"Steve" wrote:

Most of the reasons for "No Live Aboards" have been well covered already,
here and elsewhere.

One of the main reasons in Calif. and most other areas is because the Marina
operates on a lease from the local port authority or the docks are in water
ways that are controlled by the Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR). They
forbid or set limits on how many marina residense may live aboard.

If live aboard were allowed without restrictions the marina would have to
install more power, pumpout facility, parking, head/showers, etc.

In Maryland, and on the Chesapeake, and in the Keys, marinas are
required to have pumpout facilities whether they have live aboards or
not. This is NOT a live-aboard issue regardless of how people try to
make it into one.

Speaking of parking, most live aboards I have known, are families and that
mean multiple vehicules/parking spaces, everyday, not just weekends. Often
they will have an extra van just for storage..

I do not think multiple vehicles are restricted to live-aboards. We
own 20 cars at our home, and while we don't take all of them down to
the marina at once (because there are only 2 of us, and some of them
don't run), if we go out in the boat with other people, mostly they
have their own transportation.

There are also commercial fishing boats in our marina (and many other
marinas) and every time they go out, all the people that hire the boat
come by car and park at the marina.

At the Marathon City marina where they rent moorings out, the people
that have moorings have available a certain number of bike and parking
places with the mooring.

So the extra parking is not really a live-aboard related issue.

Myself, I love living aboard and try not to abuse the privilege. However, if
I look at it objectly, I could compare it to parking my RV at the curb in
front of someones house and claiming it is my right as long as I don't
violate any parking code limitations and pay my license fees. (hey! just pay
someone to let me plug into their electric and hook up to the outside water
faucet. To hell with the rest of the neighborhood..) Send my 6 kids to the
local school...

It is not comparable to that at all. Live-aboards pay for the marina
slip (and through their payments they pay taxes in the same way any
other rental unit pays taxes) and usually for the electricity, the
pumpouts and sometimes for the water. The question of property taxes
to support the schools isn't really relevant either because many
cruiser's home school. It's more comparable to living in a trailer
park and sending your kids to public school.

No - the business about not allowing live-aboards is purely NIMBY

Now back to the marina question. I have known of people who purchase a
large boat for a home at the dock. No intentions of using it for a
recreational boating or if they do plan to do some future cruising, these
noble intentions are soon diminished by the realization of the realities of
boat care and repair. (too much boat for the budget or the abilities)

My opinion and experience, FWIW.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions


grandma Rosalie