T&T: Anchoring in Florida

[Bob Austin]

Hi John,
This is a most interesting question--and the answer is if you are living on
the boat for more than 21 out of 30 days at at stretch it is a "house boat"
under part of the Florida law.  Although the first citation I give is not
related to anchoring, it defines by Florida Statute what a "houseboat" is.

>From Florida DEP web site:--
Which crafts are required by law (Florida Statute 327.53) to have a working
toilet on board when in state waters?

  a.. Any vessel 26 feet or longer with an enclosed cabin and berthing
facilities

  b.. Any houseboat, defined as a vessel used primarily as a residence and not
moved for 21 out of 30 days in a county of this state

  c.. Any floating structure with enclosed living space with berthing
facilities or work space with public access

How are houseboats defined?

A houseboat defined by Florida Statute Chapter 327 means any vessel, which is
used primarily as a residence for a minimum of 21 days during any 30-day
period, in a county of this state, and this residential use of the vessel is
to the preclusion of the use of the vessel as a means of transportation.

 What do houseboats need to do in order to comply?

The houseboat must have a permanently installed toilet connected to a Type III
marine sanitation device. The valve directing sewage needs to be set so as to
prevent discharge of sewage into Florida waters. Type III marine sanitation
devices and holding tanks should be pumped out at the nearest marina with a
pumpout station.

What if I already have a Type I or Type II marine sanitation device?

A houseboat, which has a Type I, or Type II device must install a Type III
device.

As for the anchoring issues:

One of the recent examples of what cities are doing is Miami Beach, see:
http://www.boatus.com/cruising/TomNeale/tip_56.asp

The Florida Statute for this is at:
http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_St
ring=&URL=Ch0327/Sec02.HTM

subsection 16 says:
(16)  "Live-aboard vessel" means:

(a)  Any vessel used solely as a residence; or

(b)  Any vessel represented as a place of business, a professional or other
commercial enterprise, or a legal residence.


This does not address if you have another legal residence or not.  If you are
cruising, and have no other shore based residence in the area--you are a
liveaboard.  The City of Stuart made this very clear--that you could anchor in
a certain area, if you had a dinghy and were staying at a hotel ashore (ie;
spending big bucks)--vs not spending nights ashore, you were restricted to 72
hours of anchorage in Manatee pocket.See

http://www.cruisingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=33946&typeID=419&catID=0

Florida Statute 327.22 gives a local entity the right to regulate a multitude
of isses in reference to boat usage in that juristection.  For the most part
this was religated to speed zones/no wake zones. (this process also has to
have a review by the DEP/Florida Marine Patrol--office in Tallahassee), as
well as building codes and zoning issues.  However in recent years this
process has addressed anchorage areas and duration of anchorage.  Why is there
a problem?  Because a number of boats have abused this right.  Mostly these
are semiderelect boats, but unfortunately some of the legitimate cruisers have
also abused the right to anchor--dumping trash, sewage, tresspassing etc.

For a very comprehensive review of this subject from a legal standpoint I
recommend:

http://www.law.ufl.edu/conservation/pdf/anchaway.pdf

Unfortunately this issue is going to become more complicated and pervasive.
Condo's are displacing marinas and slips are becomming more difficult to find,
and more expensive.  Also "big business" has recently become involved in the
marina issues--Marine Max (the largest boat dealer in the US and growing)
partnered with Brunswick Corp, to pruchase several marinas--and this
relationship seems doomed to continue and grow.  The potential end result of
this is that if you want a slip for a new boat, you may have to buy a
Brunswick product from a Marine Max dealer.  There are some places where this
is already the case.

Off my soap box for now--sorry it is so long, but I see this as a real threat
to our boating style of life!

Regards to all!

Bob Austin