Thinking about moving to South Carolina

[ben2go]

If your boat is USCG documented, you don't have to register with the state agency which is DNR. Also taxed by the county the person lives in or keeps the boat in.


https://www.dnr.sc.gov/boating/Titling_and_Registration/Documented_Vessels.html

 

[MOJO]

In addition to the tax, South Carolina is too far north. The state has numerous signs like this one:

 

[Flatswing]

That's accurate.

And they send people to every marina and record the info on every boat there. We saw the tax guy at least once every two weeks.

Once you're there past 6 months, you owe the tax.

Not sure if moving marinas helps but given the digital age, I doubt it.

If you move to another marina in a different county, I very much doubt that you will have to pay since the guy that walks the docks in our marina on Hilton Head (sorry, no live aboard) works for the county. Not the state.
But to be fair the tax on boats is still pretty reasonable, my boat pptax is 10% of the taxes I pay on my house even though the boat is worth almost half as much as the house. You will get nickel & dined for the dinghy, the dinghy motor & your vehicles but still the taxes are low here in SC.

 

[jimfrens]

And speaking of tax, I am told SC taxes pension & NC does not.

In NC, social security benefits are not taxed but withdrawals from IRA accounts are taxed. Not sure about private or corporate pensions, not many people have those any more.

 

[ben2go]

What states don't tax boats? I can move. Nothing holding me here anymore, since I became single a few months back, and my kids are grown and gone.

 

[Hippocampus]

Documented in RI. No sales tax on boats. Trivial registration fees on boat/dinghies. Move before other states use and taxes come into play. Hassle is I need to avoid the state where my dirt dwelling is (MA). Have gone through my state without troubles but don’t stay. Not a problem as been there done that enough already. Only come in for fuel or anchor for sleep when in MA waters. Otherwise we’re just fine. Spent last winter mostly in Hilton Head. Wasn’t taxed or paid use fee. With the normal short cruising trips never got close to residency thresholds. Savanna is nice but don’t think much of the rest of GA. Parts of NC are pleasant but much isn’t.

Like many east coast states SC has three distinct climates. Coastal, coastal low country plains and inland. Don’t much need to worry about bridges freezing when coastal. Never saw the sign posted when we drove around except inland. Winter clothes stayed vacuum bagged or in the hanging locker.

 

[psneeld]

Coastal SC and even Georgia can get freezes for 2 overnights with barely above freezing for the day in between.

Thus broken water pipes on docks and in exposed parts of a boat

Not every year but some.

 

[Larry M]

Coastal SC and even Georgia can get freezes for 2 overnights with barely above freezing for the day in between...

We were in Jacksonville, FL last winter. In December, we had 5 nights in a row below freezing with one night at 20. It was a definite brrrr.

 

[Hippocampus]

Surprisingly hard to research. Best I could find since 1981 an average of 17 days of air temperature dipping below freezing per year. Water temperature doesn’t. Consecutive days of air temperature below freezing once per decade. From NOAA seems about the same for Georgia and northern Florida. So water supply from marinas run in the air and maybe shut down. Winterizing boats probably not necessary. Have limited experience but it was a topic of conversation on the dock. Know we ran the hydronic heat maybe 8-10 days for an hour before bed and a hour upon awakening. Wasn’t necessary during the day. Also ran reverse AC but don’t recall enough to give an estimate of number of days. Didn’t winterize. Dock talk suggested this was typical. Spent ~1/2 hour looking but couldn’t find specific data for 2013-2023. Will look some more when I get a chance.

 

[ben2go]

We never winterize our boats in SC. I'm in the upstate near the mountains where we get snow almost every year. Our lakes freeze over with a thin layer of surface ice. We never winterize, at least I don't know anyone that does. Some marinas use PEX or other semi-flexible plumbing to prevent freeze bursts during winter. I'm sure it does happen during particularly hard winters. I've not heard of anyone suffering any problems. We rarely stay below freezing more than a few days. I know boat on the hard that have standing water get slush in them but I haven't heard of anyone getting damage from it.

