Lowest price livaboard marinas in SW Florida

[Audiguy]

I will soon be moving my Freedom 32 from on the hard in Punta Gorda Florida and am looking for a best kept secret Marina with low prices for live aboards.

So far the best I can find is the Paradise Marina at $8.50ft plus $135 additional for liveaboards.

Does any one have any other recommendations? We would go anywhere from Punta Gorda to the Keys....

Thanks

[Dan316]

Okeechobee

[Audiguy]

I googled "Okeechobee" and found that there is no specific marina by that name. There are, however 12 marinas on Lake Okeechobee which appears to be closer to the east coast of Florida....

Can you be a little more specific? Can it be reached by ocean or ICW only?

Thanks

[fishin4bogey]

Wow!!! Only $8.50 a foot!!!! It's 18-22 a foot here on the east coast, plus live aboard fees.

I need to move.....

[Dan316]

okeechobee lake. Some super cheep places on the north side.

Wow!!! Only $8.50 a foot!!!! It's 18-22 a foot here on the east coast, plus live aboard fees.

I need to move.....

We are on the east coast, and pay $10 per, plus $150 live aboard fee.

[fishin4bogey]

Where on the east coast? I'm down here in Fort Lauderdale, and have yet to find prices that cheap.

[jcapo]

The Muni marina here in Titusville is $10 plus a liveaboard fee. I'm not sure what that is.

And that's cheap compared to the $17 I was paying when I left Dania in 2010. And that was down from the $22 that the rate at that marina had slowly risen to over the years. The rate went to $22 just when the housing bubble popped and the marina emptied. The rate went back down "Due to Economic Conditions" so the notice taped on the office door read.

[fishin4bogey]

Yep! Royale Palm Marina!! Depending if it's in or out of season $17-22 per foot. Harbour Towne is banging me for $400.00 a month for a 23' Dusky center console.

[Dulcesuenos]

Caloosa marina near marco / Ft myers. Has some inside slips for 300 mo. Nice area .

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[gah964]

look up prosperity point Ft Myers fl I paid 300 a month for 30ft may have gone up a little but they are hurting.

[Kathy Cat]

Hi,
I'm new to forums so am not sure if I am posting the question in the right place to get the best feedback however as it is about a Live aboard, I thought I would start here. Please be kind and direct me to the correct forum or thread if I am in the wrong place.
Anyway, here is what I would like to know: I would like to start a delivery service using my live aboard for goods & services but nothing involving hauling people. Can you run a business from your live aboard just as you can have a business office in a land home? If so, besides the normal requirement of owning a business, is there any other special license needed to operate they business on the water? Is your business taxed as if you were on land? If not how is it taxed and by who?
Anyone have experience with doing such in Pinellas County?

[skipmac]

Hi KC and welcome to the forum.

Not sure if this is the right or wrong section of Cruisers Forum to post this question but it would be considered more correct to start a new thread to introduce a question or topic significantly different from the original question. Called hijacking and you will now be criticized severely for the rest of your life for such an awful transgression.

Only kidding of course, you are forgiven and it's not exactly a horrible faux pas and I promise no one else will be so rude as to mention it like I did.

Then as to your question. As far as I know Florida has no special requirements for operating a business from a boat. Boat or building you would have to comply with any local zoning restrictions. So an area zoned residential you would have restrictions on what kind of business you could operate, for example no retail sales.

If you are living aboard in a marina you would also need to check their rules. If the business involves customers coming back and forth to your boat that might be a problem. Many marinas restrict access to boat owners and guests only. I don't think a string of customers would be welcome.

When you say delivery service, do you mean you would use your boat to deliver goods around the area? Unless there's some special circumstance that doesn't sound like it would be a low cost method of delivering things.

[Kathy Cat]

OOPs. Sorry about that Skip Mac and others. Still trying to figure out how to post new threads under live aboard forum. Is there a help section I missed? Forums are new to me. Please advise so I can switch over to where I should be. Thanks

In case I get lost on this site Skip Mac, as for the delivery, I would actually anchor away from the marina in a few different location throughout my open business hours according to a set schedule and boaters could pick up what they ordered or if they are anchored close by my location at that time, or even on land or at a public dock, I could have their items delivered by small skiff, inflatable or jet ski so would not really be using much fuel over all and it keeps me from being dock locked so to speak on a daily basis.
Where do I go from here?

[sodaTab]

$300 at the Rivera marina and boat yard in Punta gorda is about the going rate for most here.

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[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Kathy Cat

OOPs. Sorry about that Skip Mac and others. Still trying to figure out how to post new threads under live aboard forum. Is there a help section I missed? Forums are new to me. Please advise so I can switch over to where I should be. Thanks

In case I get lost on this site Skip Mac, as for the delivery, I would actually anchor away from the marina in a few different location throughout my open business hours according to a set schedule and boaters could pick up what they ordered or if they are anchored close by my location at that time, or even on land or at a public dock, I could have their items delivered by small skiff, inflatable or jet ski so would not really be using much fuel over all and it keeps me from being dock locked so to speak on a daily basis.
Where do I go from here?

Too late to apologize. I told you that you are marked for life.

Actually, how to start a new thread isn't extremely obvious. I had to do it a couple of times before I could remember the process. Once you see it, the process is simple, just not obvious how to get there.

From any page in the forum go up to the top left of the screen just under the "Cruisers Forum" logo. Select menu option "Forums" That drops down a list of all the different forum topics. Click on the one that seems appropriate to your question. That will move you to a list of posts under that topic. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see a tiny, little, obscure box to click called "New Topic". Click on that and fill in the blanks on the screen. Tadaaaaa! A new thread is born.

You could start a new thread or just keep on since you have already violated the sacred rules of the forum. You will just have to buy the OP, Audiguy a case of Dom Perignon to demonstrate how contrite you really are for blatantly stealing his thread. Or he might be a nice guy and just forget the whole thing.

Back to your question. Again, as far as I know, there are no special restrictions, permits or licenses for running a business on a boat or using a boat in a business, as long as you are not carrying passengers. I would be very careful on this as even giving someone a lift back to their boat might be construed as carrying passengers under the right circumstances.

What kind of items are you planning to deliver? In general I think most boaters will pick up their own boat parts/groceries/mail/beer unless the items are a long way from a boat dock and they have no car locally.