How would a floating island be registered?

[JamesG]

Hi,

I'm planning on building a floating island out of plastic bottles and using it like a house boat similar to Spiral Island (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lolQ5pgp6XQ) .

My island would be made out of plastic bottles like the one in the video. I would like to travel within the United States along the coast and inland waterways and possibly to other counties.

My question is how would something like this be registered and what legal issues are involved? It's basically a floating pile of trash, so some people may say it's an environmental hazard and other people might say its an environmentally friendly way to live sustainably without breaking land.

The island would probably be propelled with engines, sails, or kites, but probably just with engines.

It would eventually be very large and massive and many people would ride on it.

The island will probably get bottles from doing beach cleanups and by collecting bottles that would normally end up in a landfill, so it has an environmental cleanup aspect to it.

How will this thing be registered and what are the laws that I need to follow?


Thanks,
James

PS- Wouldn't it be great if I didn't need to register it at all? Afterall, its floating land with an engine!

[rasorinc]

Anything that floats and has engine power to move it will be considered by the US Coast Guard as a watercraft. If you just towed it where you wanted to go you will be presenting an interesting problem to licensing authorities. Chesk out barge houses
to see who might have authority--it will vary state by state with California being the toughest.

[JamesG]

Thanks for the tip! I googled house barges and found this.

http://www.trulia.com/blog/sam_debord/2009/02/houseboats_-_floating_ho#c17636

The article was just for the Seattle area, but it sounds like it could be registered as a "house barge" because for it to be registered as a "vessel" it would need a hull that's built to US Coast Guard standards. Because my floating island will have a hull made of plastic bottles I don't think it would qualify as a "vessel".

I'm still wondering if this island would be registered on a federal level or what... It would be nice to not have to worry about registering in each state as I'm slowly traveling along the coast. (if I'm in a new state for longer than a few months the state requires a boat to be registered again. Each state needs to make their money I guess!)

I heard that a vessel can be registered without a home country or "country of origin". Anybody know about that? What are my options for registering a floating island?

[wardd]

what would happen if one of the bottles filled with water, what then?

ever hear of Atlantis?

[mark775]

It would be "large AND massive"?
"Wouldn't it be great if I didn't need to register it at all?" ...I'm getting giddy thinkin' about it!!!!
We had a steel vessel beached here at the highest of tides in '82, or so, to keep it from sinking.
A lonely woman of maybe 300 lbs. squatted aboard with the idea of drinking enough Pepsi and Dr. Pepper in plastic bottles to eventually refloat the 65' vessel with them and make a traveling island of her own. Eventually, she drank enough soda that she couldn't muster the will to drag her now 400lb. bulk and two liter sodas up the heavy-duty ladder to her "free" home (people would stop and watch in winter!)
This idea, and yours, are not quite yet proven - YOU ARE CUTTING EDGE!

[BHOFM]

I think to be considered an island, it would have to be of
natural material??

[Manie B]

Jeez guys at first when i read this i thought you must be crazy

this flippen thing is HUGE

read all about it

http://www.spiralislanders.com/

they are all over the world
i am very surprised (shocked) :?:

[JamesG]

It looks like there are two forms of registering a vessel- state and federal(US Coastguard).

Since I'll be traveling to different states and possibly other countries, registering on the federal level through the US Coast Guard seems to be the way to go because if I register through the state, say Virginia, and travel to another state, say North Carolina, then end up staying in NC for more than a few months I'll be required to register the vessel in NC. At least that's my understanding.

I was under the impression that the hull had to be of a certain standard to be US Coastguard certified, but according to their website it doesn't matter.

The US Coast Guard website says:

WHAT IS VESSEL DOCUMENTATION?
Vessel documentation is a national form of registration. It is one of the oldest functions of Government, dating back to the 11th Act of the First Congress. Documentation provides conclusive evidence of nationality for international purposes, provides for unhindered commerce between the states, and admits vessels to certain restricted trades, such as coastwise trade and the fisheries. Since 1920, vessel financing has been enhanced through the availability of preferred mortgages on documented vessels.

WHAT VESSELS MAY BE DOCUMENTED?
A vessel must measure at least five net tons and, with the exception of certain oil spill response vessels, must be wholly owned by a citizen of the U.S.

ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF DOCUMENTATION?
Yes. A Certificate of Documentation may be endorsed for fishery, coastwise, registry, or recreation. Any documented vessel may be used for recreational purposes, regardless of its endorsement, but a vessel documented with a recreational endorsement only may not be used for any other purpose. Registry endorsements are generally used for foreign trade.


It looks like this is how I should register my floating island, but I'll call the US Coast Guard in the morning to be sure. I would like to find out if I will be able to get the "coastwize endorsement" which seems to be the best because I can use the vessel for commercial purposes which includes being able to charge passengers to ride on the vessel. The lowest seems to be the recreational endorsement.

BTW- I'm assuming registering the floating island is better than not registering at all it because I'll probably end up getting hassled about registration in the future. Any thoughts about that?

I know Richie Sowa, the godfather of floating islands, has his island registered as a vessel in Mexico where it resides, but I don't know anything other than that.

[JamesG]

Jeez guys at first when i read this i thought you must be crazy

this flippen thing is HUGE

read all about it

http://www.spiralislanders.com/

they are all over the world
i am very surprised (shocked) :?:



Yeah it's pretty crazy what people are building these days. Here's a video if you all wanna see what a floating island is all about. They are pretty cool!

FLOATING ISLAND VIDEO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lolQ5pgp6XQ)

[masalai]

Ask "the phoenix foundation", they were looking for a tax-haven / laundry services base a while ago... Do not register in USA but in a convenient country that will not bother you too much...

[JamesG]

Ask "the phoenix foundation", they were looking for a tax-haven / laundry services base a while ago... Do not register in USA but in a convenient country that will not bother you too much...

Wow, the Phoenix Foundation is a pretty interesting group. I read about them on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Foundation)

I'm not into the money laundering thing or being an independent nation, well i guess being an independent nation would be cool. I just think it would be fun to build this thing and make it a really positive place for people to live and visit.

Thanks for telling me about the phoenix foundation though. I'll probably read more about them.

-james

[apex1]

Jeez guys at first when i read this i thought you must be crazy
they are all over the world
i am very surprised (shocked) :?:

Manie, is it possible that WE are nuts and they are not?
Or do they just breed them in millions?
Is it the result of massive drug abuse in the 60ies?

Who knows..................

[JamesG]

Manie, is it possible that WE are nuts and they are not?
Or do they just breed them in millions?
Is it the result of massive drug abuse in the 60ies?

Who knows..................


What's this "they" vs. "we" talk. It's only we, my friend.