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Who pays when you secure the boat and nothing happens?
Short answer
A lift out, a move to a sheltered berth and a second set of warps all cost money before anything has happened. When the depression passes to the north, that bill stays where it is.
It is the least satisfying invoice in boating. The warning goes up, you book the travel hoist, you move into the inner basin, you double the warps and add chafe protection, and then the centre of the depression tracks north and the marina records a gusty afternoon. Nothing broke. Nothing sank. You did exactly what a careful owner should do, and the yard still sends a bill for the lift, the crane time and two nights ashore. The question that follows is a fair one: does anyone share that cost?
English marine insurance law has thought about this for a long time, under the heading of sue and labour. The Marine Insurance Act 1906 places a duty on the assured to take such measures as are reasonable to avert or minimise a loss, and where the policy carries a suing and labouring clause, the expense of those measures is treated separately from the loss itself. The hinge is the word loss. The duty bites once a loss has happened or is immediately threatened. Steps taken two days ahead of a forecast, after which the weather does nothing, sit on the other side of that line, and the pleasure craft wordings we reviewed follow the same logic.
That is hard to defend economically, because prevention is always cheaper than repair, and it is one of the points on which this market is likely to move. Until it does, the order of events matters more than the argument. Act anyway, but speak to the insurer or the broker before the hoist is booked, because a measure agreed in advance stands on very different ground from one arranged alone and explained afterwards. Read the marina contract too: many berthing agreements already say who may move a boat in a named wind strength and at whose expense. Keep the invoice and photograph the boat before and after, with the time visible.
Worth remembering
Once a loss
has happened or is imminent
Before that
prudence is at the owner's expense
Precautions after which nothing happens are the right call and still the owner's bill. That is why the phone call comes before the crane.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
And if the storm does hit after all?
Then the picture changes completely, because the measures were taken to avert or minimise an actual loss. That is the classic sue and labour situation, and it is exactly why the call before booking the hoist is worth five minutes.
Is lifting out worth it anyway?
Almost always. A hoist and two nights in the yard cost a fraction of what a storm at an exposed berth costs, and a claim avoided is also a claims record kept intact for the next renewal.
Does the marina decide, or does the owner?
Read the berthing agreement before the season rather than during the warning. Many harbours reserve the right to move or lift a boat at the owner's expense above a given wind strength, and some make securing the boat an express duty of the berth holder.
Related
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Whether it is “Who pays when you secure the boat and nothing happens?” or another question: send us your residence and the flag your boat flies. You will get a straight answer in one email; including a no, if that is the answer.
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