Full Time Cruisers Insurance Poll

[Janice]

I am curious about how many (full time) cruisers have insurance. Since we have started cruising I talk to a variety of boaters on the subject and would like a broader spectrum. I am attempting to get a yes or no answer for both health and boat insurance.

[Sailabel]

Boat insurance- yes, we've opted to keep full coverage.
Health insurance- yes, an 'international' policy w/ high deductable

[Janice]

Oops - can I cnage this so others cannot see who voted which way?

[Zanshin]

Boat - No
Health - No

[chuckr]

boat insurance -- yes and it varies depending on where we cruise and when - but this is our house and if we lose it we lose everything

health insurance - no -- not yet anyway - can qualify for medicare but can't use offshore

[fishwife]

Yes to both

P.

[Janice]

One of the moderators helped me and your vote is now private.

[TabbyCat]

Geez, I thought more people had boat insurance. I guess my viewpoint is skewed, given what I do all day!

[John A]

If you're still making payments for your boat you're required to have insurance. If not then the lending company will insure their investment and charge you for the priviledge.
If you keep your boat in a marina you must have liability insurance and most want their name on the policy.
You can't charter or use for hire your US flagged boat unless you have insurance, or the US Coast Guard gets really cranky.
If you have crew/guest on-board your boat you should enform them of your lack of coveraage. Requesting that they sign something relieving you of any claims is a good idea.
While cruising I had no insurance.

[Janice]

I expected the poll to be about 1/3 to 1/2 without insurance and it is shaping up that way but I am surprised I am not getting more responces. But then maybe there just aren't that many cruisers on this forum on a regular basis.

Just like the thread that asked how many cruisers are married, the vast majority that answered are not cruisers and some didn't even own a boat. So........... maybe I should ask 'what is a cruiser' OH NO - I am not going there!

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Janice

I expected the poll to be about 1/3 to 1/2 without insurance and it is shaping up that way but I am surprised I am not getting more responces. But then maybe there just aren't that many cruisers on this forum on a regular basis.

Just like the thread that asked how many cruisers are married, the vast majority that answered are not cruisers and some didn't even own a boat. So........... maybe I should ask 'what is a cruiser' OH NO - I am not going there!

Could it be that Insurance and MARRAGE is just not that interesting of a topic??

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Janice

I expected the poll to be about 1/3 to 1/2 without insurance and it is shaping up that way but I am surprised I am not getting more responces. But then maybe there just aren't that many cruisers on this forum on a regular basis.

Just like the thread that asked how many cruisers are married, the vast majority that answered are not cruisers and some didn't even own a boat. So........... maybe I should ask 'what is a cruiser' OH NO - I am not going there!

I didn't vote because I'm not a cruiser, just a working guy sailing on the weekends.

But I also am surprised by the poll answers. Based on past threads I can understand the health insurance because the costs for care outside the US appear to be much lower. The boat insurance I guess I also understand as this is all based on your tolerance to risk and of course a cruiser isn't going to be a risk avoider.

Guess overall when it comes down to it people are willing to take the risk to afford to cruise (just my take). Would be an interesting study to see how it breaks down by age group, net worth, and cost of boat replacement; but that would be a rough to do CF poll thing to do.

[osirissail]

The parameters of the questions is not very good. Health insurance for example - full time cruisers are rarely in their home country therefore they may have health insurance in their home country but it is unusable outside their home country. So in essence they are without insurance. You should have asked about international health insurance.
- - Boat insurance comes in two flavors: comprehensive and liability only. Full time cruisers with new boats and a boat loan have comprehensive insurance. Once the boat loan is paid off the boat is probably rather old so having comprehensive insurance on an old boat that is paid off is not really cost effective. That is where liability-only insurance comes into play as the older boats need it to gain access to major marinas and boatyards. So some subset questions should be: After your boat is paid up/off do you still carry comprehensive insurance? Or just Liability? Without knowing if the boat is still under a loan skews the question.

[wetsail1]

I have full coverage. On boat but no medical