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12-07-2023, 13:34
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 191
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Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
Half question, half rant -
Trying to set up insurance for an imminent sailboat purchase and the company I used on my last boat has turned down coverage (even simple liability) for the Bahamas because the boat only has one engine.
So I'm waiting on other carriers to respond and I have to assume there are carriers out there that'll do this considering how many boats are sailing in the islands. Does anyone have any insight into this? Do you Caribbean cruisers have coverage in the islands? Do marinas there require X amount of liability?
Because I know someone will ask, 88 hunter 30-2, but apparently this is their policy on all boats, so they wouldn't cover the Garcia 45 either.
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12-07-2023, 13:40
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: New Jersey, USA
Boat: Jeanneau SO409
Posts: 628
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
Following. I have a 2011 Jeanneau SO409 (39.3 feet) monohull and my insurance is through the roof. Looking for someone to cover me while I'm down in the Caribbean. The boat is documented with USCG in New York.
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14-07-2023, 11:01
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 191
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
Update - still having trouble getting a policy that'll cover from Maine to the Bahamas but I know there are a bunch of people here that make this trip regularly.
What do you guys do for insurance and is it a hassle?
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14-07-2023, 12:04
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Urbanna, VA
Boat: Lagoon 380 PC Limited Edition
Posts: 454
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
First two years we had Progressive, but their policy is limited to how far you can go in the Bahamas so we just ignored the limits and did what we wanted know we would have coverage. This past year we switch to a broker, Wells Marine Insurance, and they got us coverage. About $4k a year for a our Lagoon.
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14-07-2023, 12:07
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2023
Posts: 2,148
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
If you are looking for international hull insurance on a 35 year old Hunter 30, that's going to be a real stretch.
The boat is worth less than $25,000. There are two issues with a boat with that value. First, is the cost of administering the policy and any claims is large enough that nobody is going to be able to do it for international coverage at a price you will be able to afford. For an insurance company based in, say, Connecticut, investigating, litigating, and paying a claim in, say Saint Lucia, is insanely expensive compared to one, say, in Maine.
Second, if $25,000 would be a catastrophic loss to your financial situation, enough that you need to insure it for your financial well-being, you are not going to be considered a very valuable client by most insurance agencies. Harsh, but true.
Liability only on internationally traveling boats runs into the same kinds of problems. It can be added in, almost as a freebie, on the hull insurance for a $500,000 boat because claims are so rare. We have $1,000,000 in worldwide liability protection and it is only about 10% of our total insurance cost. But the $1 million liability policy is ALMOST the same exposure to claims for a small, cheap boat as for a big, expensive one. So proportionate to the value of the boat, it gets really expensive, and hard to sell. If you don't sell many of a given product, you typically don't put in the infrastructure to support it, so you end up selling none, and missing out on very little income.
That was a longwinded way of saying... You will have a hard time finding a US underwriter who will cover you in the Caribbean. You will have a hard time finding a Caribbean based underwriter who will cover a US flagged boat in the US. You might need to patch it together. I would start shopping with insurance brokers in Sint Martin. for the Caribbean part of your voyage and see what you can come up with.
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14-07-2023, 12:49
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 191
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
Interesting point - makes some kinda sense, for sure.
I'm actually only looking for liability coverage as the boat is cheap enough it won't break me and old enough that no one would insure it at a cost that makes sense.
So, is it standard practice for cruisers to patch coverage together as they go, hoping they can find someone to insure them 'just in time?'
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14-07-2023, 13:11
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: New Bern, NC
Boat: Pearson 323
Posts: 395
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
I’ve got agreed upon hull value insurance including liability through my State Farm Dealer who insures my home and cars. Includes all of the US, Atlantic Ocean out 200-300 miles, it also includes the Bahamas, all of the Abacos, and south through the exuma as far south as Long Island. 32 foot Pearson, $264.per year. The policy is also sufficient to satisfy marina and boatyards. Maybe this is apples and oranges, but it’s worked for me. Never had a claim, so I can not report on any of that. The reality is that if it were a total loss I’d recover just fine.
