Yesterday I was on my way to Independence with 16 gallons of oil for changing the two Cummins diesel engines and I stopped by our local US Post Office to pick up the mail. In the mail box was a Property Tax bill from Marin county. I had been expecting it since I called them last year but what they are billing me for is outrageous.

The “Net Value” of what they came up with is 152% of what I paid for the boat! How did they come up with that value, the bill does not say. I had some previous discussions with them after they sent me a “Notice of Proposed Escape Assessment”. In those discussions I was informed that they put a base value at 127% of my purchase price back in 2018. But get this, you will find this hard to believe, they add California Sales Tax to that value “because GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) says if someone is going to buy the boat in California they would have to pay Sales Tax. Add the sales tax and the base value and you now get the number to multiply by 10% to get the penalty. But, I informed them, “I called you last year to tell you I have the boat here in Marin, I am not trying to escape a fair tax”. Turned out I did not call them in time, I was told I had to notify them in April, sorry my Mom was dying of cancer at the time and I was her primary provider. Oh, that was not enough money, let’s tack an Interest penalty, School Bonds and Health Bonds.

I was very calm and polite in my phone calls and emails. I found out that the two “Comparable” boats were sold for $150,000 to $200,000 less than they were saying Independence was worth. I pointed out to them that those were 2 and 3 years newer and were custom models with very little hours (685 as opposed to 2,380) AND, one was bought in Florida and the other was bought in California but did not pay sales tax so how can you justify adding on sales tax to my value, no answer just the bill. I have supplied them pictures, videos, specifications and additions to the other boats compared to ours, no answer just a bill and “you can file a formal appeal”, I am.

I tried to be logical, just Google “do boats appreciate or depreciate” I said, that didn’t help. “If you tax me at an outrageous rate I will not bring the boat back to Marin after we go to Alaska this summer” the response: “I don’t blame ya” “but you won’t get future tax payments” I said, didn’t matter, they got me now.

  We love having Independence, it has been a huge part of our lives since 2018 and if you have been a follower of this Blog you know that. As I said in the Video “Dream” (  NFF Top 10 Contestant: DREAM - Larry and Jamie McCullough ) “owning Independence has been one of the most rewarding things in my life”, it truly has. Not that every moment has been great, it has not, there have been times of stress, dragging the anchor in the middle of the night, stuck in Honduras for a couple of months during COVID, but it was worth it. Now it is off to Alaska in a month or two depending upon the sea conditions.

Back to the oil change, piece of cake, both engines - oil and filters changed in just about 2 hours. Got to love Independences engine room, so much room to work.

Getting ready to change the oil on the Independence

Nice having so much room in the engine room…not many folks can stand up straight in their engine room.

‘Reverso Pumps’ pump the oil from the bottom of the oil pan. I keep 8 empty 1 gallon jugs from the previous oil change to put the used oil in. I keep plenty of absorbent towels handy as there is always some spillage.

Next is the fuel filters, transmission oil, hydraulic filter, and the coolant filters (coolant checked and ok). Next weekend we are off to Alameda so that the boat will be close to a Cummins service facility, and they will come by and plug their diagnostic computer into our Starboard engine and figure out why a “Check Engine” light is on. I am pretty sure it is loose connection somewhere since it is on intermittently and the engines run great. It will also be good to have the mechanic give the engines a checkup since we will be on another big trip.

I place new oil in the filter and lubricate the “O” ring

I/we are so looking forward to our Alaska trip. I did a good portion of it on a friend’s boat 31 years ago. The wildlife and scenery are some of the best in the world and Independence is the perfect boat for the journey. It is really nice to have that extra power when needed fighting some of the currents in the Pacific Northwest.

It does look like we will be moving on to our next chapter in life when we complete our journey to Alaska. Let us know if you want the keys after we make it to Skagway and Glacier Bay, live your Dream as we have.

Independence59@yahoo.com