# squatting washed up boats



## Cracker

There's a shitload of boats washed up everywhere in Florida after the hurricane. Even when there isn't a hurricane there's abandoned boats all over. If you could paddle to them on a raft or kayak or something they would be a great place to squat. I'm living on a boat right now and there's a giant houseboat washed up right next to me it would be an awesome place I would think even though it is kind of slanted so you might have to level the floor. Many of these boats don't get removed for years.


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## vannevar

pm me!!!!!! this has been a dream of mine for ages!!!!


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## OutsideYourWorld

So are people just claiming insurance and forgetting about them, or what?


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## Will Wood

You may need to remove any identification numbers on the boat?


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## Hazardoussix6six

dude that's so awesome.

now I finally have a reason to go back to Florida!


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## Hazardoussix6six

Cracker said:


> There's a shitload of boats washed up everywhere in Florida after the hurricane. Even when there isn't a hurricane there's abandoned boats all over. If you could paddle to them on a raft or kayak or something they would be a great place to squat. I'm living on a boat right now and there's a giant houseboat washed up right next to me it would be an awesome place I would think even though it is kind of slanted so you might have to level the floor. Many of these boats don't get removed for years.


got any pics of your current boat squat?!
Really intrigued by this, might pass thru after NOLA, and check things out


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## Cracker

OutsideYourWorld said:


> So are people just claiming insurance and forgetting about them, or what?



Could be but most of them are older boats that were clearly neglected and then came loose and drifted.



Will Wood said:


> You may need to remove any identification numbers on the boat?



yeh I guess but you shouldn't have to worry too much about that, no one is coming back for most of these boats. Getting back and forth to some of these boats would be the hard part but sometimes they are pretty easy to get to. Most do require a raft or kayak or some kind of dinghy to get to.

There are also a ton of little islands all over. In the summer in florida its rough cuz the no-see-ums and the mosquitos. But in the winter it's great!


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## Cracker

Hazardoussix6six said:


> got any pics of your current boat squat?!
> Really intrigued by this, might pass thru after NOLA, and check things out



I'm living on a 24ft sailboat I bought before hurricane irma for cheap, I just got a job I start in the morning so I'll be able to buy some shit for it soon and I'm gonna try to sail it around Florida. I'll bet there's some similar washed up boats in NOLA but we especially have alot here in FL because of hurricane irma


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## Coywolf

Hazardoussix6six said:


> dude that's so awesome.
> 
> now I finally have a reason to go back to Florida!



The ONLY reason to ever go TO Florida.....

I wonder what the process is for claiming an abandoned boat as your own. Somewhat like an abandoned vehicle, i guess?

This is bad ass man, I want to squat a effing boat....


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## Hazardoussix6six

sweet boat man! 
would love to sail around Florida. never been on the open seas for any length of time. sounds so rad


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## Dmac

That houseboat could be gotten level easy enough. There are a few videos about how to salvage/float a half submerged boat online. Hmmmm


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## iONik

nice boat does it have an inboard motor or you just run with sails only? how many knots can you get out of her?

here was the boat that i lived on for a while its a triton 24 built in launceston tasmania.


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## Matt Derrick

boat salvage is a legitimate way of obtaining a boat for near to nothing, and it's actually very legal. not sure what the process is for it, but i've seen people (mostly salvage companies) do it all the time in key west.


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## Cracker

iONik said:


> nice boat does it have an inboard motor or you just run with sails only? how many knots can you get out of her?
> 
> here was the boat that i lived on for a while its a triton 24 built in launceston tasmania.



That's a cool boat very similar to mine, I have an old 8hp outboard that I use on it. I've only sailed pretty slowly on it so far. But winter time here in florida is also the windy season and best for sailing so I can't wait to sail more often. There's alot of old hardware and stuff that kinda worries me, I wouldn't want to push it quite yet. I got a job just two days ago assembling power boats so I can make some cash to pay for some new stuff. I bet australia is fucken awesome hope to visit there someday.



Matt Derrick said:


> boat salvage is a legitimate way of obtaining a boat for near to nothing, and it's actually very legal. not sure what the process is for it, but i've seen people (mostly salvage companies) do it all the time in key west.



Here's the actual laws on that: http://myfwc.com/boating/waterway/derelict-vessels/claims-process-faqs/
Good luck doing it that way, and if you do your gonna spend alot of money with no guarantees. However, If you could tow the boat to somewheres private lol and make some modifications like removing the serial number. You could maybe, sort of, possibly claim you built the boat and get a title for it that way. Otherwise it's like riding in a stolen car, because Florida considers it is a stolen boat. You can find cheap old boats on craigslist like the one I have fairly easily enough.


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## iONik

i would recommend stress testing your boat in atleast 35 knots with as much sail up as you can might aswell break something you can fix before your in a big storm with no mast. 

its great for sailing over here especially the east coast and Tasmania.


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## Cracker

iONik said:


> i would recommend stress testing your boat in atleast 35 knots with as much sail up as you can might aswell break something you can fix before your in a big storm with no mast.
> 
> its great for sailing over here especially the east coast and Tasmania.



That's awesome advice! I will definitely do that!


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## Rich

I just read over the laws to obtain an abandoned vessel and I think that is completely worth it. $300 for a boat that no one is looking for? And even if the owner was contacted it's not like they put a lot of work in trying to get it back in the first place. Of course if you find a truly wrecked boat I suppose you could just strip it for salvageable parts. To me that's the same as collecting aluminum cans for a few bucks. Getting paid to help clean up litter.


