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316 questions answered in plain English, from cover and claims to chartering and cruising. Nobody needs all of them. Search for the one that applies to you, or read down the subject you are in.
All 316 topics
Getting started (34)
The flag decides which law governs your boat at sea; and, together with your residence…
Under § 95 of the German Insurance Contract Act, the seller’s hull policy passes to you…
Usually you are comparing two premiums that stand for different things. Six variables explain…
Underinsurance does not only hit a total loss. It reduces every partial loss in the same…
The familiar ten to fifteen per cent rule describes all running costs together; insurance is…
A premium rise that brings no more cover usually opens a special right to cancel; the…
The bank asks for a written confirmation that it receives the indemnity in a claim; we need…
In the UK, Ireland, Germany and Austria no law makes third party cover compulsory for a…
No two boat insurers count clear years the same way. Whether an open reserve already counts…
Having no engine does not stop a houseboat causing damage to other people. Mooring lines…
A refit changes what the boat is worth, and the figure on the schedule does not follow by…
Many owners already hold three policies before they buy a boat. It is worth knowing exactly…
Timber rewards care and punishes neglect, which is why a wooden houseboat is almost always…
Putting a figure on a proposal form takes a minute. Backing it up later with invoices, an…
A boat premium is not a list price. It is assembled from a handful of facts about the boat…
An underwriting agency sits between broker and insurer with delegated authority: it rates the…
The risky hours are not the first passage. They are the day of the handover itself: the lift…
Moving a boat policy is mostly a question of two dates. Contracts that overlap cost money…
Putting a figure on a proposal form takes a minute. Backing it up later with invoices, an…
A step down the no claims scale is felt at renewal for years, so the question of what counts…
With a used houseboat the hull is only part of the story. Before you sign, check whether the…
A quote for a boat takes a few minutes if the papers are on the table and an afternoon if…
Not for a boat you keep for pleasure: in the UK there is no relief on the premium for private…
At sea in the UK no law requires insurance for a small boat with an outboard, but you are…
You save safely on a higher voluntary excess, an accurate cruising area and a sum insured…
When several people own a boat, one usually becomes the policyholder and the others are named…
A boat can be leased, mainly by companies and the self employed. The finance house stays the…
The HIN, or CIN in European rules, is a boat's identity number. On CE marked craft built…
When someone dies, the boat insurance rarely stops on the same day. The policy usually…
Boat listings that look too good to be true keep turning up online: a cheap yacht, a seller…
Home insurance often covers a rowing dinghy, a canoe or a small sailing dinghy, usually with…
Disclosing it is required if the proposal form asks. You must answer every question carefully…
Third party liability comes first: marinas ask for it and several countries require it. Hull…
Cover (12)
Many claims that get declined are not declined because of an exclusion. They are declined…
The limit is the ceiling on what anyone else can recover from your policy. Where you cruise…
A named perils policy pays for what is on the list. An all risks policy pays for what is not…
A shoal marked on the chart and missed anyway, a seacock left open, lines not doubled before…
A season policy is cheaper because it covers fewer months. The months it leaves out are the…
A higher excess lowers the premium and raises the bill on the day you claim. What matters…
A boat policy often runs for twenty years, and the wording behind it is rewritten several…
You cannot tell a good boat insurance policy by its price. You tell it by seven points in the…
A total loss only policy pays only when the boat is lost altogether. A dent after a…
Many owners only find out after a claim that their boat insurance works differently from what…
Damage you cause to other people and their property falls under third party liability. Damage…
The premium is easy to compare, the cover is not. Comparing what a yacht policy pays after a…
Claims (57)
Policy, conditions and correspondence come in English; and the people you write to are the…
Hail is expressly named and in Basis storm counts from force 8 on the Beaufort scale; with…
Lightning is a named peril in every level of hull cover. The Basis wording adds that surge…
Liability cover checks the question of liability, defends unfounded claims and indemnifies…
