Why Marinas Hate Liveaboards - Part II

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

Life isn't easy when you are fat and greasy.

yeah, you tend to slip through it

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

Can imagine the public consternation if Orcas discovered sea lions or fat people on the docks of marinas as a food source? The only thing worse would be a sharknato.

I've seen a video, hopefully faked, of a guy walking along the water's edge and an orca comes out of the water and takes him out ... faster than I could type that sentence. Impressive and scary.

Originally Posted by SVNeko

Junkheap?

That was a joke, an absurdity, about marinas making dumbass blanket rules like No Bicycles on Deck. Check out the stern of that 1925 Wm Hand schooner, on my dock last week:

[robert644]

This happened in Alaska. Kodiak, Cordova, Yakutat - someplace like that. Anyway a group of sea lions started hanging out shore near the access ramp and they were apparently a pretty raucous and unruly bunch. A few weeks later a pod of Killer Whales came in to the harbor and started snacking on them. The Sea Lions were kind of screwed as they were trapped, and apparently the Orcas were patrolling the narrow entrance to the harbor. So the story I was told went.

Someone buys a boat and pretty soon it doesn't run and they are living on it and crap piles up on top, then they sell it to someone else who adds more crap and knows even less about boating and pretty soon it's an abandoned unsightly derelict. And who gets to clean it up ?

Or they have a half rotted wooden 1912 ex-tug with a smoking diesel, there are 6 people on it, all in their early 30s, and they consider themselves to be 'living off the grid', put on airs of high intellect and generally act superior to everyone with their trust-fund purchased boat.

We have at least one guy paying for a 50' slip for his 30' boat, because he doesn't want to be in the 'ghetto' part of the harbor. The harbors here are so awsome. I can't believe there is a 'ghetto' harbor.

[Jammer Six]

It looks to me like the best argument against moving aboard your boat is that living aboard your boat makes you paranoid and causes you to imagine some of the most extravagant conspiracies possible.

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by Jammer Six

It looks to me like the best argument against moving aboard your boat is that living aboard your boat makes you paranoid and causes you to imagine some of the most extravagant conspiracies possible.

I think you got that one bassackwards.

Jou got some 'splainin to do, Lucy.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Lexam

I wonder if RV'ers have the same problem in RV parks.

It's very similar with RV parks. Nice parks often have a 10yr rule (more common in the southern snow bird parks).

If it's older than 10yrs, it's not allowed...but if the rig is in good repair and looks decent, they forget to ask the age.

A lot of state parks limit stays to 14 days (or similar durations). It forces you to have a rig that is mobile and puts you thru a lot of work if you've built a full encampment on your site.

To the original question: 99% is the issue of liveaboards who make a nuisance of themselves with derelick boats (pick your definition of derelick).

[wildshore]

There is a part of me that really rankles at the arrogance of this "trailer park on the water" argument. I want to go "oh boo hoo hoo, you poor thing, having to look at poor people and all during the five times a year you come down to roar around the bay in your giant fiberglass penis." or the like.

Look, I know some livaboards are slovenly, loud, or stupid, just like the rest of humanity, but much of this argument sounds like the eternal and apocrophal stories of people buying guns or alcohol or crack with their food stamps and then driving off in an escalade. A) it probably never happened and b) Its just a way to demonize the poor rather than taking a bit of responsibility for the social forces that left them that way.

We're livaboards, living on a self built shanty boat, and our Marina loves us. We keep things clean, alert them of potential problems, and have made signage, planned events, and in general helped out wherever we could. We began at a marina where we most definitely did NOT fit in, a place of status-hungry, stuck up jerks who inherited a lot of daddy's money and apparently think that makes them noble somehow. Where we are now is peaceful, beautiful, and friendly, and we're very much a part of the culture here.

I just rather resent being tarred by this rather broad brush, folks.

The dirty little Marina secret is that most Marinas LIKE a couple of livaboards in the house. They take care of things, and act as an additional set of eyes and emergency hands for the owners, and they know it.

sigh....sorry for the rant. No offense intended.

If you want to see our marina and the shanty, we've a blog of her construction and life thereon over at floatingempire.blogspot.com.

Don

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by wildshore

I just rather resent being tarred by this rather broad brush, folks.

You mean like this:

Originally Posted by wildshore

We began at a marina where we most definitely did NOT fit in, a place of status-hungry, stuck up jerks who inherited a lot of daddy's money and apparently think that makes them noble somehow.

And drive fiberglass penises.

If you feel tarred, and lumped into some stereotype, then it's the result of the myopia of your own perspective. Every group stereotypes "opposing" groups in terms of culture or values.

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by wildshore

There is a part of me that really rankles at the arrogance of this "trailer park on the water" argument. I want to go "oh boo hoo hoo, you poor thing, having to look at poor people and all during the five times a year you come down to roar around the bay in your giant fiberglass penis." or the like.

