Dinghy insurance

[Jammer]

In another thread, there is some hand-wringing over damage to a dinghy that had been loaned to another cruiser.

Those of you who follow my posts know that I have several dinghy-like vessels, among them:

• A 1960 Crestliner 14' aluminum boat with a 9.9 HP Honda 4 stroke. I occasionally tow this behind my boat and use it for upriver explorations. It's too large to keep on deck.
• A Chameleon nesting dinghy. This 10'4" boat sits upside-down on my foredeck most of the time, unless I've switched it out for something else. I usually row it, but also have a 3 HP 2-stroke for it, and a sailing rig. I built this boat myself two years ago.
• A medium-weight kevlar canoe. We occasionally tow this or carry it on deck for shallow-water explorations. It is more maneuverable than the Chameleon but tolerates wind and wave poorly. The 3 HP motor fits it also though I rarely use it.

I have insurance on all this stuff -- full coverage. The insurance is inexpensive and the deductible low, and was easy to get. For the Chameleon they asked a few questions about my boatbuilding expertise and happily issued the policy even when I told them it was my first build from scratch (but that I had repair experience). The insurance covers the boats, the motors, and the trailers.

Having insurance de-stresses a bunch of situations, loaning boats to friends among them. If something happened while a boat was loaned out, there would just be the deductible to pay. Although it is hard to imagine anyone badly damaging boats like these. Even if someone hit a rock on plane in the Crestliner the most I'd be out is $600 for a lower unit and a prop. Mainly I keep the insurance as a hedge against theft.

Do those of you with inflatable dinghies carry insurance? If not, why not? What has your claims experience been like?

[rslifkin]

Our dinghy is not an inflatable, but it's insured as an add-on to the boat insurance. It's insured for a stated value and with a $500 deductible. The charge to cover it is low, $1 per $100 of dinghy value and that coverage is for both the dinghy and its outboard.

[Reeve21]

Dinghy is insured under the big boat policy. No deductible for the dinghy.

[Danm1]

I always assumed the dinghy was boat equipment covered by my big boat policy, but, in any case, watercraft under 16 ft are covered under my homeowners policy

[SailingHarmonie]

On boats like these, they are so inexpensive to replace, the cost of insuring them gets pretty low, especially if it is an "actual cash value" policy. There really is no possibility of catastrophic financial loss if the boat was totaled, so the risk is minimal. The value of the insurance price vs loss just doesn't make sense to me.

On the other hand... there IS the possibility of catastrophic financial loss from third party liability. If you ran over a swimmer in the water, the resulting financial implications to you could be life destroying. If you have a friend onboard, and they fell overboard and were lost, likewise. We could spend all day coming up with scenarios for disasters, that were all very unlikely, but all could be devastatingly expensive.

Liability insurance is usually inexpensive, and not having it is, to my thinking, irresponsible to my financial health. Even more important, it is irresponsible to the other people on the water my actions might impact. NOT having liability insurance means I will not be able to take financial responsibility for the worst things that could happen to OTHER people because of my actions. That's just not being an adult.

Our inflatable dinghy, with engine a replacement cost of about $9K, is insured as part of our personnel property coverage on the main yacht policy. $20K of personnel property insured for $331/year, and liability is included with the overall policy, not called out separately.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

On boats like these, they are so inexpensive to replace, the cost of insuring them gets pretty low, especially if it is an "actual cash value" policy. There really is no possibility of catastrophic financial loss if the boat was totaled, so the risk is minimal. The value of the insurance price vs loss just doesn't make sense to me.

That depends on the policy. In our case, even after factoring in the deductible, I'd be paying for insurance for ~66 years before it would cost me the value of the dinghy. So while I could afford to absorb the loss of the dinghy if I needed to, the insurance is cheap enough that if I ever need it once in my boating career, I've likely come out ahead by having it.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Danm1

I always assumed the dinghy was boat equipment covered by my big boat policy, but, in any case, watercraft under 16 ft are covered under my homeowners policy

Might want to check on that "boat equipment" piece.


Most homeowners policies do cover small watercraft, however:

• This means you must have own a home.
• The deductible may be problematic. We have carried a 1% deductible on our house at various times.
• You may find that there are many exclusions. For example, some policies exclude weather-related damage and theft except when the boat is stored indoors.
• You may be reluctant to establish a claims history on your homeowner's policy in the event of a small loss, because of the future effect on your homeowner's premium, and decide to pay it yourself.