Whoever causes the damage is liable first, but from Basis Plus your own hull cover is the…
Two surveyors, two figures, and nobody wrong on purpose. Continental policies contain a…
A salvor alongside wants a contract, and the worst possible moment to negotiate one is while…
Many boats go down alongside, at night, with nobody aboard and no witness at all. What…
Much of the damage happens in the last twenty metres, not at sea. The marina repairs the…
A base may only keep what it can show was damage from your charter, and only what the repair…
Rolling a jet ski over rarely damages anything by itself. The expensive moment is the start…
The tender takes most of the small knocks on a charter: a slashed tube, an outboard dropped…
A boat is resin, foam, upholstery, fuel and plastic pipework within a few feet of each other.…
A sunk or burnt out boat does not end the loss, it starts a second one. Harbour and…
People first, then the boat, then the paperwork. What you photograph and write down in the…
Drying out on a tidal mooring is routine. On a river or a lake the level falls for weeks, and…
Paint on the topside, a slashed sprayhood, fittings levered off. Small on their own, a yard…
Houseboats usually winter afloat. When the basin freezes the ice presses on the hull, and on…
While the contents stay inside the boat, a leaking holding tank is a maintenance job. Once…
A claim does not end a policy by itself, but many wordings let either side cancel mid term on…
When a boat goes down with fuel aboard, a boom goes round it within the hour. Who ends up…
A houseboat is a home with weaker doors and often no neighbours. After a break-in the first…
A dead engine on an undamaged boat is a breakdown, and a tow is billed by time and distance.…
When shore power drops out in winter, heating and frost protection stop, and often the ice…
A salvage firm wants money or a written undertaking before the crane moves, and at that hour…
There is generally no fixed date for a private houseboat, but an older steel hull should come…
A houseboat has to rise and fall with the river without breaking free or grounding as the…
The charter yacht's insurance protects the boat and its inventory, not the crew's belongings.…
A capsize is part of dinghy sailing, but it can cost a mast, a sail, the centreboard or the…
After a rudder failure the first question is the cause. Hitting debris or grounding is sudden…
A dead engine on an undamaged boat is a breakdown, and a tow is billed by time and distance.…
Authorities rarely move quickly on a sunken boat. The order to lift it can arrive years…
Only claims filed with the insolvency administrator and admitted by him are paid. Check both…
Water on a houseboat comes from a tank or a hose from the pontoon. Both need looking after: a…
When a roller furler breaks, the first question is the cause. A collision or a gust that…
Much of the rig damage when lowering the mast happens during the lowering itself, not under…
The disclaimer in the notice of race normally protects the organising club, not competitors…
Before the first trip after winter storage, check the cooling, impeller, hoses, seacocks…
In a lock on the Danube or elsewhere, damage to your own boat usually comes from lines…
A propeller that suddenly hits floating debris, a log or an underwater obstruction has…
When a motorboat is swamped by heavy rain at the berth, the insurer will ask whether a sudden…
An engine that overheated because the cooling failed is a mechanical breakdown, which hull…
When the bellows on a sterndrive split, water gets into the hull and the boat can sink at its…
If the bow thruster fails while berthing and your boat damages another, the claim usually…
When a wave smashes a window on a motor boat, many hull policies treat it as heavy weather…
If the steering fails at full speed and your boat hits another, the claim for their damage…
With damaged trim tabs the hull insurer looks at the cause. Debris, grounding or a knock when…
If water has got into the engine through the exhaust, the next start can hydrolock it and…
Carbon monoxide from engines, generators and heaters collects at the stern, around the swim…
After a collision on the water, help first, then record what happened and swap details. Who…
Scratches and gelcoat damage are usually an insurance claim only when a sudden event caused…
Many hull wordings pay for theft of an outboard or a trailer only if it was secured. Which…
Third party liability cover pays only if you are legally liable for the damage, usually…
If the mast breaks or a sail tears, hull cover usually pays when an accident is behind it. If…
Over the winter the boat sits ashore in a shed, a club store or a garage, and that is when…
Under German law, an owner's claims for damage to a hired yacht become time barred six months…
Every boat policy sets out duties, usually called conditions: report a loss promptly, tell…
