How to Establish Florida Residency as a Full-Time Cruiser
When we sold our house and cars to sail away full-time, we quickly realized we needed a legal “home”—an address for taxes, licenses, and mail.
Florida was the clear winner for us: no state income tax, cruiser-friendly services, and straightforward residency rules.
Here’s how we established Florida residency step-by-step, using St. Brendan’s Isle and Clay County as our base.
Step 1: Get A Florida Mailing Address with St. Brendan’s Isle
The first thing we needed to do to establish our Florida residency was obtain a Florida address.
I signed up online for St. Brendan’s Isle mail in December 2022, about one month prior to leaving Alabama. This allowed me to start sending mail to my new St Brendan’s Isle physical address and cancel my P.O. Box in Alabama.
St. Brendan’s Isle is a mail forwarding service in Green Cove Springs, Florida and is ideal for full-time travelers.
St Brendan’s mail service has several packages to choose from. We chose the Traveler’s Special at $13.99/month. The difference between the Traveler’s Special and the Cruiser’s Home Port at $15.99/month is that with the Cruiser’s Home Port they will also renew your USCG Vessel Documentation for you. We had just renewed ours for 5 years, and St. Brendan’s Isle renews it for 1 year at a time.
We also signed up for the Mail Scan Pro at $7.99/month (plus $15 sign-up fee). We have the Standard Volume package and after 2.5 years, we haven’t had any issues.
During the process of signing up with St Brendan’s Isle mail service, you will need a Notary Public to sign Postal Form 1583. This signed form will allow St. Brendan’s Isle to open your mail on your behalf. No worries though, St. Brendan’s Isle explains this process and will help walk you through it if you have any questions.
How St. Brendan’s Isle Works
We use the Traveler’s Special service at $13.99/month:
- SBI will scan up to 40 envelopes a month
- SBI emails us a scan of each envelope
- If you want them to open your mail, they will then open the envelope and scan the pages for $0.50 for the first page, and $0.10 for each of the next 4 pages. Additional pages after that are free.
- If you need them to physically mail something to you, you can set them up online as well. You simply schedule a mailing at the address you provide. You can also indicate how quickly you want to receive the package and how it gets shipped to you. Additional charges apply for them to physically mail an item to you.
Our monthly St. Brendan’s Isle cost starts at $21.98/month for the Traveler’s Special and Mail Scan Pro. We include this in our Mail and Packages sailing budget categories and it accounts for less than 1% of our monthly sailing budget.
They have a very convenient way of billing you. They will charge your credit card $100, and draw down each month from that amount. If at any time you decide to cancel their service, they will refund you the amount left over.
We have been using their service for over 2.5 years now, and it is very easy and efficient.
Step 2: Register your Boat in Florida (and Avoid Extra Taxes)
After setting up our FL address using St Brendan’s Isle, our next step was to change our vessel registration from an Alabama boat registration to a Florida boat registration.
Florida states that if you plan to have your vessel in their waters for greater than 90 days, you need to register your boat in Florida.
Since we are living aboard our Hunter Passage 450 full-time and this is our home, this is another reason we need to register our boat/home in Florida.
What I found a little confusing, is that I thought I needed additional documentation of Florida residency in order to register my boat in Florida. At this point, I still have an Alabama Driver’s License.
Step 3: Obtain a Florida Drivers License (all in the same place)
I ended up calling the Clay County Tax Collector Office, and they were exceptionally helpful and let me know what I needed to do and what order I needed to do it in.
I made an appointment with the Clay County collector office and we were able to get our Florida boat registration and our Florida Drivers License in one appointment.
We did have to go in person to the Clay County Tax Collector Office to get our Florida driver’s license since our current licenses are from a different state. The lady helping us was very knowledgeable, and when I gave her my St Brendan’s Isle residency address, she knew exactly what to do!
Note:
Our FL driver’s licenses were issued in January 2023. They expire on our birthdays in 2031.
Documents you will need for this process include:
- Current State’s Driver’s License – they keep them when they give you your FL Driver License that same day
- Vessel Documentation paperwork – our vessel is United States Coast Guard Documented, and they actually used our vessel documentation number as the street address on our driver’s license, paired with the St. Brendan’s Isle mailing address.
- Current state’s registration of your sailboat and dinghy – We owned our vessels for greater than 6 months in the state of Alabama, so we did not owe any Florida sales tax on the vessels. It was helpful that we brought several years of our Alabama registration, as this way Clay County was able to validate that we owned the vessels for greater than 6 months (i.e., we did have our old expired vessel registration cards and they were extremely helpful in getting the new registration completed).
- Declaration of Domicile – It was unclear if we would need a Declaration of Domicile, and it turned out that we did not. We did sign an affidavit at the Tax Collector’s office. They had the forms filled out for us.
Florida Residency Frequently Asked Questions
Still sorting through the fine print? Here are the questions we asked (and Googled) most before we set this all up.
Can I use a mail forwarding service address like St. Brendan’s Isle for my driver’s license?
Yes. We used our USCG documentation number as the “street address,” along with our St. Brendan’s Isle mailing address in Green Cove Springs, FL 32043. It’s fully accepted by the Clay County Tax Collector’s office
What county is best for cruisers to use when establishing Florida residency?
We use St. Brendan’s Isle mail forwarding service in Clay County, FL, which tailors specifically to cruisers, RVrs and frequent travelers.
Why establish a Florida residency as a cruiser?
We established Florida residency as a cruiser because Florida does not have state taxes. Therefore, if we do earn any income, we will not have to pay state taxes on it.
Will I owe Florida sales tax on my boat and/or dinghy?
If you have owned your boat and/or dinghy greater than 6 months, then you will not owe Florida sales tax. Bring documentation to verify the length of ownership of your vessels.
Florida Residency Requirements for Full-Time Cruisers
Switching to Florida residency as full-time sailors was easier than expected, thanks to St. Brendan’s Isle and a helpful visit to Clay County. It’s one of the best decisions we’ve made in our full-time cruising life.
For this reason and no state taxes, Florida is one of the best states for full-time sailors (and RVrs).
If you plan on traveling full-time—whether by sailboat or RV—this setup can save you taxes, headaches, and missed mail.
Have questions? I know I had a ton as I was preparing our finances to sail away into retirement, and figuring out my health care options as an early retiree. I’d love to help other cruisers navigate this process. And if you found this helpful, check out our real sailing costs during our first year of sailing full-time.
