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Gross negligence and your own mistakes
Short answer
A shoal marked on the chart and missed anyway, a seacock left open, lines not doubled before a gale. Many claims start with a lapse, and the wording decides what happens next.
On the water, gross negligence is not an exotic case. It is the ordinary one. Many claims have a moment behind them where somebody could have done better: a depth sounder that was calling out, a hazard marked clearly on the chart, a seacock left open when the boat was locked up, warps taken on trust with a gale already forecast. Because that is so common, the way your policy treats a serious lapse is worth knowing before it happens rather than during the conversation about percentages.
Wordings handle it in one of three ways. Some waive the defence of gross negligence altogether, or up to a stated proportion of the sum insured. Some reduce the payment in line with how serious the lapse was. Some exclude it outright. What no policy ever covers is deliberate damage, and that line does not move. Everything between an honest lapse and an intention, which is where real life on board sits, is decided by the clause and by nothing else. With us, Basis reduces the payment according to the severity of the fault. Basis Plus waives the reduction up to 25 per cent of the sum insured and Premium up to 50 per cent, except where theft, alcohol or drugs caused the loss.
Two details often settle the file. The first is the list of specific duties the contract imposes, such as closing seacocks when leaving the boat, keeping bilge pumps and their power supply serviceable, or moving the boat when a storm warning is issued. Breaching one of those is judged more harshly than an error of navigation, because it was written down. The second is who has to prove what: suspecting a serious lapse is not the same as demonstrating it, and that distinction is what a reduction stands or falls on.
Worth remembering
A lapse
is behind many claims
Intent
is outside every policy ever written
Between the two sits the clause that decides what you are actually paid.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
What counts as gross negligence on board?
A lapse well beyond ordinary carelessness: ignoring a charted hazard, leaving a seacock open on an unattended boat, or not securing the boat with a gale already forecast.
Can it be covered?
Some wordings waive the defence entirely or up to a stated share of the sum insured, others reduce the payment, others exclude it. It is one of the clauses that most separates two similar quotes.
And deliberate damage?
Never covered, in any policy. That is the one line no wording moves.
Who has to prove the lapse?
Whoever wants to reduce the payment. Suspicion is not enough, which is why the surveyor's report and your own records carry so much weight.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Gross negligence and your own mistakes” 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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