Chartering out (5)
In the thirteen wordings we reviewed, skippered charter is the least clearly regulated use.…
The boat leaves and does not come back. For anyone chartering out that is the core loss, and…
Your own loss of earnings is an indirect loss under a hull policy and excluded in nearly all…
The moment money changes hands for a voyage, a private boat stops being private. In the…
While the yacht sails in a charter fleet, the charter company normally insures it. The owner…
Cruising (138)
Every reviewed provider with worldwide cruising manages the storm season through blackout…
Sailing alone inevitably means periods without a watch and without a lookout. That is exactly…
In a sheltered marina nobody minds. On an open coast, lying unattended is one of the sharpest…
Before quoting, the providers we reviewed ask for up to ten documents, including crew CVs and…
What has to be on board is set by the waters you are on and the law of the country you are…
Which certificate counts is decided by the water you are on, not by where you live; if the…
The charter yacht is insured, but that policy is written for the owner and the boat, not for…
The security deposit is your share of any damage to the charter yacht, however small. Deposit…
Anything not recorded at check in will be put down to you at check out. Half an hour with a…
On many European canals and lakes you can take a hire boat out after a short briefing and no…
The skipper is responsible for the boat and the crew. If a duty of care is breached and…
How much of your payment is kept is decided by the cancellation scale in the charter…
A charter base owes you a seaworthy boat for the whole week. If the engine fails it becomes a…
A jet ski on a trailer leaves the agreed cruising range faster than most riders realise.…
A road trailer and a tender are the two items owners most often forget to name. Both can do…
On a berth charter you travel as a guest and a professional skipper runs the boat. Mistakes…
Sort the paperwork into two piles. Everything belonging to the yacht is the base's job.…
Two hulls mean two engines, two saildrives and a beam that fills most Mediterranean berths.…
Hull cover belongs to a particular craft, not to you. On a hired machine abroad the hire…
Some national federations sell cover with the licence, others expect you to bring your own.…
The lead crew plan the route, pick the harbours and give weather advice. Command of each…
Charter yachts carry lifejackets for the number of people aboard, usually in adult sizes.…
Tell the base the moment you touch bottom, even if nothing shows from on deck. Diver, lift…
Damage to the other boat is usually a matter for the charter yacht's liability insurance…
Moving a houseboat is a voyage of its own with risks of its own. Settle the route, the…
Several countries make third party insurance compulsory for pleasure craft, and the office at…
Leave a boat for months and a new person appears in the small print: someone on the spot who…
If the weather keeps you in harbour, the handover time in your charter contract keeps…
Once an operator is insolvent, your deposit becomes a claim in the process, and claims of…
How fast you may go is set by the harbour authority, not by any contract. A fine follows the…
A bareboat charter in Greece needs a certificate of competence the base accepts for that…
The charter contract names one skipper, and that is the only person the base has checked and…
A ban on night sailing usually sits in the charter contract rather than in any statute. Break…
A certificate shows an exam once passed, the miles show whether you have kept it up. Many…
On a one-way charter the base has to send its own crew to bring the boat home, and that cost…
The weekly rate is rarely the final bill. Final cleaning, a starter pack or transit log, the…
Whether the dog comes aboard is the base's decision, and it belongs in the contract. Damage…
Your own paddleboard or snorkel kit is rarely a problem. Scuba diving and towing anything…
The papers split into two piles. Everything that belongs to the boat is the charter company's…
Where a buoy field has been laid, anchoring is often restricted, above all over protected…
Usually, yes. Many charter contracts let the base delay handover or departure in dangerous…
If the heads block because of wipes, sanitary items or food, contracts usually treat it as…
Turkey sits outside the EU, so the work starts with each crew member's travel document. The…
A booking platform or agency usually only brokers the charter, and the contract is with the…
If the anchor or chain goes because of how the crew handled it, the base normally takes the…
A tired sail that splits along an old seam in normal wind is wear and tear, and that is the…
If the yacht you booked is out of action, the charter company can usually only offer an…
