Sanding, heat gun, solvents: winter work on the boat and what counts after a fire

Between November and March more work is done on boats than in the whole of the summer. Old antifouling comes off, varnish is lifted with a hot air gun, teak is sanded and the engine bay is degreased with solvent. In a shed the next boat stands a metre away, often under a tarpaulin, and in the evening nobody is there. Claims files show the same pattern again and again. The loss rarely starts with a naked flame. It starts with an oily rag in a bucket, a hot tool put down on a cushion or sparks from cutting through a seized bolt. After a fire, what counts is written in three parts of the paperwork, and they decide who pays for what.

The first is the fire clause in the hull policy. Check that fire and explosion are insured while the boat is ashore and while it is being repaired or refitted, and whether the place of storage has to meet any condition. Then read how the wording defines fire. Many European wordings require a fire with flames that has left its proper place and can spread by itself. A blister in the gelcoat under a heat gun or a scorched cable is not a fire in that sense, and scorch damage to upholstery is insured in some contracts and not in others. If owner's work is restricted or has to be notified, that will be in the same section.

The second is fault. Most wordings allow the insurer to reduce or refuse payment where a loss was caused by gross negligence, and some waive that right up to a stated share of the sum insured. Whether an oily rag in a closed locker or a fan heater left running overnight is gross negligence is decided case by case, so the useful question is what evidence exists afterwards. Look also for an exclusion of losses caused by breaching official regulations, which matters wherever fire regulations apply to the building. An electric boat adds one more point: clauses for electric propulsion often exclude damage caused by the owner working on the traction battery.

The third concerns everybody else. If the neighbouring boat or the shed burns, that is a liability claim, not a hull claim. Read the third party liability section for two things. One is an exclusion for knowingly handling flammable or explosive substances in breach of the law or of rules; yard rules are rules. The other is the treatment of rented property, because damage to things the policyholder has hired is commonly excluded, and a rented storage space or boat shed is exactly that unless the wording says otherwise. Most yards and marinas ask for proof of third party liability before they let a boat in, and their contract will say what they expect.

In practice the yard rules are the document to read before the policy. Many yards forbid hot work, sanding without extraction, or solvents and gas cylinders left on board, and some require the owner to tell the office before starting. An owner who knowingly ignores that hands the other side the facts it needs. After a fire, telling the insurer is not enough: wordings usually require fire and explosion to be reported to the police without delay, and the insurer must be given the chance to inspect before repairs begin. Keep the debris where it is until that has happened.

This applies to any boat on which the owner works during the winter, a sailing yacht with a teak deck as much as a motor boat with a petrol tank or a jet ski in the garage. Policies seldom forbid DIY and seldom demand a professional yard. They ask, after a loss, what was done and whether it was allowed. The owner who can answer is in a good position: a photograph of the tidy workplace in the evening, an extinguisher within reach, rags in a lidded metal bin taken out of the shed, and a yard that knew about the work.