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liveaboard Marina del Rey, CA

67K views 25 replies 19 participants last post by  Deep Boat 
#1 ·
Hey,

I want to liveaboard in the marina at Marina del Rey. Not looking to buy but rather rent out a boat (power or sail preferably 30 or longer). Anyone out there know any info about this or know any owners willing to rent out their boat?

Thanks for all your help!
 
#2 ·
Liveaboard in MDR isn't cheap and most marinas there don't allow liveaboards. The average fees run about a G note plus a 50% liveaboard surcharge plus utilities per month. Overlooking the fact that most boaters don't want strangers pawing through their prized possession, all liveaboards must be preapproved and owners are subject to credit checks and an anal probe. The county has it's hands in the mix as well by strickly managing the 5% liveaboard allowance to the marinas. They've been seizing and towing unlicensed liveaboards over the past few years. In the years we lived in MDR, not once did I ever hear of a situation for what you're seeking. Squatters and sneekaboards are quickly reported as legitimate paying boat owners waiting for a liveaboard slip quickly report those that attempt to circumvent the proccess. The biggest issue for someone wanting to "rent", is that liveaboard slips are not transferable or subleasable, being given out to the documented owner of the boat only and they must be the only occupants. I remember seeing FISBO signs on boats stating "comes with liveaboard slip"; which was a complete line of crap as per the rules. The fact is that most marinas see liveaboards as a pain and expense and while taking their money surreptitiously seeking ways to be rid of them. Ultimately, a licensed liveaboard slip is a coveted thing amongst boat OWNERS in California being like the One Ring. Good luck in your endeavors but you'd be better off renting one of the many county owned apartments that infestate MDR.
 
#4 ·
Well When it comes to live a board slips, I have not asked my marina since yesterday. as I remember we can't use bussiness names, and since I would get a $200 discount on my rent for a refferal, I think there is enough here for you to finf them.
1)the boat must be 30 feet or longer.
2) You have to own the boat.
3) There are slips available about 100 from what I'm told.
4)There is a required permit involving an inspection, of the vessel, Insurance, registration, seaworthy & equipment (free)
5)Power and water is free.
6) being located between D & E basins it's a short walk to mothers beach.
7)E basin used to be listed as the only deep water (Safe) in MDR.
I have lived here off and on since 1973.
JC Boyce
 
#7 ·
You're bringing back memories Sea Hunter. I was in A basin for 20 years until the Nazis from Newport Beach took over. Used to be heaven in the 80s. Now I'm over by the Ship's Store. Very mellow management there. As for the OP, yeah it's way tougher than it used to be and you pretty much have to own the boat to liveaboard it. My marina charges 50% bonus, no extra utilities charge.

As for the leases in the Marina, I believe they are mostly owned by Middle Eastern investors.

Mike
 
#9 ·
Apparently, I am denser than even I thought possible. So, are you saying.....exactly what ARE you saying? I'm pretty sure that most of MDR is land leased by the county, otherwise who are the Marina City Club people paying their land lease payments to? I believe that the Silver Strand is actually LA City land. You seem really smart and knowledgeable about this and as a local, I'm just curious.:confused:

Mike
 
#12 · (Edited)
Under federal law, and international treaty only the federal government can spend it use fees ($8 a day for a boat, is to be paid to the national parks department, as set forth in cfr 36 (On going water works projects) article 327.(I think it's 30) search CFR 36 I use the electric CFR.
You are not alone, Most LA county employees think the county owns it, But it seems to take 8 minutes for them to check with someone when I point out their name is going on federal charges, then the discharge the bill, or give the federal agency that actually has jurisdiction
But I will take the quick way, (over 200 years of law covering international, admiralty & Maritime law are not easy to quat.) As we see from the new heath insurance plan, which as the mandatory car insurance back in the 70s, that took my car insurance from $42 to $263 a year in 6 months, were appealed (Law suit filed) which lead to a US Supreme court rulings, Showing that the Supreme court is the final word. which in the case of gibbons v Ogden 1824 (read burgees summory, "I think it was steamships, supreme court and you, I think it was. I can seen you a copy). Where Chief justice Marshal wrote the opinion, stating that a state claiming jurisdiction on a navigable body of water is repugnant to the Constitution of the United states, and the court terminated all contracts issued by New York, Newjerrsy, connecticut, & road Island. (the federal definition of Navigation, is the ability to be used as inter state or national commerous. By a vessel of 10 tons or greater, can take passengers to another state or country it is international comerous).
you can take the new ferry from mothers beach, to fisherman’s village, change boats, take the Catalina express to Avalon, switch to a cruise ship & leave the country.

