Survey and Insurance for a cheaper boat

[mow2000]

I plan on buying an older 25' to 28' boat in the $2500 to $5k range. At the moment i'm reading a book on surveying boats so i can do some weeding out. Do people normally get a survey on boats in this price range? I will probably only get liability insurance (i assume this is possible on an older, cheaper boat). Would a survey be required for this? THANKS. Mark.

[Allan S]

We didn't get a survey done for our $2500 boat. It is not that we were marine experts or anything. We looked it over and saw what work needed to be done and the seller was quite forthcoming about its flaws. We had no surprises and got a great season of sailing in before we tackled the problems. We still are tackling the problems,lol.

I am NOT advocating against surveys, it's just that at our investment on our test/training boat the cost of a survey was not worth the expence. BTW, it turns out my wife is a fanatic about sailing.....she is always scouring the internet at 35 to 40 foot boats!!!!

Allan

[nautical62]

When I purchased cruising boats in the 10-17K range, I didn't get a survey and went with Liability only coverage. I felt the systems and other potential issues were simple enough, I could do a fairly good job assessing them myself. I ended up redoing most of the electrical and plumbing anyways. With liability only coverage, no insurance survey was necessary. I have no regrets I went that way.

On the other hand, the professional surveyors can pick up something important you may have missed.

You should check with potential insurance carrier's ahead of time, but otherwise, it's a matter of what you are comfortable with.

[S/VSkylark]

I recently bought a '69 CAL in the $7,000 range without a survey. When I went to purchase liability insurance, none of the carriers would insure it without a recent survey. All stated that the age of the boat required it.
I agree with nautical62 that you should check with your carrier ahead of time.

[BuoyCall]

Originally Posted by S/VSkylark

I recently bought a '69 CAL in the $7,000 range without a survey. When I went to purchase liability insurance, none of the carriers would insure it without a recent survey. All stated that the age of the boat required it.
I agree with nautical62 that you should check with your carrier ahead of time.

100% true, had some clients who already bought the boat and when it came time for insurance, wow where they in for a surprise after the survey and the fixing they had to do per the carrier.

1. lay awake for months drooling over yachtworld.
2. figure out what boat you want
3. find the boat
4. price insurance based on an "acceptable" survey
5. if the insurance is decent, get the survey, buy thy boat, bind insurance and fix the boat. if you say you fixed the boat then have an incident whereas what you did not fix caused the incident....good luck getting them to pay for the loss.

Agent should have a good relationship with the underwriters, it definitely helps. And when submitting to underwriters, I submit a boater's experience form along with a short paragraph on who the client is and their intentions with the boat. It puts a person behind the name, not just another unknown risk.

[jt11791]

Often for smaller less expensive boats you can get insurance coverage through your homeowners policy and they won't require a survey.

[BuoyCall]

Originally Posted by jt11791

Often for smaller less expensive boats you can get insurance coverage through your homeowners policy and they won't require a survey.

If you have an added Umbrella policy on top of your home, auto, business insurance the Umbrella will cover liability which may/should suffice for marina requirements. I read in a policy that home owners insurance covers very minimal circumstances like a boat with less than 50 or 25hp, sailboats less than 26', and others. That being said, I am going to dig deeper and find out the actual specifics. Thanks