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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/

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