MDR was the property of the publisher of the LA Times 1884 - 1886, He donated it to the West Chester gun club, Chuck told me he had been run off, by a man on a bulldozer, He couldn't answer why he left knowing the club owned the property.
(If you are a member of a club, & if the club was taken to court and the club property was lost, don't you think members would hear about it? Being an international harbor, It must be under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Listening to the members, it appears the property was stolen, (My ex wife keeps telling me she will file a law suit, as a decendant of a member, or maybe like New York they bought it from the wrong Indians (I will skip the Indians claim on the area), Under the law since 1972 Pacific coast, 11th district, harbor 80.1118, Marina del rey (Name changed in 1961 by US Congress see letter west marine history in Fiji store.

How am I sure, It is a federal crime to file incorrect charges, & I'm still here. I have filed charges against anyone not a federal official claiming jurisdiction of an international harbor claimed in CODE OF FEDERAL regs title 33 section 80. including but not limited to, Consperiousy to defraud the federal government of an estimated one trillion dollars(I put in for the 15 to 30% federal bounty on federal funds), violation of 2 articles 3 sections US Constitution, 2 international treaties, 3 rulings of congress between 1993 - 2000, CFR 5, 18, 28. 33, 36, 41 Leases of federal land), 46 Shipping, 49 National parks land, impersonating a federal official, impersonating a federal officer in time of war (CFR 36 327.22), fraud, impeding the order of a federal officer, A CONGRESSIONAL CHARGE OF NEGLEGINCE (the atomic bomb of admiralty law), and many more, Oh yea I filed a complaint with the District commander stating the USCGA was teaching MDR was teaching MDR is California waters. the head of the local USCGA "who I don't think is back to using a chair" told me "he was sure, I was mistaken KNOWONE COULD BE THAT STUPIDE" .

Every ticket issued to my since 1979 was dismissed except a parking ticket I paid, because I did not have the time, even the other parking ticket was dismissed. Granted I spend 5000 hours, fighting a ticket or bill. By the way the USCG pointed out the divorce issued by the state of calf is not valid because I don’t live in the state, so the state didn’t have the authority to grant the divorce. I beleave I was in 2503 in 1973, so next year though I had worked for the Boat works before that.
JC Boyce

By the way property tax bills when contested, they were dismissed ( told them I would pay them as soon as they told me were the money was turned over to the us treasury department, the state tax bill was dismised and they appologized saying the LA county tax collector sent them incorrect information. I live on my boat, not a calif res. the boat is documented (federal property, sold in the state of verinia, and it wasn't worth what they claimed.

If prossecuted by the US Congress, the combined laws I have read since my history teacher told us MDR is not part of the state of calif.
I came up with about 6.6 life times per person. The
odd what changes when as the constitution,supreme court, and 3 rulling of congress 93-00 said the pertection of the us constitution ends at the median tide line & all bodies of water as fare as they can be navigated are the juristdiction of the us congress(Congress said thier law enforcment atm the USCG. )
 
#14 ·
Hello,

I was wondering if you could give me a quick rundown of a liveaboard situation. I've been doing my research but I am still very confused about all the rules and fees.

It has always been my dream to live on a boat by myself so here is the ideal situation:

If I own my own boat, how realistic is it to live on it in Marina Del Rey or neighboring marina in Los Angeles? I understand I need a permit and pay a monthly docking fee with utilities but what else is so tricky about it?


Thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate the advice.

Also, I am a young professional female - do you think it would be safe or me to live alone on a boat?
 
#15 ·
Hello,

I was wondering if you could give me a quick rundown of a liveaboard situation. I've been doing my research but I am still very confused about all the rules and fees.

It has always been my dream to live on a boat by myself so here is the ideal situation:

If I own my own boat, how realistic is it to live on it in Marina Del Rey or neighboring marina in Los Angeles? I understand I need a permit and pay a monthly docking fee with utilities but what else is so tricky about it?

Thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate the advice.

Also, I am a young professional female - do you think it would be safe or me to live alone on a boat?
If you are dead set on living aboard anywhere in SoCal, your only real options are the marinas up the shipping channel in Wilmington. Even so, you'd still have to buy your own boat. But, there are plenty of repos available for sale throughout the Long Beach/Wilmington areas.

