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Frost in the engine: the bill many wordings leave out
Short answer
Of all the damage a winter can do, the engine is the most expensive single item and the one many wordings take out of frost cover. The answer to it belongs to October, not to the policy.
A cracked block or a split heat exchanger costs more than every other frost claim of the season put together, and it is exactly where frost cover tends to stop. Read the frost clause and the machinery clause side by side: many contracts exclude frost damage to the engine and its ancillaries outright, and some take it out of the machinery extension as well, which is the one place an owner expects to find it. Block, heat exchanger, raw water circuit, outboard leg and keel cooling all sit in that line, and they are the four figure items. In our hull wording frost is excluded as a weather influence in every tier.
The reasoning behind the exclusion is consistent, whether or not you like it. An engine drained properly, or filled with antifreeze to the maker's specification, does not take frost damage. So the loss is read as the result of something left undone rather than as a sudden event from outside, and that distinction is what hull wordings are built on. It reaches further than the engine bay. In the Netherlands and along the east coast of England, where boats commonly stay afloat all winter, the same logic applies to the shore power heater that tripped in January: the question will be what was drained, not what the electricity did.
Which leaves three jobs, and not one of them is a phone call to a broker. Drain the raw water circuit completely or fill it with the specified antifreeze, and do the same for the side circuits, because the calorifier, the watermaker, the deck wash, the heads and the seacocks split far more often than the block itself. Lay the outboard up so the leg drains vertically, empty the cooling water and store it where it cannot freeze. Then write it down: date, which systems, which fluid, with photographs of the open cocks and the gauges. In March that single page is the only evidence left.
Worth remembering
The engine
is the most expensive single item a frost can reach
Many wordings
leave it out, machinery extension included
Two litres of antifreeze cost less than any discussion about whether the circuit was drained.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Does a machinery extension help with frost?
Often not. Several wordings take frost damage out of the machinery extension expressly, so read that sentence before buying the extension rather than after the gearbox is open.
What about the outboard?
The same position. After the last run let the leg drain vertically, empty the cooling water and store the engine somewhere frost free. That is cheaper and far more reliable than any argument in spring.
The boat stays afloat all winter. Does that change anything?
The engine still has to be drained or protected, and the heater keeping the cabin warm is no substitute. Check as well whether the wording sets extra conditions for wintering afloat.
Is a yard invoice enough as proof?
It is the best proof there is, as long as it lists the systems and the fluid rather than just the words winter service. If you do the work yourself, photographs with a date do the same job.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Frost in the engine: the bill many wordings leave out” 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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