I've started this thread to discuss and chronicle the issues that arise or have already arisen due to my five years having lived aboard the 42 foot ferro-cement Samson design ketch-rigged sloop the Miss Liberty, hailing from Clearwater Beach, Pinellas County, Tampa Area, Florida. Unfortunately at the time of this posting, her current condition is pretty bad, as is the legal situation I find myself in as a result of that condition. I have been forced to plead guilty to a charge of "derelict/abandoned vessel" mind you I was not responsible for her current condition, nor have I abandoned her even now. I have been sentenced to 65 days in jail SO FAR, a year probation which I have to pay a maintenance fee, 40/month I think, 450$ court fee, and as a condition of the probation I have to remove the boat within 150 days, or I will be sentenced to a YEAR in prison. The Miss Liberty was stripped, which is how she ended up in her current situation, which is a six-foot keel hard aground in 2-3 feet of water, sunk about 200 yards shoreward of serviceable water. I have about 25 more days in which I intend to appeal the decision in hopes of reversing the guilty plea, which I only put in after it became clear that Pasco County was going to do everything they could to railroad me in an attempt to squeeze every penny they could out of me with no regard to my civil rights or a sense of fair play. With that background, let the discussions and advice commence!