However, you will not be able to walk in and state that you're going to live aboard for reasons stated earlier in this thread.

My advice would be to buy a boat in Wilmington and spend 3 or 4 nights a week on it, which is legal to do as the boat owner, while you get accustomed to boat living. It may sound romantic, but it's not for everyone. It's a relatively small living area, things get wet, it can get cold in the winter, and hot in the summer, there can be a lot of noise on the dock on weekends, etc.

As to safety, the truth is that Wilmington marinas aren't going to be as "safe" as a downtown Long Beach slip would be. But, safety is relative. My boat is at Leeward Bay marina and I used to routinely spend 3 or 4 nights a week on the boat when I was working nearby, and I never encountered any problems as far as my personal safety was concerned. And I never had anything stolen off my boat, but I didn't leave anything out that would tempt a thief. Being female would probably necessitate further cautions.

Hope this helps...Here's the view from my stern:
 

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#16 ·
I would suggest you wait until you can move to some place that is more welcoming to liveaboards than California.
Places like Charleston, SC and many places in the Chesapeake, RI and Fla are a lot more open and friendly to liveaboards. Most of the marinas I've lived at have actually valued my presence, not charged me excessively to be one of their 24 hour 'free' security guys.
I haven't lived aboard in Cal since 1970, but even then, they were doing all they could legally and a bit beyond legally, to discourage liveaboards.
 
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#23 ·
Hi John,
What I know about MDR I have learned from reading this thread, but what you described is not a liveaboard situation. It is a visit your boat for two day situation. Most marinas allow you to spend X number of nights aboard per week. The idea being they want to know you don't live aboard. If you were to spend 2-3 or even 4 nights a week onboard you should not have a problem.

When browsing used boats I always see smaller boats for sale cheap in MDR. You might be able to find a boat 25-30 feet for cheap that might work for what you describe.
 
#21 ·
We are in Newmark's. They can be liberal, to a degree. Annie, the marina manager, can be a force to be reckoned with if you cross her, but she is "good people". I think they may have a few open slots for liveaboards, so you might want to give her a call.

As far as safety goes, we've been there six years, and they have really cleaned out the riffraff. We have never felt anything but safe there. There are homeless that wander about, but they know better than to bother anyone. There is a lot of old-school knowledge from good people there. Rates are reasonable and we have a lot of latitude to work on our boat, as needed. We're getting ready for the South Pacific, so this is a great help to us.
 
#22 ·
Before I answer, I want you to know I just (September + October 2016) put in weeks worth of work visiting each and every marina and getting to know dock masters as best as possible to investigate the situation (I am trying to move my liveaboard into MDR).

I'll come right out with the bad news - it's not going to happen unless you find an illegal LAB situation on craiglist, or you can buy a 35'+ newer boat from a liveaboard with prior approval already in MDR.

There's two major hoops to jump through:

1) Every marina requires at least 35 foot or larger to liveaboard on, a handful of the marinas require 40 foot or larger. They won't settle for a pre-90's boats: it needs to look clean, new, and well cared for. There will usually be wait lists for slips that size, so the way in is to buy a boat that is already in the desired marina. They are looking for boats that improve the marine via presence of your guests and visual aesthetic of the boat. MDR isn't just about boating anymore, it's transitioning to a "see and be seen" high-profile location. Basins are filled with high rise apartments and the celebrity yacht charters are more common. The marinas are upgrading to many more 60-100' slips to accommodate the wealth in LA.

2) All of MDR is under major construction where about 10-20% of the harbor is going to be under construction for the next several years. While they renovate the marinas, most are being bought by apartment complexes (ie commercial/residential real estate investors) and the thought of liveaboards to them is a nightmare. That's probably because they don't realize the value of good liveaboards, but it doesn't matter.
So while the construction zones clear out a few marinas at a time, all of THOSE boats are moved around and pushing the other existing marinas to over-capacity.


It's so bad, I got put on one waiting list as the 460th person at one of the (dumpier) marinas. I went to every single marina in person because if you call on the phone they'll simply say no - they get a phone call every 20 minutes all day long asking for liveaboard slips/boats. The game is to show up dressed well with a smile on your face and good photos of your boat. I've been sailing in MDR for more than 10 years and tried to speak to that, and living for more than 4 years already on my sailboat, and not being an outsider, etc. Some dock masters laughed in my face because of the circumstances in MDR, others were very friendly and offered resourceful information to help.

