Buying a boat during hurricane season

[dan104]

I did a commit with deposit in August and close in Nov in St Thomas, USVI!


I went down and spent a week with the owner and help get the boat ready for storm season, I had already put down 10% deposit, but there was no way was the boat going to get hauled for survey till Nov. Owner covered insurance till sale and we closed Nov 3 after survey and test sail.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by AdLeSails

Hello all,

Relatively new to the sailing world. I have found a couple of boats that I am interested in buying in Florida. (Sailboat, 40+ foot, eventual full time liveaboard)
Will most likely have to move location.

Question is: if I make an offer now - August - how do I go about closing the deal during hurricane season? Do I stall the closing until after the season? Race it down south out of the hurricane belt? Close and hope for the best…?

Advice appreciated.

If you are planning to sail the Caribbean consider ANJO. They will insure for named storms but you need to avoid the track if you are aboard or store in the water. They approve certain dry land storage marinas such as Rodney Bay, Jolly Harbor and more. We hauled in Jolly during COVID but we are now back in Trinidad at Power Boats (outside of the hurricane zone).

If you will head south, consider joining the Salty Dawg rally to the Caribbean on November. Many boats join from various east coast venues.

https://www.saltydawgsailing.org/

[bullislandken]

I just bought an old Baba 40 in Florida in June. It was way too hot for this Montanan but I sucked it up because the owner was moving it north since he could not find insurance and he gave me a “pretty good deal”.

Finding a slip was another story. No slips available for reasonable prices so I moved the boat 100 miles. I was planning to “self insure” and decided to head to Indiantown since there are a lot of derelict boats there that are obviously not insured.

Welcome to 2023. Even Indiantown require liability insurance. You may recall an early tropical system I think was named Brett. One poster is correct that insurance companies would not write a hull policy while Brett was still moving around the southern Caribbean. I was not able to find hull coverage so I called for liability only since a fellow in the marina (his first boat and no sailing experience) had it for only $700 on his 1974 Morgan. Same company, I have 50 years sailing experience, and my boat is a 1982, they charged me $1400 for liability only. I went with it since I had to heel my boat over 12 degrees to get under 5 bridges to get to Indiantown. I hung the dinghy off the end of my main boom with the topping lift taking the brunt of the load. I filled the dink with water and made it there myself. It was so hot I got homesick for the first time in my life….maybe second time.

I hope to have help heading back out in October or November. It was so freakin’ hot I was dying. There was no way I was heading back to the ICW without getting hauled. I bit the bullet and paid the 1400 bucks….just so I could get hauled and blocked. I may head to Guatemala and Rio Dulce. I doubt I need insurance there, too. But it is 2023……and it will be hot.

[dan104]

I came up with Salty Dawgs this spring, they do a good job and you get Chris Parker weather routing all for about 250. They did a great job of helping me make sure I was ready for the trip and when I needed to duck in in NC they helped me find a slip and showed up with beer and snacks when we came in!

[safariKY]

Originally Posted by AdLeSails

Hello all,

Relatively new to the sailing world. I have found a couple of boats that I am interested in buying in Florida. (Sailboat, 40+ foot, eventual full time liveaboard)
Will most likely have to move location.

Question is: if I make an offer now - August - how do I go about closing the deal during hurricane season? Do I stall the closing until after the season? Race it down south out of the hurricane belt? Close and hope for the best…?

Advice appreciated.

Not sure if you have found the one yet, but I will be moving my 2018 46 ft. Dufour soon from the BVIs to FL. She is currently listed with BVI yacht Sales. 3 cabins, A/C generator. Lovely and very stable boat. PM if interested.

[WE9V]

I agree with the previous commenter that buying a boat is no different than those of the THOUSANDS of people with boats in Florida year-round. (Correction: According to the web, FL has surpassed 1 MILLION boats registered in FL over a year ago. I'm sure there's some of them that remain in FL year-round.) If she's the boat for you, then call some insurance companies to find insurance. You can start with the current owner's insurance company. I'd also suggest State Farm, as they do not have a hurricane box evacuation requirement.