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About the Seasteading Wiki describes the purpose of this website. If you want to contribute, which is greatly appreciated, there is a Quick tutorial.

• If you'd like to help out the general cause, Become an Ambassador.
• Your opinion is wanted on these: List of all ideas and designs.
• See Proposals on how to make your own ideas public.
• Wiki user pages are a place where you can describe yourself and your concepts.
• There are several different visions of seasteads and strategies for making them happen.

Getting Your Unit Built, Classified, Insured and Flagged.

Determine your budget, your ongoing operational expenses, your communications and transportation needs, choose a site where you want to locate your Seastead, and plan, plan, and plan some more.

Classification

Class Assignment and Certification of a seastead

Classification is multi-facetted and involves detailed inspection (a survey) of many aspects of a vessel to ensure safety and reliability. This in turns provides assurances to owners, operators, insurance providers and regulatory bodies that the vessel has been determined to provide adequate seaworthiness and complies with the relevant regulations.

Classification is broadly divided into two parts: (1) The Classification Society's rules and; (2) the Surveyor, who is the professional employed or contracted by the Classification Society to apply their knowledge and experience of the society's rules to competently and fairly conduct an inspection of the vessel and record its findings and recommendation in a report (the survey) to the Classification Society for evaluation.

A survey will typically include a detailed survey of the following components and systems:

• Evaluation of structural integrity

• Inspection of all safety systems

• Ensure environmental compliance with maritime regulations

• Inspection of machinery and equipment, such as generators, drive engines, pumps, batteries, etc.

• Evaluation of navigational equipment, if applicable

Initial and Periodic Classification Of the Unit

Classification is a conformance process that verifies that specific standards are met before a vessel can be put into service. It is the first step in a multi-step process to meet the requirements for the purposes of obtaining insurance for the vessel and ultimately flagging the vessel through a flagging registry.

Classification of a vessel is performed by a Classification Society. Classification Societies are generally private non-governmental organizations that have created and maintain a compendium of technical standards that apply to the construction and life-cycle of a vessel for both its structural components and associated equipment. The process of classification includes the following:

1. Design Stage

A Classification Society will review the vessel’s design package to ensure that it complies with the Classification Society’s rules for a given type of vessel, including assessing structural integrity, stability in the sea states for which the vessel is intended to operate, and the safety features incorporated into the design. International regulations are often incorporated into the Classification Society’s rules by reference, and the Classification Society will evaluate compliance with those regulations as part of its survey of the vessel’s design.

2. Construction Stage

During construction, a surveyor, who is an employee or contractor from the Classification Society will conduct inspections at the shipyard where the vessel is being built to ensure it conforms to the design plans approved by the Classification Society during the design stage of the evaluation. This includes inspecting materials to ensure they meet minimum quality standards called for in the approved design, and that all manufacturing processes meet the required standards.

3. Final Inspection and Certification Stage

When construction of the vessel is complete, a final survey is conducted by the Classification Society’s surveyor. If the vessel meets all critical requirements, the classification society issues a classification certificate. In this classification certificate is information pertaining to the vessels class assignment which may include one or more classes.

A certificate issued by a recognized Classification Society is critical to obtaining registration for the vessel, securing insurance to protect the investment and to provide proof that the vessel meets the requirements for a vessel of its class to be safely and reliably operated.

4. Periodic Re-Evaluation

Retaining a vessel’s class assignment requires a periodic survey over the life of the vessel to ensure it continues to meet the required standards set forth by the Classification Society’s rules. Periodic surveys are typically required on a recurring five-year cycle. These include periodic surveys such as the annual, intermediate and special surveys depending on the age of the vessel and other factors, such as whether the vessel has been modified since its initial class assignment.

In addition, Classification Societies update their rules periodically to adopt advancements in technology and to conform with new maritime regulations.

Insurance

Insuring the seastead

Insuring a seastead is conceptually similar to insuring a houseboat and this is the present model TSI uses to describe it. Insurance is not only necessary to protect the investment and useful living space provided by a seastead, but is also required by most if not all flagging registries after the owner/operator has obtained class assignment and certification of their vessel. Seasteads, like houseboats, require specialized insurance that are in many ways a combination of watercraft and mobile home insurance. An unpowered (incapable of self-powered navigation) seastead will very probably have different insurance coverage and requirements than a mobile seastead with propulsion systems. The key steps and considerations for insuring a seastead:

1. Choose the right insurance provider willing to address the unique needs of a seastead and the current novelty that such a new class of vessels tends to bring:

• Detailed plans, photographs and the documented safety inspections performed by the Classification Society will be useful in overcoming concerns and lack of familiarity with the concept, making regular comparisons to vessel types which already exist, including houseboats, spars, fixed platforms and floatels.