The skipper's fee usually pays for the work and nothing else. It is normal for the crew to…
Spanish law lets charter boats be hired out on a certificate from your country of nationality…
The papers split into two piles. Everything that belongs to the boat is arranged by the…
At check-in the base usually places a hold on your credit card rather than taking the money…
Towards the charter company, the person who signed the agreement and put up the deposit is…
State-provided cards such as the GHIC or EHIC cover treatment abroad only on local terms, and…
Dutch law asks for a vaarbewijs only for boats over 15 metres or motor boats that can go…
A foreign yacht arriving in Montenegro heads straight for a port of entry, clears in, gets…
Portugal recognises boating certificates from other EU countries and ranks them against its…
Island hopping in the Caribbean often means crossing a border, and every country expects you…
Sweden and Denmark ask little of leisure skippers by law for many boats. Charter bases still…
On the German Baltic coast the charter base wants a sea certificate and often some…
In France you can drive a hired houseboat on many canals and rivers without a licence, after…
A Canaries charter is not a Mediterranean cruise: the trade wind, acceleration zones between…
Several countries on a southern cruise do not merely expect third party insurance, they set a…
No certificate is required by law to skipper a private pleasure boat in UK waters, but…
To charter in Norway the base normally wants a sea certificate and a VHF licence, and often…
To charter in Malta the base will normally want a sea certificate and a VHF licence, and…
On the Masurian lakes in Poland some smaller boats may be helmed without a certificate…
Hiring a motor boat over 4.4 kW or a sailing boat with more than 12 square metres of sail on…
On Lake Garda, Lake Maggiore and other Italian lakes, hire companies often let small Italian…
To charter in Thailand the base around Phuket will normally want a sea qualification, a VHF…
To charter in the Seychelles the base will normally want a sea qualification, a VHF licence…
To charter in the Bahamas the base will normally want proof of skippering experience and…
To charter in Belize the base will normally want proof of skippering experience, often a…
For a bareboat in the Whitsundays many bases ask for no particular licence, but they check…
To charter in the Bay of Islands the bases normally want proof of skippering experience and…
To charter in Slovenia or Albania the base will normally want a recognised qualification such…
To charter in French Polynesia the base will normally want proof of skippering experience and…
To hire a boat in the Venice lagoon you need either no licence or a recognised one, depending…
To hire a narrowboat in England you normally need no licence or qualification; the hire…
Chartering in the Cyclades in high summer means sailing in the meltemi, a strong northerly…
Chartering between Corsica and Sardinia means crossing the Strait of Bonifacio, where a…
Chartering in Croatia through the Kornati means buying an entry ticket for the boat for the…
For chartering in Malaysia around Langkawi the bases normally want a sea qualification such…
Spending the night at anchor in a motorboat does not call for an anchor watch every night…
The bora is a cold north easterly fall wind that hits the Croatian coast suddenly and in hard…
To visit Cabrera on a charter around Mallorca you need a permit from the national park in…
In the Aeolian Islands the seabed drops away steeply close inshore, good anchorages are…
The Ionian around Lefkas is known as easy cruising with short hops and predictable wind. To…
Chartering in the Northern Sporades takes you through the Alonissos marine park. The rules…
Can you sail a Dodecanese charter yacht across to Turkey? Only if the charter agreement…
Elba, Giglio, Capraia and the other islands of the Tuscan Archipelago lie in a national park.…
Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo lie in a marine reserve divided into zones. In the strictest…
A hire boat is nearly always insured, but the policy belongs to the hire company. The hirer…
The Saronic Gulf off Athens is a popular first Mediterranean charter: short hops, plenty of…
The Finnish and Åland archipelago is flat water among thousands of granite islands, with even…
The western end of Mljet is a national park and Lastovo is a nature park. In both, visitors…
Charter bases in the South Pacific want skipper experience, a certificate and often a long…
For several years orcas off Spain and Portugal have been striking the rudders of sailing…
A medicane is a cyclone over the Mediterranean: rare, but able to bring winds up to hurricane…
Geographically the Kattegat is the passage between the Baltic and the North Sea, while the…
