Anyone here has a boat?
 

Hey all,
It's no secret that I am a day-dreamer. They generally don't pan out but thinking about them is the next best thing.

So, I live alone, telecommute to work (Thanks to the COVID this one dream came true).
So I figure why not sell my house buy a boat big enough for one person to live in and sail the 7 seas.

Is maintaining such a boat prohibitively more expensive than maintaining an average house.

Would appreciate your thoughts and dreams if any.

Thanks in advance.:smile:

Will have to stay within 15 miles of Shore to telecommute via cell network. Satellite phones are not much more expressive than an iPhone and the air time is not too expressive according to my AI-Personal-Assistant (Another dream I thought would never come true).:smile:

The two happiest days in a boat owner's life:

1) The day they buy the boat
2) The day they sell the boat.

[QUOTE=Prime95;550313]The two happiest days in a boat owner's life:

1) The day they buy the boat
2) The day they sell the boat.[/QUOTE]

I remember hearing that on the radio one day. But the same may or may not be true of a house.
This costing blog seems promising:
[url]https://blog.mint.com/consumer-iq/how-much-does-it-really-cost-to-own-a-boat-0713/amp/[/url]

So, can you have a boat offshore in international waters as your main residence?
Do you still need to have a home port?
If not are you exempt from income taxes?
If so, I will really have to look seriously into this.

ETA That saying also reminds me of a tale I have heard:
Iceland has a relatively nice temperate weather and they wanted to discourage too many people from migrating there, hence the name Ice-Land.
Greenland on the other hand is (was) mostly a land of permafrost and they wanted to encourage people to migrate there, hence the name Green-Land.:smile:

[QUOTE=a1call;550311]Will have to stay within 15 miles of Shore to telecommute via cell network. [/QUOTE]Wifi calling via Starlink. Go where ever you want.

I think you would have many problems.
You would have to pay port fees everytime you come to land to buy food.
What would you do if the sea gets too rough?
What would you do if you are attacked?
What would you do if you need to get to hospital?

We have many people living on boats here in the Netherlands,
but they are either moored in a fixed place (like a house),
or they sail the inland waters and canals, transporting cargo.

Other considerations: Residency, mail, and insurance.

Another option would be renting out your house while you sailed the Seven Seas. However, being a landlord has its own headaches. One bad tenant can ruin your property.

There are a fair number of people who have sold their homes and travel the country by RV. It seems that there is an outfit in Arizona that acts as a clearinghouse for vehicle registration and US mail. I learned this from a couple that, instead of selling their home, had been renting it while living across the country, until they decided to return to live for a while before selling the place. I was talking to the guy, and he said before their RV odyssey he had had a job in the Fort Knox area. Geography is definitely not my strong suit, but even I was then prompted to ask why his vehicle had Arizona plates. He explained as indicated above.

In Quebec every year sometime in June it is announced in the news that "today is tax freedom day". Basically around here average Joe works from January 1st till sometime in June just to pay his taxes. Getting exempt from income/property taxes means your earnings just about doubles overnight.:smile:
Plus it costs me about $800 a month in electricity bills in January and February when the High-Temperatures are regularly at less than -20° C (You would want to sail South in winter).
According to my trusty AI-Sidekick, international territorial waters reach a maximum of 12 nautical-miles. So hug the shoreline, 23 km offshore and you are beyond the jurisdiction of any centralized government. No protection or services, but no taxes either.:smile:

But your boat must be registered and you are a citizen of a country. Taxes still apply for funds earned. If you have savings in a bank (or other investments), there are generally taxes associated with that no matter where you are. If you earn money while on the boat registered in a country (which is required if you leave Canada), you are generally considered to have earned that money in that country. Some countries tax citizens living abroad and earning abroad. And if you maintain an address in a country, they may have claims on taxes.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;550370]But your boat must be registered and you are a citizen of a country. Taxes still apply for funds earned. If you have savings in a bank (or other investments), there are generally taxes associated with that no matter where you are. If you earn money while on the boat registered in a country (which is required if you leave Canada), you are generally considered to have earned that money in that country. Some countries tax citizens living abroad and earning abroad. And if you maintain an address in a country, they may have claims on taxes.[/QUOTE]

Hence its better to sell the house than rent it out. That way you have no main address other than the boat. Snail-mail is pretty much obsolete already anyways. Even if you are required to pay federal taxes, there would be no basis for paying provincial/state taxes when your primary residence is international waters. Again, around here the provincial taxes are the much larger chunk (in my case 5 times more).

[QUOTE=a1call;550383]Hence its better to sell the house than rent it out. That way you have no main address other than the boat. Snail-mail is pretty much obsolete already anyways. Even if you are required to pay federal taxes, there would be no basis for paying provincial/state taxes when your primary residence is international waters. Again, around here the provincial taxes are the much larger chunk (in my case 5 times more).[/QUOTE]There are places with no income taxes. If your boat and skills are ocean-worthy, you could shop somewhere other than your nominal citizenship. [url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayman_Islands#Taxation[/url]