T&T: FL boating laws..repost

[Bob Austin]

There is a post on the SSCA web site:
http://www.ssca.org/anchorrights.pdf

Which explains the legal implications of this and contains the Florida live
aboard as per Florida Statuate 327.02 (17)
    Any vessel used soley as a residence,  or
    Any vessel represented as a place of business, a professional, or an other
commercial enterprise or a legal     residence.

This has been been hashed out before--for example one city (Stuart) claimed
that if you use a dinghy to come to shore and live on the boat, it is a
"liveaboard"  if you stay in a hotel at night, it is not.

In the past the Florida Attorney General has interputed that a boat can be a
liveaboard and still be used for recreational purposes.   There is another
Florida law which comes into play and that is the defination of a "houseboat"
:  "
"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. "
This perticular section has been used mostly in reference to sanitary
facilities--but has at times been evoked in the anchoring arquement.

I am not sure that this entirely puts the issues to rest--because it appears
that the city can declare a mooring field--which several have done--and thus
exclude anchoring.  I suspect that many cities will still be contintious and
that further legal action will be necessary.  If a sherrif tells you to move,
despite you have a copy of the law, you best move.  There is a mechanism in
the SSCA document to protest and have the MNEA 's legal representative send a
letter to the offending municipality.

We never had an anchoring issue in Pensacola until after Hurricane Ivan.  Now
there are a number of derelict and semi derelict, plus some full time
liveaboards anchoring in Bayou Chico.

    Bob Austin