Florida boats

[Joseph Shirley]

Higgs - Quest is a 1980 Barefoot 37 CC Sloop (which is a

custom Irwin 37 sloop made to a separate set of specs). I don't know if more than one was ever made to those specs but Irwin made 600 Irwin 37's.

 

[BrianW]

Absentee Boat Owners

I agree with the "libertarian" stand about it not being anyone else's business how I maintain or use my boat.... as long as it doesn't affect others. If you don't like my un-waxed gelcoat, you have two options... 1)get over it, or 2) ask for my permission for you to wax it (I'll probably grant it) There are, however, several actions and lack of actions that may affect other people. If you use a noisy generator or play loud music in your slip, you affect other people. That is NOT your right. If you don't check up on your boat, and let the battery run down and the bilge pump silently lets your boat sink in the slip and spill the contents of your fuel tank into my beautiful Florida waters, that is NOT your right. If you are "up there" in some state that has blue car tags while your poorly-secured boat is thrashing about damaging the dock or adjacent boats, that is NOT your right. During the previous years' tropical storms and Category 1 hurricanes (I'll give you the really big ones), many people lost their boats and marinas due to folks who lived "way up yonder" and didn't tend to their boat owner duties during big blows. Living 1,000 miles away does not absolve you of your rights OR responsibilities. So, please enjoy your RIGHT to keep your cheap floating condo and stay in Southern waters for a month and live somewhere else for the remaining 11 months of the year .... but also, please accept the RESPONSIBILITIES of ownership by hiring someone locally to check on your boat occasionally and to watch for red rotating blobs on the Weather Channel and secure or move your boat when the need arises. Bottom line... as long as you tend to your responsibilities of a boat owner, you should fully enjoy the full rights of boat ownership. BrianW

 

[Ross]

If your boat remains afloat and if it is secured in the slip

and if the slip rental is paid on time I don't think that marina management will care what you do or don't do with your boat as long as you don't break any laws. If you want to run a floating whore house or opium den then the law enforcement people can come in. Tennets have considerable rights by law. I know some very wealthy people that keep apartments in several cities and pay the rent and use them when they are in those cities but the apartment remains unused 95 percent of the time. They have a service come in and prep the place before they arrive and clean it when they leave. I have the same right with my boat. I could keep a boat on all three coasts and on one of the islands and have a maintenance service look after it in my absence.

 

[Pete]

Letterman

Now you are starting to scare me !! Since you decided to answer in detail your objection my post may I have the same courtesy ?First is the gate card before you can have a gate card you need to put in a gate. So now we lock ourselves in and out. NICE ! ! What would happen if the gate reader broke the one time in sixty days (your time frame) and did not register my being there. would you still pull my boat ? I guess you could always pay for the new gate and reader (not to mention who is going to administer the gate reading) buy charging for a gate card every year. After all as a marina manager you will need to pass on the cost to the marina slip renters. As far as the fees associated with the boat being pulled you say that it is all ready paid for but who pays to put in back in for the second or third time ?? I also disagree with you statement "Under my plan, they will have to touch the boat, and work to earn their slip fee" I know you can't be serious about this ! Now all of a sudden marinas want to make work for themselves ??  When I rent a slip I expect to get use of he slip that is what I'm paying for I never said I owned it. I just don't believe you will be to popular with this new contract of your. I also don't think it would stand up in a court of law, you may want to run this one part the marina's lawyer,(oops another cost to the marina but not to worry big rate increase next season)  In my question about the car in my driveway I did say it would be registered(current license plate) and washed just not driven. I'm guessing you would have it pulled out of the driveway based on you response about what they do in Cleveland BUT I had a current plate and it was washed so what law did I break ?? Funny how you were all set to have it towed out and have me fined when I did not break the law but Let me check my contract and I will get back to you on that one ! As far as the boat owner who I did not see for five years but kept his boat up why should his boat be pulled after all his gate card would show it was used or do the boat use police have a partner in the gate card department who can verify that only the "owner" is using the card ??  I have a contact now and it has spelt out owners responsibilities including not being a nuisance or in any way being a hazard. My contract says if I don't take reasonable precautions they will do so and charge me for it. (i.e. poor or insufficient dock lines etc etc and I did agree that a boat covered with bird poop could be considered a health hazard) I was shocked at you response about if I rented an apartment and did not use it you would have the right to re-rent it and would get a trailer when I got back ! ! Let me respectively suggest you need to talk to a good real estate lawyer before you go in the landlord business ! Respectively maybe some of your idea's are why you are having a hard time getting a marina managers job. You would scare me to death as a owner interviewing you. My first thought would be if I hire this guy I will need to hire a full time lawyer as well.  I will end here and I do not want to start a tit for tat responses so just let me say I would never sign one of your contracts so I will never be in a marina you may manage. Good Luck in you job pursuit !!

 

[letterman]

your right Pete

I see Ross is on your side here so, you win. You are right. I am wrong.

 

[tweitz]

Nuts

Most of what is being written is acting as if the marina is the government and you don't want the government interfering in your lives. But most marinas are private property and there is no reason the marina owner can't decide the terms under which he will rent his property or allow its use. If he only want ugly boats that's his right. If he wants a clean boat rule,that's his right. When you decide to use the marina, you sign a contract and the rules are the rules -- get over it. This started with the question of what the marina should do about badly maintained boats. If my marina was filled with eyesores, I would look for another one. Those who think they are arguing a libertarian position by mandating what a marina owner can do with his property need to think again.