Bayliner Capri 2052 insurance check: setting the insured value right

The second part of this series is about the number that decides almost everything after a total loss: the insured value. As in the first part, we have not driven the Bayliner Capri 2052 and do not judge it. We also give no market prices and no figures. What a motor boat of this class is worth depends on its condition, engine, equipment and care, and only someone looking at the individual boat can tell. What we can describe is how hull wordings usually treat the value you enter on the proposal, and which items owners tend to forget when setting the insured value. Like the rest of this insurance check, it is about paperwork, not performance.

Start with the difference that matters in a total loss. Some hull policies pay the market value at the time of loss, worked out after the claim and reduced for age, wear and use, often on a sliding scale by years. Others work with an agreed value: the sum in the schedule is fixed by both sides when the contract is signed. The practical point is timing. With an agreed value, the discussion about what the boat is worth takes place before anything has happened, not afterwards. With a market value, it takes place after the loss, when the boat can no longer be inspected. Check which of the two your policy uses; the word is usually in the clause on the insured value.

The engine is a large part of the value of a motor boat this size, and wordings are precise about it. A built-in engine with its drive normally counts as part of the boat and belongs in the hull sum. An outboard is often a separate item with its own value in the schedule, and without that entry it may not be insured at all. If you replace the engine or fit a more powerful one, the value changes and often the risk too. Many wordings require you to report alterations that raise the value, and some only protect the change once you have proved it with invoices or a survey. Keep the invoice until the schedule has been updated.

Then the things that are easy to leave out. Hull wordings usually include the boat with its fixtures, navigation equipment, accessories and inventory, without listing every item. That is exactly why the canvas cover, plotter, echo sounder, stereo, cushions and bathing ladder go missing from the declared value. If the sum is too low, money will be missing after a total loss. Personal belongings such as phones or glasses are a different matter: some policies include them within a fixed limit, others exclude them entirely. They do not belong in the hull sum either way. Read the definitions at the start of the wording, where the policy says what counts as the insured boat.

Two limits apply to the canvas cover in particular. Weather such as rain, frost or sun is a common exclusion, often with an exception where the damage follows a storm. A cover that has gone brittle in the sun is wear, one torn in a gale may be a claim. Theft of loose items that were not properly stowed, covered and lashed is also frequently excluded. Some wordings protect equipment, inventory and outboards even when they are kept away from the boat in a locked room over the winter; others only protect them on board. If you carry cushions and electronics home in the autumn, find that clause before you do.

The trailer is an item of its own. Many hull policies only include it if it is named in the schedule with its own value, and some limit trailer damage to accidents, storm, fire and theft. Theft of a trailer is often subject to a security condition, such as a hitch lock when coupled or a wheel clamp when parked. The fourth part of this series looks at what that means on the road and at the ramp.

Finally, time. A value that was right on the day of purchase is rarely right a few seasons later, in either direction. A new engine, new electronics or new upholstery raise it; age and use lower it. The sum also determines the price of the cover, so a look at the schedule once a year, ideally when laying up, is worthwhile. For partial losses, check whether repairs are paid without deduction for age or whether a scale of deductions applies; the answer is usually in the clause on the amount of compensation. Typical damage to a motor boat this size is the subject of the third part of this series.