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14-07-2023, 13:20
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 191
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
Holy hell, man. That sounds great.
I called around to ask the Big Names (state farm, progressive, etc) and without exception they lied straight to my face and said they don't cover sailboats at all. It's a frustrating process.
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14-07-2023, 14:34
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#9
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Jan 2019
Boat: Beneteau 432, C&C Landfall 42, Roberts Offshore 38
Posts: 7,156
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
Not to voice a contrary opinion...but you could just say to hell with it...and sail without insurance.
Be your own insurance, maintain the boat well, make smart decisions, etc.
This whole " insurance" thing is a bit of a racket in my humble opinion. Rates are sky high, deductions are ridiculous, seasons are short, etc and so on, and lordy...should you ever file a claim on any kind fugetabout ever finding insurance again.
These days there are insurances for every possible thing. Something wrong with society that we are at this point. Blame the lawyers.
If you had to factor in home much money you pay for insurance every month, you will see that after a year or more, it is a tidy sum. Put that money aside in a savings account as your own "insurance" bank.
'jes sayin'....
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14-07-2023, 14:37
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 191
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
You ain't wrong, however most marinas or yards won't take a boat without insurance. On my last boat, I spent almost 9mos on the hook and only went into marinas a handful of times but all of em wanted proof of insurance.
Those of you cruising the Bahamas - does that bear out there as well? It seems very simple to get insurance for the east coast of the US - it's taking the trip across that's problematic.
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14-07-2023, 14:46
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Urbanna, VA
Boat: Lagoon 380 PC Limited Edition
Posts: 454
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
We normally try to get the Bahamas in November and leave in May. We normally go to a marina one time and that is check in. In the last two seasons we have been to a marina one time outside of check in and we spent two days in Great Harbor while a storm went through. We could have stayed outside in the anchorage, but we had friends in the marina and they got us a spot.
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14-07-2023, 14:48
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 191
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
Did they require proof of insurance to use the marina you visited?
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14-07-2023, 14:49
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: New Bern, NC
Boat: Pearson 323
Posts: 395
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
Quote:
Originally Posted by soopad00pa
Holy hell, man. That sounds great.
I called around to ask the Big Names (state farm, progressive, etc) and without exception they lied straight to my face and said they don't cover sailboats at all. It's a frustrating process.
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That was my experience too, I’ve been a State Farm customer for 50 years (but I doubt that makes a damn bit of difference, especially these days). I had BoatUS and was looking for a competitive quote, my State Farm guy said they don’t insure boats. So I kept what I had, that was 10 years ago. Then 4 years ago I stopped by his office, I asked one of the girls in the office about insuring the boat as I had a trip to the Bahamas in the planning stage. She wrote up the policy, I paid the full term on the spot. I’ve renewed twice, increasing the hull value once since the start of the policy. When the policy deceleration pages showed up with the cruising limits it fit my trip perfectly. 250 miles offshore and the box around the Bahamas was everything down to Long Island, which was perfect for my trip from NC to Georgetown exuma.
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14-07-2023, 14:52
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Urbanna, VA
Boat: Lagoon 380 PC Limited Edition
Posts: 454
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
As a transit I have never been asked for insurance proof. Just at our home marina in Virginia that we have an annual slip in and that was when we moved in. We have been here 3 years and that was the only time they asked.
Cheyne
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14-07-2023, 14:57
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: New Bern, NC
Boat: Pearson 323
Posts: 395
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Re: Insurance for Bahamas, Caribbean?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheyne
As a transit I have never been asked for insurance proof. Just at our home marina in Virginia that we have an annual slip in and that was when we moved in. We have been here 3 years and that was the only time they asked.
Cheyne
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I had my boat hulled out over Christmas in 2018 at Green Turtle Cay and they required it. The marina in Nassau also required it when we stayed there 2 years ago. Depends on where you go I guess.
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