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Do you need someone looking after the boat while you are away?
Short answer
Leave a boat for months and a new person appears in the small print:
someone on the spot who can act.
A phone number is not enough.
What counts is keys, written permission and knowing where the seacocks are.
A boat lying in Lefkada while the owner is in Leeds is not unusual any more, and neither is the clause that comes with it. Once a boat is left unattended for a longer stretch, many sets of conditions expect a named person on the spot who can move her, add lines or otherwise make her safe. Some make it a condition, some attach the deductible to it, some simply ask who it is at renewal and remember the answer. The word ranges from guardiennage in France to boat watch or caretaker elsewhere, and the standard behind the word varies just as much.
What counts is capability, not job title. The person needs access to the pontoon and to the boat, the keys, written permission to move her, and enough knowledge to start the engine, slip a line or take the cover off before a gale. A fellow berth holder who is at the marina every week is usually a better choice than a relative two hundred miles away. A professional guardiennage service is the other route: it costs money, it visits on a schedule and it writes a report, which is worth a great deal when a claim turns on the question of when the water came in.
Settle it in writing before leaving, and tell the marina and the insurer who it is. Leave a one page brief aboard: where the keys are, where the seacocks and the battery isolator are, how the engine starts, what lines and fenders are on board, which contractor to call and how much they may spend without asking first. Add a photograph of the boat as she was left, with the date. That half sheet of paper is what buys two hours when the forecast turns, and two hours is often the whole difference between a chafed line and a boat on the bottom.
Worth remembering
A named person
is what many conditions expect
Keys and permission
are what make the name worth anything
A name in the file helps only if that name can get aboard.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Is the harbour master enough?
Often yes, but only if he has been asked, has agreed and has access. Do not assume the office feels responsible for a private boat; ask, and write the answer down with a date on it.
Does the person have to be a professional?
No. They need to be able to act, not to repair: move the boat, put on another line, take the cover off and call for help in time. A capable neighbour beats a distant expert.
Should the insurer be told who it is?
Yes, and before the absence begins. Conditions often refer to a named person, and a name supplied afterwards is worth less than one already on file. Ask for written confirmation that the arrangement is accepted.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Do you need someone looking after the boat while you are away?” 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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