Why Do Marinas Seem to Hate Liveaboards?

[Sidney777]

"war on the poor" of any kind in America. This is one idea put forward by some. Don't know where they expect poor to go; "just not where I can see them". Live-aboards,people living in homeless camps,and anybody who doesn't have money just don't have the right to live. Many want them to go somewhere remote & die. ��

[a64pilot]

Odd thing is that in the Panhandle of Florida there is no such thoughts about liveaboards, that is why I was so surprised when I got that comment in Clearwater.
But then we don't have what do appear to be floating homeless camps in the Panhandle either, and I have wondered why.
I assume it's because very many people up North dream of living on a boat in Paradise, you know the Buffet life, and of course think of the Keys and South Fl, but not the Panhandle?

[SailingFan]

a64, I got similar comments here as well, on the St. John's River, in various places. Some were fine as long as you had a vehicle and came and went from the marina now and then. A couple just wanted a local driver's license and address somewhere on the hard, and one guy told me that if I slept on board we could not stay there more than two days. It all depended on which place you checked with. There are places that allow it, but there are some that surely do not want liveaboards at any cost. I am thinking that perhaps there may be some sort of local issue with regulations as well, maybe a property tax issue or some such thing, but that is entirely my own supposition...

[Carat]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but in my research for a suitable liveaboard marina, I have come across the "we aren't accepting liveaboard" even though the website advertises liveaboard options. Most advertise wifi, cable TV, laundry, nice bathrooms with hot water for showers..so, is this just for transients?
Looking is South Carolina, Jacksonville, Cocoa and/or panhandle area. SC is cheaper....panhandle is most expensive.

So are liveaboards really considered the trailer trash of water? I don't feel I am trash....just tired of living on land surrounded by overpopulation of dolts.

[Cheechako]

Environmental laws make them liable, more trash in the dumpsters also, etc.

[sailorboy1]

Having just left a marina after a 3.5 month stay I think marinas don’t like liveaboards because they want things.

Btw where I was there aren’t liveaboards, there are only cruisers in transient !!!!!

[TJ D]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Having just left a marina after a 3.5 month stay I think marinas don’t like liveaboards because they want things.

Btw where I was there aren’t liveaboards, there are only cruisers in transient !!!!!

Funny, Jenny and I were just talking about this today. Timely.

We've done multi-month stays up and down the east and west coasts of the US over the years, and we've never had a lick of trouble with staying on board.

Here's the main thing when talking to marina folks- You're CRUISING, not living aboard. We've been up front about our intention to stay on board and have always been welcomed.

If it's your intention to park in a marina for years as primarily an alternative to land-based housing, you have a harder row to hoe.

IMO, what most marinas are wary of is getting someone in who is really just wanting to live on a cheap boat for cheap housing. Unfortunately, there are some folks who have boats that look like little more than homeless encampments. We've all seen them-crap all over the deck, potted plants and junk all over the dock-you know the ones. Make sure they know you're not bringing that to their facility.

So, this mostly means keeping your boat seaworthy and the surrounding area in good nick. Use it regularly. Utilize pumpouts.

Anyway, I think that it's not too hard to stay on board for longer periods, provided you're actively cruising, at least to some degree.

[a64pilot]

Maybe their shouldn’t be a difference between liveaboards and cruisers, but there is.
A couple of years ago I told my insurence agent we would be liveaboards soon and he said if you say that, I have to cancel your insurence, however you can be on a extended cruise that lasts decades, just don’t declare yourself a liveaboard.

May seem to be semantics, but I do believe that liveaboard often means living on a boat cause it’s the cheapest way you can find to live, and maybe these non mariner types are less likely to keep their boat safe and seaworthy, thereby making them insurence risks?

[sailorboy1]

Yet, it isn’t the cheapest way I could live by any means!

[BlackHeron]

I can see how a marina would prefer people who pay for a slip or mooring by the year and only show up a handful of times during the season (if at all) over someone who is there every day and actually using their facilities. Wear and tear, enough parking, using power & water, asking questions, getting in the way, making them be there all day instead of driving to bank cashing checks, etc, etc....

In a perfect world a marina would love to charge all its customers to bring in their boats and never come back except to pay the bills.

[Lepke]

Many liveaboard problems start with county and state laws. In some Oregon counties, marinas with liveaboards have so many regulations and requirements that it just isn't worth the trouble, even with liveaboard fees. I have a private dock with a workshop building on logs. No fuel, it can't sink, but I have to have a million dollars in insurance in addition to another million on the boat. Having been on the water for about 60 years, it appears to me that the voting public wants to turn rivers and waterways back to before European settlement.

[medsailor1]

Originally Posted by Carat

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but in my research for a suitable liveaboard marina, I have come across the "we aren't accepting liveaboard" even though the website advertises liveaboard options. Most advertise wifi, cable TV, laundry, nice bathrooms with hot water for showers..so, is this just for transients?

Looking is South Carolina, Jacksonville, Cocoa and/or panhandle area. SC is cheaper....panhandle is most expensive.



So are liveaboards really considered the trailer trash of water? I don't feel I am trash....just tired of living on land surrounded by overpopulation of dolts.

I think liveaboard expect too much from a Marina and Marina rather just have people park their boat and go home

[NorthCoastJoe]

Maybe it depends on the people, all the live aboards I have met at my marina keep their boats in good shape. The place looks neat and clean.

[BlackHeron]

Originally Posted by NorthCoastJoe

Maybe it depends on the people, all the live aboards I have met at my marina keep their boats in good shape. The place looks neat and clean.

It depends on the Marina, and their rates. Fancy (expensive) marinas don't have much of a problem with the riffraff. Budget ones, they start to have more issues. Then again, things get even more interesting when we start talking about folks who anchor out and rarely spend anything for a marina. Florida is really cracking down on anchoring, pushing for paid mooring balls and limiting anchorages in many places. The rich condo owners want their nice unspoiled views and don't want to see the boat bums and their ratty boats just offshore. They want to control where and how many boats are out there off their back doors and private beaches.

[Polux]

I guess for the same reason I don't like marinas.

Marinas are linked with the Yacht industry and tourism in a luxury kind of a way. Yachts as pleasure boats are luxury toys: they are expensive, they have an expensive maintenance and they are associated with the kind of guys that have lots of money and live in a wealthy way.

Everybody knows that this type of guys like to live in close condominiums and like to exclude everybody else from their social life (except servants). Country club and Marina club are not very different in what regards status and social members.

Now, the liveaboards have a boat but don't fit on that category of wealthy social prominent members and their boat is not a luxury toy but their home, so Marinas don't like them because the other yacht owners that belong to the Club Marina don't like their company since they don't have their social status and are not servants.

Also, marinas staff tend to be contaminated by the social status of the club members and many times become more snob than the members themselves.

A German friend told me that when he tried to get a fixed place on Cartagena (Spain) marina they asked him for a membership entry 7000 euros (if I recall correctly). The money is just what you pay at the head to have the privilege of being a member and is independent of the money for a long therm berth for the boat (you have to be a member from the club for that).



That's a way of separate the ones from whom 7000 euros is nothing from the others in what regards accepting club members. On US you are already there? I mean paying a huge fee to be able to have access to a long term mooring ?