Liveaboard and the Law, what is it?

[Geminidawn]

I'm looking to move onboard in the next year or so and I'm looking forward to shedding a lot of the paper weight of modern living. Once I do move onboard I don't plan on spending any great amount of time in one place or country, work a season maybe and move on.

In an ever regulated world where you have to have a home address for tax, licences, passports, visas, bank accounts, insurance and health care, how dose a live aboard get around this and how much would I have to hang on to?

 

 

[Budget Boater]

It depends on the various locations. I was a liveaboard for almost 12 years in various cities and counties in four different states, and in two different countries. Some cities and counties have their own "codes," while others leave it up to the state or federal government to regulate.

There are some places where they will only allow you to moor for a few days, "unless there is a state of emergency" whereby they may say that you cannot moor at all, in defiance of Constitutional law. There are many other places that just do not really care one way or the other what you do.

However, the actual law in the US is that you have the right to navigate, just as you have the right to travel. Liveaboard has nothing to do with the law specifically, and is by default a requirement to navigate, which is why it is not specifically mentioned. This does not stop local jurisdictions from limiting your Rights to safely navigate (or liveaboard) and in certain locations can cause you headaches. Personally, I just pass through tyrannical jurisdictions and spend my money elsewhere.

FYI, you are not required by any law to have a home (read: house) address. There are many ways to get any lawfully required items/documentation without a physical house address.

Take the time to read the attached file:

[Ann and Neville Clement]

I have lived aboard for 20 years and now have US and British citizenship. The only time a real address was absolutely required, by law, was when Nev applied for a US green card. While he was waiting, we needed our real address on record. It was "mooring ball EG 22 in East Greenwich harbor in Rhode Island. It was amusing to everyone, but it was the honest truth. That was where we lived at that time. Other than that, we use a mailing address and it is ok. The mailing addresses we use are a friend's house in Britain for the British mail and our good friend (and my ex husband's) address in the US. That works for tax forms and bank corruspondence, etc. Because we spend only a short time in RI each summer, we do not meet the 180 days required to be residents. Therefore we do not need to pay RI tax. We are 4 months in Bahamas and 4 months in transit between the two.
Most distance fulltime cruisers do bank on line. We just keep our banking simple with automatic payment for the few things we do. We use the ATM for debit card and get 300 dollars in cash as needed and it comes in whichever currency we need. When we spend it, we gotta go back and get more from an ATM. It works ok because we spend very little.
Luckily we have no Rx drugs, but if you do need to get Rx now and again, I suggest you use Walmart because you can get to a Walmart often enough so that will work out for you. They simply honor the Rx from your "home" store. They only have the generics or simple meds, but those are well known and understood and also cheap. Eat your fruits and veg and maybe you won't need Rx drugs so much!
We do have credit cards for emergency use only. So far, we just use them once a year for a small purchase to keep them happy.
Cruising used to be a lot harder 20 years ago, but now there are mobile phones, email, computer banking, and all that jazz. You should have a good and trusted friend or relative who you trust to open your mail for you and contact you if there is anything urgent. Don't forget to pay your insurance, if you have it. We pay ours in the summer and are careful to email the company and inquire about the cost each year a month or more in advance. Then we pay it and phone to ask if they got it. That is our biggest bill and almost the only check we write.
Parts can be sent to most marinas and most marinas will accept parcels too even if you are at anchor. We always ask before hand if it is ok and we ask while paying for fuel. They have never refused and never have we lost any mail or packages.
I hope this has helped. Ann and Nev

[David Hill]

Hi Ya'll,  when i was working on clamboats, back in the 70's i had an orange mariners card. it paid 100% of my insurance, which i used twice. once for stitches in my head, from crawling  through the bilge; and once for a hernia operation, from overexertion hauling in the towline. only money out of pocket was the dime it took to call friends, to pick me up from the hospital.

   i don't recall giving an address, maybe of my drivers license, but i was pretty much 'living on the boat' then; no permanent address.  this as i recall only was for working mariners, but something to consider. of course things may be different now. i'm just sayin.  i might add we ran our boats out of Chincoteague Island; a few times we were scraping and painting on the rails, in Cape May. hard work, great fun!

     i post this while sitting in my KW, in Shreveport, La. waiting to deliver my load. needing to be back on the water; lest i dry up and blow away!   FAIR WINDS TO ALL! DAVID