Key West] Floating Structure Ordinance

.

Yeah, they're not going to let you do that anywhere near civilization.


They will hassle you until the end of time.


You will not be the first to have tried it, and won't be the last.

[dwedeking2]

put an outboard on the back it's a boat not a floating structure.

there's a few anchored near the mooring field. one is literally a 1000sf (guess) house on a barge. it looks cool to be honest. full wrap around veranda, open room layout.

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by dwedeking2

put an outboard on the back it's a boat not a floating structure.

there's a few anchored near the mooring field. one is literally a 1000sf (guess) house on a barge. it looks cool to be honest. full wrap around veranda, open room layout.

The definition of a vessel is not that simple. Read the ordinance for discussion of law and court cases.
https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/Docu...15-2018?bidId=

[dwedeking2]

for practical purposes it is.

Leo's won't even move the sunk boats. they harass the liveaboards for not having their steering hooked up (not to remove them from the water but to just harass so they will move on to another location)

This is Florida, what's on paper and discussed in conference rooms isn't what happens in real life.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Gunner95

Hey everyone,

I have recently decided to build my own houseboat... Well more like a "house barge" and I'm trying to figure out where I could anchor it and not get in any trouble by not having it registered or having permission to live there.

I've been exploring the countless city websites trying to find information but have come up empty handed, my next step is to call and figure everything out but before that I figured I ask around see who could give me any ideas.

The barge itself is 60ft x 20ft (LxH) and is currently up in New Jersey. before I tug it down... Any idea on where I could put it and live? What kind of permits would I have to get? I know the city marina allows a maximum length of 70ft but I'm skeptical that they would let a barge sit at the end of there dock... But, then again, maybe they would... Lol

All information and ideas are welcome, I'd like to finally make my dream of living on the ocean in a custom build "shack" come true!!!

Thanks everyone 😊

Does no one else smell a TROLL???? Don't you see this post was custom designed just to rankle?

[Mirage35]

Originally Posted by billknny

Does no one else smell a TROLL???? Don't you see this post was custom designed just to rankle?

Aww, c'mon, keep going anyway - I was enjoying some of the ideas coming out.

And was going to suggest as a completely different location (slightly different climate) - Yellowknife Bay - where there are already a few of these and nobody worries. And it has the advantage that you can walk to the boat six months of the year.