Look, I know some livaboards are slovenly, loud, or stupid, just like the rest of humanity, but much of this argument sounds like the eternal and apocrophal stories of people buying guns or alcohol or crack with their food stamps and then driving off in an escalade. A) it probably never happened and b) Its just a way to demonize the poor rather than taking a bit of responsibility for the social forces that left them that way.

We're livaboards, living on a self built shanty boat, and our Marina loves us. We keep things clean, alert them of potential problems, and have made signage, planned events, and in general helped out wherever we could. We began at a marina where we most definitely did NOT fit in, a place of status-hungry, stuck up jerks who inherited a lot of daddy's money and apparently think that makes them noble somehow. Where we are now is peaceful, beautiful, and friendly, and we're very much a part of the culture here.

I just rather resent being tarred by this rather broad brush, folks.

The dirty little Marina secret is that most Marinas LIKE a couple of livaboards in the house. They take care of things, and act as an additional set of eyes and emergency hands for the owners, and they know it.

sigh....sorry for the rant. No offense intended.

If you want to see our marina and the shanty, we've a blog of her construction and life thereon over at floatingempire.blogspot.com.

Don

Not to cause an issue, and yes, I agree with what you say, but its also what you say that keeps many cruisers (liveaboards) from staying in a marina for over a few days.
My wife and I live on our boat, have been for 12 years now, and from time to time, we'll pull in and work for awhile to build the kitty and we're off again. Our biggest issues are finding a slip around the area where we work due to the "stigma" attached to "Liveaboards".. And so much so that we
Dis-claim ourselves as liveaboards and go out of our way to make it known we are cruisers.
When someone says "liveaboard" , the first thing that comes to mind to me are the potted plants on the docks, and the pink flamingos around their boat. and to some extent, the build-up of garb from the daily dumpster diving.
and I know, there is some great stuff in and around the dumpsters in a marina, but we as cruisers have to suffer from the actions of those that live aboard full time as perminent tenents.
In the San Francisco Bay area, the slips for a Liveaboard come at a high price and are limmited to a small percentage and much of the time have a waiting list for years in advance. and recently when checking into the liveaboard status of one marina, I was told that not only did you have to have a holding tank dis-conected from outside discharge, but it was required to have installed, a holding tank for the "grey water", So for myself, I'm in a slip almost 60 miles up-river from my work-place.
I have nothing against "liveaboard" status and those that live full time as tenants in a marina, but it does put restrictions for those just passing throu..

[wildshore]

Originally Posted by Suijin

You mean like this:



And drive fiberglass penises.

If you feel tarred, and lumped into some stereotype, then it's the result of the myopia of your own perspective. Every group stereotypes "opposing" groups in terms of culture or values.

Perhaps you're right. I just know we didn't feel welcome there, and we do here. It's rather that simple. We love the water, it isn't just a playground or a dumping ground to us. I'm just glad we get to live here.

[hellosailor]

"stories of people buying guns or alcohol or crack with their food stamps and then driving off in an escalade. "

Wait. So, I should take the Hummer? Or what, if the Cadillac is a problem?

[Jammer Six]

If you had a better connection, you could be driving an Escalade, too, instead of living aboard a Catalina 25.

[captain58sailin]

Where to I store my fiberglass penis? Is always getting in the way.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

Where to I store my fiberglass penis? Is always getting in the way.

epoxy can fix that!

[katsailing]

Originally Posted by Randyonr3

We've been on our boat for 7 years now, mostly on the run from place to place and doing our share of exploring and just goofing off..
And we've found a few items that are liked and disliked.. when you say "liveaboard" its like an invite to set up a refer on the docks and hang out a welcome sign and a pink flamingo at the docks enterance.. Many liveaboards like to make the dock their home and in the process, collect crap, that starts on their boat and overflows in time to the dock and then out to the parking lot around the second car that dosent run..
Marinas do not seem to like this sort of settlement on their property.. and as a legal area, after you've set up housekeeping, its hard for them to evect you as they have accepted you there and thats your home..
We found a few years ago a little trick when comming into a marina... We didnt mention "liveaboard" but instead we called ourselves cruisers... said we would be moving on and would only be staying there for 3 to 4 months and then moving on.. we would also offer to pay up-front for the 3 to 4 months.. and many times would get a break on the amount.. and never have to pay a deposit.. they knew when we arrived and when we were going to leave and I would suspect that in a good amount of the time, the cash we paid up-front wasnt recorded on the books but was lost withing the marina.. and when we left, they would wave good-by and tell us to comeon back the next time we were in the area..
So for 7 years we've been jumping around from marina to marina about every 3 to 4 months.... When we pulled into OxBow, where we are now, (we've been here a number of times before) we asked about how long we could stay... the harbormaster said he'd give it 5 to 6 years and see how it works out.. but we dont dare put out the pink flamingo...

Does it cost you much money to live aboard your boat?