 

[psneeld]

Boat Winterization in SC near Charleston & Columbia

2. Drain the water out of the engine to prevent water from freezing and cracking the engine block.
3. Spray fogging oil into the engine to lubricate the internal components to keep them from rusting.
4. Drain the freshwater system (if applicable) and put non-toxic antifreeze into the tank and cycle through the system. This prevents any of the freshwater components from being damaged from freezing water.

https://www.marshallsmarine.com/win...,and cycle through the system. ... More items

Advice for boats most likely on the hard, but even boats in the water can have freeze damage in water systems not within the main hull and that have components outside.

 

[Hippocampus]

What Ben2go was the advice I received. We left the boat and returned home for Xmas so can’t personally report weather for the 2 weeks around Xmas/new years. But look at this link for 2022
https://weatherspark.com/h/s/18815/...th-Carolina-United-States#Figures-Temperature
At least that year air temperature was briefly below freezing for part of a day or three but not sustained.

Water temperature
https://seatemperature.info/hilton-head-island-water-temperature.html
Coldest in last decade 49.8.

 

[DBG8492]

Was at a marina in Beaufort for the winter of both 2021 and 2022 on board our sailboat.

It was cold outside and below freezing on a lot of overnights. However, the topic of winterizing never came up among anyone there. We just went about our business.

Granted, most of us there were living aboard and had heaters - at least in the living spaces. I don't know what the folks who just just stored their boats there did. To be honest, we hardly saw any of them - ever.

 

[twistedtree]

I think it's a big difference if you keep the living spaces heated vs a unheated boat.

 

[DBG8492]

I think it's a big difference if you keep the living spaces heated vs a unheated boat.

Absolutely.

Could be that those who only stored boats there were "permanently" winterized... Because I'm not joking when I say that for 80% of the boats there, we never saw anyone at or on them - ever.

 

[psneeld]

I think it's a big difference if you keep the living spaces heated vs a unheated boat.

Very true and also.... in the water or not.... both have a much better chance of no issues.

For others that obviously missed my point was that even some of the pros recommend winterizing when out of the water and not being near enough to the boat to do something if a cold snap hits. Even when in the water, if you do get multiple days/nights freezing temps, outside faucets, cockpit showers and lines in lazarettes under cockpits can crack. Even a tiny fracture in a fixture can be a PIA to find a replacement that fits.

My point started from the bridge freezing sign and I just wanted to know you can have boat damage (depending on the boat) all the way down into/near Florida. Especially truer on the Guld Coast.

Some people think no winterizing necessary and never have a problem...but some do and curse they didn't winterize when they had the chance.

 

[Flatswing]

In Beaufort/Hilton Head area, no one typically winterizes their boats in the water. It provides a large heat sink, so even with cold snaps, not an issue. That said, our marina will disconnect dock hoses and leave all the dock hose bibs running overnight during those rare really cold nights. Those with fancy faucets & sinks on their flybridges need to shut those off & drain. Everything down below is fine but then down here we run AC all summer, so often run reverse heat at lowest setting all winter too.
On the hard for a few weeks, we (& our yard) usually just run an electric oil-filled radiator:
Last winter a cold snap decimated my orange & grapefruit trees. 5 yrs ago we had snow on the ground for a week. Usually daytime 40-60F though.

 

[Hippocampus]

Jeremy-our hot water tank and associated plumbing is in the port lazerette. Also our fresh water tank extends across the forward part. We do have a cockpit shower. Last year left the hot water tank off and didn’t drain it. Did drain the cockpit shower hose but left the fresh water tank untouched while we were away for Xmas. Didn’t leave any heat on. Didn’t do anything to the engine or genset.

Would you do anything further?


Now thinking I might leave the hot water tank on. Would probably put some heat into that compartment. ?opinions?

 

[SteveK]

Hip,
check before and after temp on HW tank. I have not noticed any heat from my HW tank body, just the inlet/outlet lines. Once water is to temp heater turns off, then cycles if needed. Can't hurt and tanks are protected from freezing.

I have electric heaters which work as long as hydro does not fail.

 

[Flatswing]

Jeremy-our hot water tank and associated plumbing is in the port lazerette. Also our fresh water tank extends across the forward part. We do have a cockpit shower. Last year left the hot water tank off and didn’t drain it. Did drain the cockpit shower hose but left the fresh water tank untouched while we were away for Xmas. Didn’t leave any heat on. Didn’t do anything to the engine or genset.

Would you do anything further?

Now thinking I might leave the hot water tank on. Would probably put some heat into that compartment. ?opinions?

