wrote in message
oups.com...
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.


Read the article a while back somewhere or other. Seems a lot of the
communities on the Gulf Coast of Florida are making life difficult for the
"transients". Many municipalities are imposing restrictions to anchoring,
doesn't make a difference if you live there aboard or are just passing
through and want to see the sights, they will limit your time on the hook to
24 -48 hours. Thanks in large part to what you so colorfully called
"sailboat ghettos". So if you are a cruiser and you plan of cruising the
west coast of Fla. , you might take issue with how someone chooses to live.
Would be better if the involved parties differentiated between cruisers and
liveaboards, but apparently in many cases they're not making that
distinction.

John Cairns

In article .com,
wrote:

Yesterday when I was visiting my boat in Bradenton, FL, I realized
that most of the boats there were occupied by liveaboards. However, I
also noticed that none of the boats had been moved since I left a month
ago. It seems there is a large number of people who liveaboard but
really do not go anywhere. This is probably obvious to everybody else
but it had never occurred to me.

Well, there's a reason they called liveaboards instead of cruisers.

At least they're using the boats for one of their intended purposes. Too
often gorgeous boats just sit.

What are other peoples feelings about such sailboat ghettos?

Unfortunate, but at least they have roofs over their heads. Friend of
ours is in the Bradenton area, currently in a camper or trailer, but she
used to be on a "boat" (floating structure) in Key West. She's bright,
but not the best employee in the world.

They definitely give the rest of us a bad name, but ghettos like that
exist pretty much anywhere, using any form of abode.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 06:30:45 GMT, von huftenfleunter
wrote:



Here in the PacNW we don't tolerate riff-raff. We have the bushpatrol
move them on or confiscate their boats as they interfere with our real
estate speculating.


Could you possibly send an expeditionary force to Florida?

On 16 Apr 2005 08:10:33 -0700, wrote:


What are other peoples feelings about such sailboat
ghettos?


Many of these boat ghetto dwellers fancy themselves cruisers and post
rather authoritative sounding advice on these websites. Now, if you
want to know all about head repair who could better inform you than
someone who is living aboard?

In article .com,
wrote:

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.

I, at a minimum, understood it that way.

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.

"Fairly" cheap? I'd say something on the order of DEAD cheap, and you
can't beat the back yard. Our marina slip on the Chesapeake is fairly
"urban", but what we wake up to on the rare mornings we're there is
worth a million bucks.

As far as the boats anchored at Bradenton for months, how long can you
anchor before you stop cruising and simply become a liveaboard?

Highly subjective.

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.

You're right that they're not well maintained and that they don't seem
capable of self-motivation without help. I've seen that in the less
active BVI charter fleets, and they are MUCH more concerned than western
FL. Growth takes almost no time in many areas.

Vandalism is more a problem in FL than where I'm used to (Chesapeake and
VI), from what I've heard, but active liveaboards would have someone
onboard to limit that.

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.

Yes, I believe that your observation is true.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

I teach school near Santa Barbara. The median home price is now
1,200,000. You can rent a one bedroom with about 5k down and 1,800 a
month.

I bought a boat. I'll be damned if I'm going to give some landlord all
that money. I take it overnight about once a month. Some people
aren't sailors at all. . . it's purely an economic decision. They have
no interest in sailing if I offer to take them outand they don't know
port from starboard. So be it. With houses this expensive there is
only going to be more people living in the forest or marinas.

b