The thing I heard most was to try Wilmington, Ventura or Oxnard if you want to live on a sailboat.

I do know scenarios exist where someone owns 27'-30' boat and want a "boat partner" to split the monthly costs, and if you're nice enough you could probably work out a way to sleep there on Thursdays or Fridays and let them use it on Saturday and Sundays but that might get uncomfortable with kids, too. Also, the dockmasters have eyes and ears and would likely kick out the boat owner.

I will say MDR is significantly nicer than the past few decades and the proximity to everything in LA is unbeatable for the cost of a slip fee, that's probably the source of demand for liveaboard slips.
 
#24 ·
Hi there! I've been trawling through the posts here, but am a bit confused as I feel like I'm a bit in between. I'm a jazz singer coming to record an album nearby in July, l live on a continuous cruiser canal boat with my husband, and was hoping to rent a boat for the month there, not even to take out, just to be in the marina, and my husband will be finishing his sailing license so all seemed very kosher. it sounds like that's illegal though?
 
#25 · (Edited)
It's not criminal but civil, such usage violates several provisions in the slip lease agreement that may result in the eviction of boat and owner from the marina. Most companies that can charter a boat legally do not do so for liveaboard use, if the boat is less than 35' and less than $6,000 for a month it's probably dubious.
Some ASA schools do offer liveaboard programs so if it's through a school it may be legit, I wasn't aware of such in MDR, should be expensive.
 
