Insurance For Mooring Fields!!!

[Drift Woods]

Just received an email from Dinner Key Marina in Miami. After hurricane Irma they are the first to require $300,000.00 in liability insurance to be in the mooring field.

Good or bad we all knew this was coming.

[RaymondR]

Thin edge of the wedge.

Once they get the principle established it will balloon.

Next thing will be pollution coverage and they's eventually go for comprehensive.

[Drift Woods]

This could be a good the boat. A dent in the bow pulpit and one lifeline was $3,500.00

[Drift Woods]

Originally Posted by Drift Woods

This could be a good the boat. A dent in the bow pulpit and one lifeline was $3,500.00

This phone app needs an editing button if its going to leave entire words out your posts.

[danielamartindm]

Personally, I think that all boaters should either carry liability or have enough cash (a lot!) on hand to cover any damages they might inadvertently cause to the life or property of others. That said, I'd be curious to know if any municipalities or marinas that own mooring fields have been successfully sued for negligence because an uninsured vessel damaged another vessel? If this is a non-issue, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot make boating more expensive? Especially when mooring fields are generally safer than crowded anchorages? Besides, if the owner of the field IS negligent in maintaining the moorings, the insurer who pays the claim would sue HIM to recoup anyway.

[a64pilot]

I think it’s because if there is a storm and a lot to boats are totaled, who is going to pay to clean up the mess, especially now as somehow it costs tens of thousands of dollars to remove an abandoned boat.
So tens of thousands of dollars, a dozen boats or so, that is a lot of money.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Drift Woods

Just received an email from Dinner Key Marina in Miami. After hurricane Irma they are the first to require $300,000.00 in liability insurance to be in the mooring field.

Good or bad we all knew this was coming.

Personally, I sleep a lot better knowing the boats around me have liability insurance. I definitely consider other boats the biggest risk on the ocean.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Drift Woods

This phone app needs an editing button if its going to leave entire words out your posts.

It has an edit button. Tap your post and you get 4 options, 2nd from left is “Edit”. Tap that Keep in mind you have to submit the edits within the 30min window you get for editing. If you open the Edit screen at 29m you better be done in 55sec.

[Drift Woods]

Originally Posted by Adelie

It has an edit button. Tap your post and you get 4 options, 2nd from left is “Edit”. Tap that Keep in mind you have to submit the edits within the 30min window you get for editing. If you open the Edit screen at 29m you better be done in 55sec.

Thanks, I see the little wrench and screwdriver button on top.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by danielamartindm

Personally, I think that all boaters should either carry liability or have enough cash (a lot!) on hand to cover any damages they might inadvertently cause to the life or property of others. That said, I'd be curious to know if any municipalities or marinas that own mooring fields have been successfully sued for negligence because an uninsured vessel damaged another vessel? If this is a non-issue, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot make boating more expensive? Especially when mooring fields are generally safer than crowded anchorages? Besides, if the owner of the field IS negligent in maintaining the moorings, the insurer who pays the claim would sue HIM to recoup anyway.

For long term stays, we've often been asked for proof but short term they rarely do.

I suspect this is to protect themselves from this exact issue. It's in the rules, so they can kick you out if they find out you don't have it but they aren't under obligation to police it.

To sue you over it, would probably require "gross negligence" to gain traction and I doubt not having written documentation that a boat coming in for the night would qualify.

PS: If it's your boat that got hit, I'm betting you would want that boat to have insurance.

[Virginia Lee]

Does anyone know why Dinner Key had so many failures? I moor at Crandon Marina on the other side of the bay, and there were very few boats lost. Specifically, I would like to know if the failure was the Dinner Key moorings, the responsibility of the City of Miami.

When Katrina was a strong tropical storm/ weak cat 1 over Miami, it was the reverse. Crandon's old moorings failed and many boats were lost (mine was totaled, the wreck on shore had the mooring ball attached to the bowsprit). Miami Dade county knew that their moorings were defective but hadn't gotten around to replacing them. They did between Katrina and Wilma, and when Wilma blew through there were few boats lost.

[freakytiki]

I just got Liability in North Carolina from Geico... Cost me under $200 a year.. 6 payments $28.00 But here is the bonus. Geico insurance teamed up with Towboatus and its free with the policy..NO BRAINER

[hellosailor]

Daniel-
I expect that boating (mooring fields) is so expensive wrt insurance because mooring fields are in general wither damned expensive to maintain, or poorly maintained to save money. And even with annual maintenance on the moorings, some of them simply do fail in the routine use during one season. Others may be undersized for the boat that is lying on them, and some simply were never designed for holding anything in hurricane wind conditions. They are also more crowded, more tightly spaced, than most anchorages, so one bull is enough to wipe out the whole china shop.

[northwestsailor]

Here in the San Diego, the Mooring Co. wants $500K liability, and they specify pendant size, length, shackle size and require a swivel plus many other specifics. It does make the whole field more orderly and safe feeling if that is what you are after. After if you are going to leave the boat unattended for a while not a bad idea. Nobody wants to get a call at 2 AM when you are half way across the country saying you boat is bashing into others. Could get a lot more expensive than doing what you are required to do by contract.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Drift Woods

Just received an email from Dinner Key Marina in Miami. After hurricane Irma they are the first to require $300,000.00 in liability insurance to be in the mooring field.

Good or bad we all knew this was coming.

I would think you would see it as beneficial to you. No one with $5 in their pocket is going to ram you and leave you holding the bag for repairs.