Insuring USI: cover and premium
sailing boats and sailing yachts · several countries
USI: american builder of a one-design sportboat. NAMMERT insures a USI regardless of year built or where you bought it, liability, hull, legal expenses and personal accident cover from one house, taken out online in five minutes.
At a glance
Origin
several countries
Class
sailing boats and sailing yachts
Typical sizes
6,4 m
Premium from
from €39 a year for liability
Worth knowing
USI; cover, cost and conditions
USI stands for Ultimate Sailboats, which Jeff Canepa set up in 1993. He had bought the moulds of the Hotfoot 20 and asked naval architect Jim Antrim to rework the design: the boat grew longer and gained freeboard, beam and a taller mast. Sailmaker Jay Glaser and boatbuilder Larry Tuttle were part of the team. Over the years several yards built the Ultimate 20, starting with Moore Sailboats in Santa Cruz, then Santa Cruz Yachts and Ultimate Sailboats itself, later Abbott Boats and W. D. Schock. She is easy to spot thanks to the lifting bulb keel, fractional rig and retractable bowsprit for an asymmetric spinnaker.
Our model records list one design for the brand, the Ultimate 20, a sailing boat of 6.39 metres with build years from 1993 to 2019. Across those twenty-five years the moulds and the builder changed hands several times, while the class rules kept the boat the same. The hull is glassfibre with a balsa core, and the keel is raised with a winch, which brings the draft down from about one and a half metres to roughly twenty centimetres. She races as a one-design and under handicap.
With a lifting keel, the trunk, the winch, the lifting strop and the bulb are the first things to inspect on a used boat. Balsa-cored decks should be checked for soft spots around fittings, especially where the bowsprit tube exits. The trailer matters as much as the boat, since most of them travel from regatta to regatta. Sails wear out quickly in racing use, so a set of tired sails is common on older hulls. Boats built by different yards can differ in finish, and the hull number helps trace who built a given boat.
Questions and answers
Frequent questions
What does USI stand for on the Ultimate 20?
For USI: Ultimate Sailboats, the company Jeff Canepa founded in 1993.
Several yards built the boat over the years, among them Moore Sailboats, Santa Cruz Yachts,
Abbott Boats and W.
D.
Schock.
How much draft does the Ultimate 20 have?
For USI: About one and a half metres with the keel down and roughly twenty centimetres with it
raised, which makes launching from a trailer straightforward.
The cover that fits
sailing boat insurance
Tariffs, cover and FAQ for sailing boat insurance in detail.
Third-party liability
The foundation for a boat from USI: damage to third parties, worldwide,
from €39 a year for liability.
Hull cover
Partial or full hull cover for a USI, at replacement value with an agreed fixed value.
For the whole class of boat
For USI: What matters for sailing boats and sailing yachts is the same across every brand;
engine output, how a claim is settled, cruising range and theft protection.
The class page lists every point and every brand in this class, USI included.
Insuring sailing boats and sailing yachts, every brand and every condition
Other builders in this class
Nautical information What counts before you cast off, papers, equipment, waters
Licence
Under sail no licence is needed; with an auxiliary engine from 15 hp one is.
Registration
Official number or boat certificate; a flag document for trips abroad.
Waters
Inland lakes, the Baltic and the North Sea; tide, current and shoals belong in the passage plan.
Equipment
Lifejackets, harness and jackstays, lifebuoy, distress signals, reefing system.
Cruising range
Certificate of insurance for foreign harbours; check that racing is covered.
Weather
Reef in time: first reef from Beaufort 5, second from 6, watch the gust forecast.
General guidance, not a complete account;
what governs are the rules of the waters you are on and the manual of your USI.
Current wind force and direction for your waters are shown on the Home.
Series by USI, build years and cover
Ultimate 20 is a sailing boat from USI, built from 1993 to 2019.
For the Ultimate 20 by USI series the market value and the replacement cost often differ widely.
An agreed value removes the age-based scale, and the figure in the policy stands.
For the Ultimate 20 by USI series: On boats this size the condition of rig and fittings decides.
A dismasting is covered, worn terminals after years are not.
What does a used USI cost?
We hold today’s price ranges by year for 1 models by USI.
The table shows what boats in average condition are worth,
from the oldest to the youngest year on record.
Choose your exact model, year and condition in the calculator.
| Model | Years built | Range today |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate 20 | 1996 to 2016 | €8,600 to €19,900 |
Estimate from our boat records, October 2026.
Not a survey.
USI insured in five minutes.
Boat type, year built, length and value of your USI are all we need.
Work out the premium online or call us: +49 3375 29 12 77.
