Home / For international owners / Cover in detail
Water from your own systems: hoses, seacocks and tanks
Short answer
Many boats that sink on their berth do not sink through a hole in the hull. They sink through a hose that slipped, a seacock that failed or a pump that ran on, and that difference is what a wording turns on.
Ask anyone who runs a marina what they find when a boat goes down on its own berth overnight, and the answer is rarely a hole in the hull. It is a jubilee clip that let go behind the heads, a seacock seized half open with a perished hose above it, a calorifier connection weeping onto the sole, or a pressure water pump that kept cycling because a pipe split in the locker where nobody looks. The water does not come in from outside. It comes out of the boat's own plumbing, and it keeps coming as long as the pump has power and the tank has contents, which is why a boat can be found awash after a cold night with the sea flat calm.
This is where a wording does its work, and it is worth reading both halves of it. Policies usually treat the component that failed differently from the damage it goes on to cause. Wear, gradual deterioration, corrosion and faulty workmanship are commonly excluded on the part itself, so the split hose or the tired seacock is rarely the item that gets replaced at the insurer's expense. The consequential damage, which is the expensive half, is treated by its own rules: on an all risks basis it is normally within scope unless a specific exclusion bites, while a named perils wording may not reach it at all. With us, the consequential damage is covered from Basis Plus, and only the defective part itself stays excluded. Liveaboard and houseboat wordings sometimes carry a separate clause for domestic plumbing, because there the system runs all year rather than twenty weekends. Check whether frost, lay up conditions or an unattended period change any of it.
Prevention here is unusually cheap for what it buys. Close the seacocks when leaving the boat and keep a soft wooden plug tied to each one. Double clip every hose below the waterline and check the clips annually, replacing hoses by age rather than by appearance, since the inside perishes first. Fit a high water alarm that raises an alert on a phone rather than only a light on the panel, and make sure the automatic bilge pump has a power source that survives a week without shore supply. A pump keeps pace with a drip, not with an open half inch hose, so the alarm matters more than the size of the pump. And if the boat is left for weeks, agree with someone at the marina who will actually step aboard and look.
Worth remembering
From outside
the cause is usually an event
From inside
the cause is usually age
The water level is not what decides the claim. The hose that let it in is, and how old it was.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Is the failed hose treated the same as the damage it caused?
Usually not. Many wordings separate the component itself, where wear and gradual deterioration are commonly excluded, from the damage the escaping water then does to joinery, upholstery, electrics and machinery. The second half is where the real money sits.
Does it matter whether frost caused the failure?
Yes, because frost normally has its own clause with its own conditions about draining the system and laying up. The two sets of wording interlock, so read the frost provision and the water damage provision together rather than one of them.
Is an automatic bilge pump enough protection?
It handles a drip, not a hose off a skin fitting, and it drains the battery while it tries. An alarm that reaches your phone is worth more than a larger pump, because the only thing that helps is somebody stepping aboard within the hour.
What if the boat is left unattended for weeks?
Close the seacocks, drain what can be drained and arrange for someone to board and check rather than to glance from the pontoon. Many wordings also set conditions for unattended periods, and those conditions are easier to meet than to argue about afterwards.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Water from your own systems: hoses, seacocks and tanks” 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.
Was this useful?