In water, even an incandescent light bulb near the supply lines will provide sufficient heat to the lazarette if you are really concerned. I don’t have a way to winterize my cockpit shower so I don’t. The lazarette has lots of sea water exposure on the outside of the hull so the shower supply lines stay well above freezing.

 

[psneeld]

Different vessels have different issues.

My trawler had no lazarette but had an outside transom shower that had its guts in a main stateroom cabinet. I had no worries about it and there were no other freshwater systems outside heated spaces (liveaboard) or the main engine room that was safe while in the water.

But I learned on my liveaboard sportfish, it's lazarette under the cockpit was very open to the outside air and water tanks and lines were susceptible to freezing in short time. That was until I learned where the major openings to the outside were and stuffed them with foam the second winter I owned the boat. On that boat a simple lightbulb wasn't good enough...but a heat lamp on each tank was.

Again my point is wherever you get freezing temps, each boat and each situation needs evaluation beyond a bunch of advice of "I or my neighbors never winterize and never had a problem". It may be just a tad more complicated....depending.

 

[Cargile]

Holy cow. Was half thinking about a move to SC. Forget it.
If I did the math the boat tax might exceed state income tax.

Personal Property Tax is onerous to say the least. But as a conciliation you get "Pedro's South of the Border". Speaks volumes.

 

[Captain_Michael]

I live in Charleston city but in a city part (Daniel Island) that is in a nearby county--Berkeley. So I pay taxes to both, but Berkeley and Charleston County taxes are close to the same. Boat tax in both counties is obscene. Had a 2000 (year built) sailboat valued around 230K and the boat tax in either county (Charleston and Berkeley) was the same--way over 5K annually. The state/counties get the USCG Documentation database. My boat was never in SC waters--never even below Norfolk--but every year I had a two month fight with the county tax office before they agreed I did not owe them a boat tax. Same lady; same battle; same result. What was galling was that on the website of the State Department of Revenue it clearly states boats are taxed where they are primarily anchored.

SC taxes most pensions to include its own civil service/teachers, cops. etec. Military pensions are now exempted. VA benefits are not taxed. The state taxes federal pensions and other state pensions and MRDs from IRAs. The rates of income taxation are not high (technically between 5-7% but it seems to be lower), and the deductions are fairly generous, but only military and SSAN pensions are entirely exempt. The state does not tax Social Security income. Property taxes are low in most counties. Home insurance along the coast is very expensive. Hurricanes and flooding.

Winters on the coast are very mild. We have had four nights below freezing this winter in the Charleston area. The river/ocean temperature does not go below 50F, so winterizing is not needed unless the boat is on the hard or has water in a very tall superstructure.

I like to walk the docks in the Charleston harbor area on Sundays after breakfast and talk to the owners. We always have a huge number of vessels transiting for a day or two going south to FL for the winter and heading north for the summer. But I have noticed an increase in the number of vessels whose owners choose to winter here. We have good airport and highway connections, colleges with good lecture series, good symphony, good theater, top notch food and restaurants, collegiate sports, superb medical care, low or no crime, and outside of the awful boat taxes (just do not stay over 6 months), a great palce to winter over.

 

[psneeld]

Keep in mind (almost got me when I stayed in Little River, SC), the 6 months isn't just where docked... it includes the travel time from the SC border to your winter spot and back out of SC.

Of course like most states, it would take some investigative efforts to make a case against anyone.

Florida over the last couple years seems to have stepped up tracking vessels in the state. One by walking marinas, another may be taking vessel names AND measurements. I had never heard a bridge tender ask such detailed questions the other day....way more than if the past. So these states where people are wintering may see that tax opportunity. When in South Carolina, The marina manager told me that marinas are required to send a list to the county of boats present with 6 month leases every January.

 

[CaptTom]

...Of course like most states, it would take some investigative efforts to make a case against anyone...

I've read that it's more a "guilty until proven innocent" thing with state taxes. There are tales of woe from people who dealt with this from California. I even got a tax bill from the state of Maine after I'd already paid them. I think some states just go on fishing expeditions, billing anyone they can and leaving it up to the boater to prove they don't owe it.

Maine apparently scanned the CG documentation database for any new records with a Maine hailing port and just sent me a bill without even checking their own database. Fortunately it was easy for me to prove I'd already paid. But to prove you haven't been in a state for some given period of time would be more effort.