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## Matt Derrick

Rich said:


> I just read over the laws to obtain an abandoned vessel and I think that is completely worth it. $300 for a boat that no one is looking for? And even if the owner was contacted it's not like they put a lot of work in trying to get it back in the first place. Of course if you find a truly wrecked boat I suppose you could just strip it for salvageable parts. To me that's the same as collecting aluminum cans for a few bucks. Getting paid to help clean up litter.



I agree as well, and keep in mind that's just for Florida. I'm sure the rules change by state and what state/country the boat is registered in. Also, like others mentioned, you could just strip it down for parts or strip the Vin and register it as a rebuilt boat. I've seen plenty of people do that. I mean, if you tell them you got the hull from a junkyard they're not going to make you track down the previous owner any more than they would with a rebuilt car.


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## tony longshanks

I was sort of permission squatting a beautiful 1948 Chris Craft motorboat in Northern California recently, until the local sheriff came and towed most of the boats away from our boat yard, designating them "marine debris."

I joked to a friend, "I have been classified as marine debris by the Marin County sheriff deputy."


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## 1CannaBliss3

Cracker said:


> That's a cool boat very similar to mine, I have an old 8hp outboard that I use on it. I've only sailed pretty slowly on it so far. But winter time here in florida is also the windy season and best for sailing so I can't wait to sail more often. There's alot of old hardware and stuff that kinda worries me, I wouldn't want to push it quite yet. I got a job just two days ago assembling power boats so I can make some cash to pay for some new stuff. I bet australia is fucken awesome hope to visit there someday.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's the actual laws on that: Abandoned Vessel Claims Process FAQs - http://myfwc.com/boating/waterway/derelict-vessels/claims-process-faqs/
> Good luck doing it that way, and if you do your gonna spend alot of money with no guarantees. However, If you could tow the boat to somewheres private lol and make some modifications like removing the serial number. You could maybe, sort of, possibly claim you built the boat and get a title for it that way. Otherwise it's like riding in a stolen car, because Florida considers it is a stolen boat. You can find cheap old boats on craigslist like the one I have fairly easily enough.



Abandoned vessels in international waters you can claim for no fee. Just have it on record that you did a title search. I think it's $49 or something. Even if there are no #'s on ot. Do it anyway so it's on record that you did it & nothing turned up in the database. International waters is 60-65 nu mi off Key West right? Well there you. Tow it out, "find it" tow back in under salvage rights laws. Google maritime laws for international water salvage rights & you should be good. Having to pay a mainland gov fee on a clearly abandon piece of property the original owner & the gov does not care about, of course until you want it, is ridiculousness.


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## Dameon

1CannaBliss3 said:


> Tow it out, "find it" tow back in under salvage rights laws. Google maritime laws for international water salvage rights & you should be good. Having to pay a mainland gov fee on a clearly abandon piece of property the original owner & the gov does not care about, of course until you want it, is ridiculousness.


This is not how salvage works, unfortunately. First off, the boat needs to be in actual peril, as in headed for rocks (a sandy beach is not peril for a boat). Secondly, you don't get the boat; after salvage, you're able to place a salvage lien on the boat, which means that the boat's owner owes you a certain amount of money for your salvaging service. If it worked the way you're thinking, anybody could steal a boat, tow it out to international waters, tow it back, and boom it's theirs.


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## 1CannaBliss3

Dameon said:


> This is not how salvage works, unfortunately. First off, the boat needs to be in actual peril, as in headed for rocks (a sandy beach is not peril for a boat). Secondly, you don't get the boat; after salvage, you're able to place a salvage lien on the boat, which means that the boat's owner owes you a certain amount of money for your salvaging service. If it worked the way you're thinking, anybody could steal a boat, tow it out to international waters, tow it back, and boom it's theirs.



Well that's good to know. What if the owner does not exist nor one can be found? Which of course would be done before you claim rights on it.


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## Dameon

1CannaBliss3 said:


> Well that's good to know. What if the owner does not exist nor one can be found? Which of course would be done before you claim rights on it.


The boat will have identifying information and can always be traced back to somebody that has legal claim on it, but honestly if it's such a crap boat that it's been abandoned that completely it's not even worth wanting to claim. There's an old saying in the boat community..."no such thing as a free boat." Free boats are a dime a dozen if you don't care how crap they are.


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## 1CannaBliss3

Dameon said:


> The boat will have identifying information and can always be traced back to somebody that has legal claim on it, but honestly if it's such a crap boat that it's been abandoned that completely it's not even worth wanting to claim. There's an old saying in the boat community..."no such thing as a free boat." Free boats are a dime a dozen if you don't care how crap they are.


Thanks for your advice. I really appreciate it.


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## Nickseck

Cracker said:


> There's a shitload of boats washed up everywhere in Florida after the hurricane. Even when there isn't a hurricane there's abandoned boats all over. If you could paddle to them on a raft or kayak or something they would be a great place to squat. I'm living on a boat right now and there's a giant houseboat washed up right next to me it would be an awesome place I would think even though it is kind of slanted so you might have to level the floor. Many of these boats don't get removed for years.


Any specific areas to check out? I’ll be traveling to Florida soon and I love this idea


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