Insurance for a cat

[jholder51]

We are getting ready to retire and purchase a cat. We both have 50 to 60 hours of sailing time and we are curious as to what to expect in regards to insuring the boat. We are planning to purchase a Lagoon 380 S2 2006, approx $160,000. Who is the best for insurance? Price ranges? Anything that we can do to help lower our cost?

[2Hulls]

You are wise to be thinking of this long before you enter the buying process. And if you plan on getting a loan to purchase your boat the lender will require proof of insurance before the loan gets tendered.

Yacht insurance is a world wide market. I suggest you pick up any sailing mag and browse for insurance broker ads. Contact them one by one and ask questions and gain info. You will have a challenge due to your low experience - best to know this now rather than later. Despite decades of sailing and cruising experience on charters and OPB's (other people's boats), I was turned down by several companies for coverage before finding one who would accept a sailing resume of my experience - all because I had not already owned a similarly sized boat. (I was even turned down by BoatUS. ) But I had lots of experience to document.

Start shopping and good luck!

Dave

[jholder51]

We are planning to not have a loan on the boat. Will that help with insurance? Or is it all about the amount of sailing experience? We have been boat owners since the early 80's but they were all speed boats and used on lakes.

[2Hulls]

Originally Posted by jholder51

We are planning to not have a loan on the boat. Will that help with insurance?

No, I don't think so. (FYI, I am not an insurance expert. I'm just relating my personal experience and knowledge gained by navigating the insurance issue on my own boat.)

But not having a loan means you can "self insure", which is a euphemism for not having insurance at all. Many cruisers do this, it seems. Some would argue this is risky not only for the obvious reason that you may lose the money sunk in your boat, but perhaps more so for the liability risk if you damage some other boat or its passengers that's worth a lot more.

In my case, experience was an issue even though I had been sailing all my life. As I said above, I was turned down by several companies for not having owned a similar size vessel previously. Of course, simply owning a vessel should not be equated with experience but this is what these companies used as a proxy for "experience". In the end I found a company who was savvy enough to understand how shallow the "prior ownership" question was for gauging experience. Your prior inland power boat experience is not necessary worthless, however. To be sure you should talk to some insurance brokers or others with more complete knowledge than you'll get here.

Dave

[admiralslater]

I found that you pay about 1% of insured value. Any courses or qualification you get will help a little

[travellerw]

We have found that %1.5 of hull value/year is the average if cruising the Caribbean.

[PHRF57]

I think you will also discover that, at least for domestic insurance companies, your automobile driving record will be considered as a means for evaluating your temperament.

[YARGESOL]

I insured my boat(46 cat,250k) and negotiated world wide range,due to planning Atlantic crossing(with some war and weather exeptiones). Funny,but the difference between some offers was more than twice. When I asked the broker,if they need sailing license,the answer was:" you may send,we shall keep it,but not obligatory".Final premium per annum is less than 1%, including 1+ mio euro civil resp.