#26 ·
Actually Marina del Rey is not owned by the County of Los Angeles. I know that many people think this is the case but it is not true. There was a case that went before the US Supreme Court in 1984 and the ruling in that case was essentially that "There are no Public Trust Servitudes in any lands in California that were previously included as part of a Mexican Land Grant". So the actual truth of the matter is that Marina del Rey is owned by the heirs of the owners of the Rancho Ballona Spanish Land Grant. The problem is that by the time this case went before the US Supreme Court (in 1984) the true owners had long since been duped into the erroneous belief that they had lost their land for various reasons. The case was started in about 1965, and it was between two parties who were not the actual owners of the property, Howard Hughes and the City of Los Angeles - the true owners were never served in the case. The entire purpose of the case was to defraud the true owners of their land. If you take a look at the L.A. County Tax Assessors website you can see for yourself who owns the land, and as well the land under the waters of MdR
You can find the case here U.S. Supreme Court. Summa Corp. v. Cal. State Lands Comm'n, 466 U.S. 198 (1984). Believe it or not this is the truth about MdR... the County does not own it - they are only managing it until the true owners show up to claim what is theirs. In truth the County of L.A. doesn't have the legal authority to put in a gumball machine in MdR. One thing the County seems to do is they hire people to manage MdR who do not have the literacy level to be able to read and understand the types of things being discussed here - and so the situation perpetuates.
When the case got before the US Supreme Court the US Solicitor General made accusations that the entire case was a fraud. In an amicus curie brief the U.S. Solicitor General wrote a scathing critique of the situation:.
He wrote among other things, "The City of Los Angeles and the State of California nevertheless asserted the right to dredge the lagoon, construct sea walls, make other improvements therein, and open it to public navigation, fishing and recreation, all without exercising the power of eminent domain, and instituted judicial proceedings in state court to vindicate these claims."
Hence the U.S. Solicitor General is telling you that the entire court case was a sham that was designed to defraud the true owners of their property.
So, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision of the California high Court, and they remanded the case back to the US Supreme Court with orders that they finish out the case in ways not in conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Remand to the California high Court, they simply remanded the case back down to the California Court of Appeals. Now it was 1988. At that time the parties wanted to settle the case and have it go away, but the California Court of Appeals recognized that there existed true owners of the property who were never served in the original case and so they refused to dismiss the case. Instead the California Court of Appeals remanded the case back to the trial Court (with orders that they finish out the case in ways not in conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court), and as far as I have been able to figure out... nothing was done.
[You can read the California High Court decision as the case is on remand in 1988 here:
I just realized I cannot post links in here but you can Google the Title to find it:
The title of the case was changed back to the original title as it was when it was filed in 1964:
City of Los Angeles v. Venice Peninsula Properties (1988)
[No. B034790. Court of Appeals of California, Second Appellate District, Division Two. November 22, 1988.]]
One interesting aspect to all of this has to do with the way the land that is now Marina del Rey is claimed to be part of the unincorporated areas of the County of L.A.... the problem with this is that at the time the case was filed the land of Marina del Rey was a part of the City of L.A. and not unincorporated. In fact in the US Supreme Court opinion the High Court states that the land in question is a part of the City of L.A.. Therefore it would seem that the process of separating the property away from the city and calling it a part of the county would be part of what has been reversed by the US Supreme Court. Any action that is in conflict with the decision and opinion of the US Supreme Court must be corrected on remand, and it seems clear that the County's claim to the land hinges upon the land being not a part of the City of L.A. Hence the County of L.A. does not own Marina del Rey.
If you are thinking that all this is rather confusing you would be correct - there are many layers to this - it is not exactly light summer reading, that is for sure. However this is what it is - this is the truth here... this is the law... the decision of the United States Supreme Court is the law, and any attempt to undermine that is illegal. It seems to me that the State of California is in Contempt of Court of the U.S. Supreme Court due to the fact that they have failed to finish out the case in ways not in conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court.
One final thought: Most people are probably not aware of the fact that the reason the U.S. Constitution came into existance in the first place had to due with boating. They needed to come up with a uniform way to regulate the ports on the East Coast. The various states had gotten involved in some practices that had grown out of control, such as impounding boats from other states, forcing boats to come into their ports, and then taxing boats and their cargo. This escalated until it became necessary for all the state to come together and agree to have uniform laws for all the ports.
From the U.S. Constitution Article 1, Section 9, Claus 6:
"No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear or pay Duties in another. " Note: Recreational boating has been held to fall into the same category as commercial boating when it come to these rights. I understand that this may be getting a little confusing to some. however the bottom line is this: The reason we have a constituiton in the first place came from boating and from the need to regulate the ports. They met in Annappolis Maryland - at that time there were present only representitives from 4 states at that meeting, so they really could not take any final actions but the meeting was fruitful and positive and so they decided to meet again the very next summer in Philadelphia, and from that grew the most important document in the history of mankind, that we know of anyway - yes this is how the U.S. Constitution was born, and it all started with boats.... and therefore boating is a right that is derived from the very fabric of the Constitution itself. Boating is a Constitutional Right. These are not privileges - these are rights that have already been secured for us long ago, at the inception of our nation. Now it seems to me that the steam engine came along, and subsequently the automobile... it seems that somewhere between then and now the fact that boating is a right became forgotten or was lost on the masses.
I would imagine that today 100% of the people know that if you want to drive a car at night you must have working headlights, and at all times one must have working brake lights, and so forth. Well I imagine that 200 years ago everyone just sort of knew that boating was a right that could not lightly be curtailed. What must have been common knowledge during say the 1800's seems to have been forgotten.
BACK TO LIVE ABOARDS it is interesting (or sad) the way that some of the so called "dock masters", and the so called private marinas or harbors (slip rental businesses) have adopted this rather bizarre attitude where they seem to want to limit what people can do on their boats. Various people write to these forums about the hurdles of getting a live aboard boat slip.... they want a person to own the boat, or they want a person to have a boat of a certain length or of a certain quality or look. Then boaters are forced to make the choice between trying to be in full "compliance" - that is to become an official liveaboard and pay the extra fees and so forth... this certianly has some pluses, but then there are some who because of all the hurdles will chose to "sneak aboard" and go that route, and there are some interesting thoughts and arguments for chosing that route. However I believe that as a group we are all missing the point - which is that boating is a Constitutional Right. Why should there be a distintoin bewteen liveaboard and non liveaboard? How is it the business of any harbor to tell a person what they can or cannot do on their boat or how many nights a month they are allowed to enjoy it? I think that the way to approach this is for everyone to undrestand that it is the unfortunate thinking of people who do not understand the true law that has gotten us to this place. These various dockmasters and harbors and certain people who have put themselves in charge often paint a picture that would suggest that boaters are breaking the law for wanting to enjoy their own boat on their own terms. If somebody wants to hang out on their boat 24/7 I don't see how it could be anybody else's business. They want to make it seem as if it is a crime for a person to exist on their boat whenever they want. Well I for one don't see how that could be a crime when boating is a constitutional right. There is one thing that is definitely a crime that most people are unaware of, and that it this: It is not just a crime - For it is a felony and federal crime to violate or deprive citizens of their constitutionally protected rights. So maybe we should be looking at things differently.
There have been controlling cases that hold that the Public has a right to not be encumbered by private interests in a navigable waterway
 
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