Small, independant living units, on water ? - Possible ?

No need to remind me-I've been dead 2-3 times already and nearly killed 3 times and I'm 35.

But one always needs to keep an eye on the future as well as living for the day,lest you end up on skid row while your unsellable boat rots away and eventually gets seized/sold for pennies for unpaid fees.

 

What makes you think you will live that long?

 

Not uptight, not into control, but as a bearded longhair from the 1960's I will claim freak as a descriptor.

It is all well and good to want to " drop out" but it sure looks like many of those that dropped out have "dropped in" to our community and taken advantage of our hospitality. Public parks are for the public, the whole public, not just a few. Are the rights of street dwelling RV'ers higher that those of everyone else, does free street parking include becoming a full time resident of a particular block for two, three and more years? Does the retirement community that fronts one of our parks not have a right to enjoyment of the green space without being constantly accosted by aggressive panhandlers or terrorized by their unleashed dogs? Apparently not since they now have to bus the residents to another park without those issues. Do city residents and their children not have a right to use the public restrooms in those parks without being confronted by individuals bathing naked using the sinks and hot water?


I just cannot understand how one persons "lifestyle" is permission to impinge upon another's rights. Yes a couple in their 70's using canes and a walker can technically still walk in the park like they did in the previous decade. But now they have to contend with dozens of pit bulls running amok, with all the park benches and picnic tables claimed by visibly intoxicated men and women drinking wine and smoking weed. Are these folks residents, are they our neighbors who are down on their luck and need a helping hand? Not based upon the out of state license plates on their campers and Winnebagos, they aren't. They are simply people who have found that living on the street in an RV in southern California is a lot nicer that doing it up north where it snows and rains.

If not wanting ones taxpayer supported parks, libraries and ER's to be overrun by out of towners who have zero vested interest on the community aspect of our hometown, who have claimed whole blocks as their "mobile home park" and who have made publicly supported green spaces No-go Zones makes me an uptight control freak in your eyes, all I can say is I think you would be whistling a different tune if it was your town.....

If this is sort of live aboard lifestyle that is being promoted, then I want no part of it, floating or otherwise.

 

Dont think it was, but you sure got a lot of material out of what was not said.
I hope you have gotten a haircut and a shave since then.

 

Goodness no.... Although it is white now and pretty thin on top!

This whole thread was about How things are not so cheap for liveaborders when the actual costs were added up. Among those costs that get overlooked are those associated with paying for public services that are used by those currently evading fees by "living under the radar". I simply gave a real world example how such a mindset lived to the fullest by a large number in a smallish area can impact a community. The same thing can happen in floating communities as well, ask the folks in Florida if they find the derelict vessels abandoned at the end of their useful life by similar folks who have simply moved on to be a net positive addition to their community.

 

Ok, I get it, "evading", like Detroit abandoned by the auto industry, unexploded ordnance left by us and others after a war, coal mining waste, oil spills, corporate America taking it overseas, and ect. I hope my pissing off my boat doesn't warn the oceans enough to melt the arctic.

Btw , I shaved my head in 74, and now keep it ultra short.

 

how much you wana bet this guy has a couple hundred feet of electric cable on board.

 

They never should have been allowed to build all those cities and towns on the water . Every year some one builds another monstrosity of a house on the water spoiling yet another anchorage. I say revolt . Destroy the land dwellers.

 

Howdy neighbor !

 

Ah, Southern California, makes more sense now.

I used to live in Tucson some 15 years ago. I couldn't imagine this being tolerated back then. Sure, there were heaps of snowbirds, but the sort of behaviour you talk about would have gotten them shot.

Perhaps California needs to declare an open season every so often, encourage them to move on?

Anyway, why doesn't your local LEO hassle them until they move? God knows they've got an internationally famous reputation for stuff like that.

Back on topic more or less, you can still get away with quite a lot in Tasmania for one simple reason. Low population density. I lived in a tin shed on site & built my house. Took me 2 years. I made sure I didn't annoy my neighbours and had no problems with the authorities.

Note the key phrase - I made sure I didn't annoy my neighbours.

If a bunch of liveaboards moved into the bay out the front, discharges sewage overboard, threw their rubbish overboard, ran a generator at night or did other stuff that annoyed me, I'd be down on them like a landslide.

PDW

 

You have to give them credit: that design won't have them dumping stored black water overboard.

 

As i see it we are all a little to late. They're out there doing it now and have for for probably thousands of years. Floating condos and rentals a being built all the time. I dont know where this is going but the water is getting to be the last open space. But don't fear, that freedom is being taking away by the robber barons, with the help of their paid government lackeys. Your wish that those others don't get it will come true, but you wont get it either. So there ya go. you will always be able to look at a video of the water on your Ipad.

If you don't defend the other guys rights, they will also take yours.

 

Some great comments all over the place, and some useful practical experience in there as well.

My first thoughts on reading the entries were that its a case of how cheaply you can live without bothering the 'neighbors'.

Local council services and rates in general are all in response to avoiding plagues in the old days, facilitating travel to work/food services while avoiding feuds.

The cost of achieving these aims seems to be the crux of the matter.

Several mentions of 'simple living' make a good point, but that may not mean cheaper on water than land.

You can live as simply on land as on water, as PDW mentioned - but even the cheapest of cooking/heating/light fuels is cheaper on land than water, if only for the extra transport required, but also for the usually better insulation for land based 'livingry' , as water tends to make things colder.

The maintenance of floating 'edifices' will be more than land - if only for marine growth, but often salt water damage as well.

Except for that great picture of the old timer on his shanty boat, waterborne environments always work out kilo for kilo as more expensive, and therefore tend to be smaller than adequate.


The only exception to these principles was a guy i talked to building a ferro-boat. He built a shallow draft craft so he could travel up rivers to major towns. The basis was that he could move his whole house to where the work was. After having gone through innumerable house sales, chasing work - the ease of re-location seemed like a great idea. If you had a boat that was ocean crossing, that might provide the ultimate job seeking machine.

 

What rights would they be, precisely?

PDW

 

If you had a boat capable of ocean crossings, why would you want to work? You can just anchor off anywhere you like and move on when you're bored.

Provided of course that you have a big pot of money.....

A few people can get away with living on houseboats etc. There are still a few 'grandfathered' in, in Sydney harbour. But no more will ever be allowed, and those remaining have to have proper waste disposal. Broken Bay, you're limited to 2 or 3 days in each spot and the authorities keep you moving right along.

The whole idea is superficially attractive but there are few places left where one could actually do it, and most of those are places where I wouldn't want to live. It's not a coincidence that I live in one of the few exceptions, but the rest of you can find your own places, I'm a charter member of the NIMBY brigade.....

PDW