I was not making any sort of judgement over liveaboards vs cruisers. I
was simply stating that the idea of living aboard without cruising had
never occurred to me. After seeing some of these peoples boats, I can
easily understand it though, especially if they simply want to be on
the water. A house or apt can be very expensive while a boat slip is
fairly cheap. I s'pose I'd rather have the bay as my backyard than a
freeway.
As far as the boats anchored at Bradenton for months, how long can you
anchor before you stop cruising and simply become a liveaboard? My
impression (and it is based on little data) is that these boats are NOT
really going anywhere soon. Most did not seem well kept up and most
had serious bottom growth. Being trashed out is prob not a function of
the kind of ppl who live on them but the difficulty of maintenance or
the ease of vandalism by others. I was taken aback by so many poorly
maintained boats in one place so easily seen and wonder if this might
contribute to anchoring restrictions we often hear about.