The grab bag is the emergency bag that goes with you into the liferaft when you abandon ship.…
Pack the first aid kit for your cruising area, your crew and the length of the trip, ideally…
On a long passage an ordinary travel policy is rarely enough, because it usually limits each…
After an accident or an alleged offence abroad, the authorities can keep the boat or the…
Plastic never goes over the side, food waste only far offshore, and sewage belongs in a…
Micturition syncope is a brief faint while or just after passing urine. Ashore the risk is…
Emergency roles, sometimes set out as a station bill or muster list, decide before departure…
Sailing apps help with navigation, weather, tides and emergencies. What matters is official…
There is no general ban on copper antifouling in the UK or the EU. Antifouling is a biocide…
Whether it is a swinging mooring in a UK harbour or a lazy line in a Mediterranean marina…
Staying safe in a thunderstorm on a boat starts early: watch the forecast, head for harbour…
Which law applies on board at sea depends on where you are. Within 12 nautical miles of the…
Charter loss of hire arises when the yacht you damaged misses its next week of bookings. The…
Hiring a cruiser on the Shannon needs no licence in Ireland: the hire company trains you…
Chartering to Jersey and Guernsey means one of Europe's most demanding tidal areas: a huge…
Chartering from Pula puts Brijuni National Park just off the bow. Yachts may only enter with…
Chartering round the Peloponnese from Kalamata takes you past the Mani, round Cape Tainaron…
Bringing your own yacht back into the EU after years outside it, you can usually re-import…
Taking your own boat down the Danube to the Black Sea means passing through eight countries…
Yacht charter insurance is not one policy but a set of separate covers for the skipper and…
Cruising abroad, many European countries require a visiting boat to carry third party…
When a dog on board causes damage, it matters who gets hurt. Chewed cushions on your own boat…
Skippers in the Baltic, and increasingly in the North Sea, report GPS jamming and spoofing…
Take your yacht out of the EU and bring it back, and you need proof that VAT and duty on it…
In an emergency an EPIRB or PLB alerts the rescue services by satellite. It must be…
Every year cruising yachts hit whales on Atlantic and Pacific passages, sometimes ending with…
Hull cover normally applies only within the navigation limits written into the policy. If the…
Chartering in the Bay of Naples means sailing one of the busiest stretches of water in Italy.…
Chartering on the Costa Smeralda in north east Sardinia takes most crews to the Tavolara…
Chartering in Cape Verde is an Atlantic trip in the trade winds: a strong breeze…
Chartering in Cuba runs to its own rules. Entry needs a tourist card and proof of health…
A liferaft has to go to a service station approved by the maker at the intervals the maker…
Planning an Atlantic crossing means building the calendar around the hurricane season…
Chartering the Hyères islands off the Côte d'Azur means sailing largely inside the Port-Cros…
Chartering in Ibiza and Formentera revolves around posidonia: anchoring on the seagrass is…
The Grenadines belong to two countries, St Vincent and the Grenadines in the north and…
From Göcek and Fethiye you usually lie to an anchor and a shore line in wooded bays or tie up…
New Zealand and Australia keep foreign species out of their waters and require visiting…
Have spare parts shipped abroad on a long passage and you will meet customs. Many countries…
Cover in detail (70)
In parts of the market the immobiliser is a condition precedent, and in a claim the burden of…
A typical drive damage on a jet ski comes from ingestion. In none of the wordings reviewed do…
Cover hangs on the word: in the wordings we reviewed regattas are often insured and races…
Barely any wording we reviewed names frost as an insured peril. It is covered where an…
Whether winterising is a duty with a sanction or evidence with a reward makes the whole…
On a storm warning several wordings require measures at your expense, and loss of cover is…
The damage builds quietly, over months, and often the culprit is not your own boat. Anodes…
The hull claim is one thing, the journey another. Accommodation, repatriation, a replacement…
Living aboard is neither sport nor pleasure use. That is precisely what many wordings tie…
The expensive problem after a grounding is not the damage but the uncertainty. Who pays for…
The legal limit for the person in charge is 0.5 per mille. In insurance terms alcohol is the…
Misfuelling is an operating error, and operating errors on machinery are regularly excluded…
Free choice of yard sounds obvious and is not. It also decides who has to pay first.
The split is simpler than people think: you show the loss, the insurer shows the exclusion.