2. Choose an appropriate level of coverage to satisfy the requirements of the flagging registry and that is appropriate cost v. protection for where the vessel will be tethered and for how the vessel will be used. There are various types of insurance that are either standalone or can be combined, such as hull insurance and liability insurance. Hull insurance is the basic coverage all seasteads will require with various flagging registries having their own insurance requirements on top of the basic hull insurance.

• Hull insurance: Covers physical damage to the vessel, including critical equipment and accessories such as generators, water pumps, batteries, etc.

• Liability insurance: Protects against accidents where you're at fault. This type of insurance might be most relevant to those living within protected harbors and close to coastlines within national waters (defined as 12 nautical miles from shore).

• Personal effects coverage: Insures your belongings on the vessel. This is optional coverage of personal effects and greatly benefits from having detailed information and photographs of all personal property to be kept on the vessel in order for its value to be appraised, its replacement cost calculated and the risk of loss determined.

• Medical payments coverage: This is optional coverage that provides emergency medical care from accidents. The value is questionable in the nascent stage of developing a seasteading community, especially if the best equipped and staffed medical facility is located on land and the critical issue is getting an insured policy holder to that facility as quickly as possible. An insurance provider for your medical insurance that covers transport to the closest medical facility is a gap that will be closed as seasteading develops. In the meantime, making arrangements with nearby coastal medical facilities is prudent.

• Uninsured boaters insurance: Optional insurance for seasteads operating outside of marinas, this kind of coverage is intended to protect you if you're in an accident with an uninsured boater. The value is questionable for the seasteading application.

3. There are several coverage types which have specific terms for how the policy pays the policy holder. Each has advantages and disadvantages:

• Actual Cash Value (ACV) is a payout based on the depreciated value of the seastead. Insurance carriers often prefer this method as the actual value may be assessed at such a low level that the vessel could be considered a total loss after even minor damage several years into the policy.

• Agreed Amount Value (AAV) is a payout based on a predetermined value for the seastead and its equipment which is not subject to depreciation over time but might be lower than the initial payout for a new policy based on ACV. Because the policy value is fixed, AAV method may prove the better coverage if the intention is for the seastead to remain operational and located in the waters where it is tethered for many decades.

4. Finding a suitable insurance provider:

• Specialized marine insurers willing to customize your policy and are familiar with and accustomed to houseboat-specific insurance products are the best option, though subject to regulation in the jurisdictions where the vessel will primarily be operated.

• Independent insurance agents that can compare and provide a more competitive insurance policy option list from multiple carriers could provide the best combination of coverage and price.

5. The insurance provider will require a packet of information to tailor an insurance policy to the needs of an owner/operator of a seastead.

• Information on the desired flagging registries minimum insurance coverage requirements.

• Disclosure of the level of experience the owner/operator has with seagoing vessels and living aboard a vessel.

• Disclosure on how the Seastead will be used and frequency of use (seasonal vs. semi-permanent liveaboard).

• Disclosure of the area of operation/navigational area where the seastead will be located.

• Disclosure and proof of the age and condition of the houseboat as assessed by either a Classification Society surveyor, an insurance provider surveyor, or an agreed upon third-party independent surveyor.

6. Assess the value of additional coverage options depending on location of Seastead and applicable regulations in the area of operation:

• Wreck removal and towing vessel to shipyard for repair or scrapping

• Pollution coverage for spilled fuel, raw sewage and other effluents that are identified in the water after storm damage or other cause of damage to a vessel’s storage tanks.

• Watercraft retrieval where the unit is retrieved if it becomes untethered, resecuring it to its desired location and any secondary watercraft such as tenders or pleasure boats that might be adrift after a storm.

7. Ensure your policy covers the houseboat both on water and on land, including when all or part of it is being transported over land to a marina or onto the water from a land-based location. Purchasing the vessel after it has been manufactured and already located in the water can eliminate the need for any out-of-water coverage in situations in which the unit is not in drydock at a shipyard where the coverage of the shipyard covers damage to the vessels under their custody and control.

8. Whenever possible, opt for replacement cost coverage for both the hull and personal effects (contents) to reduce out-of-pocket expenses. Flagging registries will not require coverage of personal property, though peace of mind, especially when you are not living on your seastead at the time, may benefit from a more comprehensive insurance policy. Seastead insurance, like houseboat insurance, is specialized and structured differently than standard homeowner's policies which are not suitable for the application and will not be acceptable to flagging registries who will demand a marine insurance carrier be identified, including your policy number and coverage type and value to be disclosed when you submit your application for being flagged by a flagging registry.

Flagging

Flagging the Seastead Under a Flag of Convenience

Socio-Economic, Political, and Legal
Legal · Defense · Money

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