Free Republic

Just a few questions for freepers. I'm looking into buying a houseboat here in NYC, and I've never bought or owned a boat before, what do I need to know. I.E. Do I need to have insurance, or some kind of drivers licience or an equivalent of it?What are slip fee's usually for docking a boat at the marina's in New York?Is it hard to find a place to dock the boat?Is there laws about living on the boat?What kind of permits do I need, and how do I register ownership of the boat, is there an agency or something...

Another working man's boating disaster is on the way. The economy is good; but the high prices of marina fuel, marina slips, boat insurance, maintenance, is going to kill boating for a lot of working people starting this coming season. I see a repeat of the early 1990s, when I moved from the Boston area to Boston's south shore. I went to a local marina and asked to get on a waiting list for a boat slip, I knew it would take years to get in. I was laughed at, the marina operator told me he had a waiting list...