If settlement drags on you do not have to wait. After one month you can ask for a payment on…
You pay nothing for the rescue of people. As soon as the boat is the object, it becomes…
On a total loss the salvage value is usually deducted. Then the wreck remains yours, along…
Third-party liability follows the boat, not the person. Any authorised helmsman who holds the…
Declare them: lithium batteries belong in the proposal with their value, because their fire…
A club policy covers club property, club boats and club events; your own boat is almost never…
Microbial growth at the water line inside the tank blocks filters and stops engines. The…
Age is the easy number, condition is the real question, and between the two sits the word…
Blisters in the gelcoat are the visible end of a very slow process, and slow is the word that…
A principle from the age of sail still decides who pays after a shared rescue. It reaches a…
The bite itself is rarely the expensive part. What costs money is the short circuit, the…
Hull wordings are built around events that come from outside. An engine that fails from the…
Every run in the sea leaves salt in the cooling passages, exhaust and jet pump. Manufacturers…
If a passenger comes off a jet ski and is hurt, the rider is liable where the rider was at…
Losing the whole boat and losing the outboard off the transom are two different events, and…
Agreed value fixes the sum in the contract before anything happens. Market value works it out…
A good deal can go wrong ashore: storm on the cradle, a shed fire, a crane lift gone wrong…
Wet snow weighs up to 400 kilos per cubic metre. Twenty centimetres over a ten metre boat is…
Raising, moving and disposing of a boat can cost more than the boat was worth, and the order…
Handing the keys to a friend is one thing, taking money for the weekend is another. The…
The expensive winter damage does not happen on the outside of the machine. It happens inside…
Many boats that sink on their berth do not sink through a hole in the hull. They sink through…
With a yacht that races, most of the decision is made before the contract is signed. The…
Theft cover on a jet ski turns less on the lock than on the place where it stands. Some…
On the canals and rivers of England and Wales most boats need a Boat Safety Scheme…
On a houseboat the whole household hangs off the shore power lead, and the connection lives…
An electric or hybrid boat is a different proposition from a diesel one: the traction…
A lift out, a move to a sheltered berth and a second set of warps all cost money before…
A houseboat that is lived in produces moisture all the time. Policies draw a hard line…
Whatever is fixed to the houseboat and moves with it is usually treated as part of the boat…
The use you declared is not a formality. It is the basis on which the risk was taken, and a…
On a houseboat the heating often runs all winter, in a tight space of timber and plastic.…
On the race course the sails are always up, and that is exactly the state many hull wordings…
On a weekend boat a hull claim is an inconvenience. On a boat you live on it is also a…
A hull and liability wording answers for the boat and for other people. An injury to yourself…
Of all the damage a winter can do, the engine is the most expensive single item and the one…
Grey water from the galley, shower and basin may not go overboard everywhere, and on many…
Solar on a houseboat is a good idea as long as two things are right: the panels stay put in a…
On salvage and wreck removal the dividing line in the wordings we reviewed is not the limit…
Whether the mast stays up over winter or comes down depends mainly on where the boat is…
Water skiing behind a motorboat is only allowed where local rules permit it, often in marked…
A fully charged battery survives the winter aboard or in the garage, a flat one freezes. A…
It depends on the wording. A personal accident policy linked to a boat may protect only the…
A boat can spend the winter afloat if the bilge pump keeps running, the lines are right and…
Antifouling keeps growth off the underwater hull and is usually renewed every season; a…
War, strikes, riots and confiscation are excluded in the boat policies we reviewed. Long…
Once you are paid to skipper, whether charter guests, yacht deliveries or teaching at an RYA…
With a latent defect on a boat, from poor design or faulty material, hull policies usually…
A boat at the boatyard during a refit is still insured only if the hull policy includes time…
On a long passage every member of the crew needs their own health insurance that also applies…
A home-built boat can be insured, but without a bill of sale the usual proof of value is…
A phone, laptop, glasses or clothing on board are often insured only up to a limit under a…
Cooking on gas is convenient on board, but the risk is real: LPG sinks into the bilge, and a…
Rods, reels, fishfinders, cylinders and regulators can cost more than a small boat. In a boat…
Petrol vapour is heavier than air and collects in the engine bay. One spark at start up can…
A restored wooden boat or a vintage yacht is often worth far more than any depreciation table…
Nothing on that yet.
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