Boat Buzz

Is it possible to insure my boat for just the season of use? Typically this is May through September. It's out of the water in covered storage for the winter

BAD idea. I know two people whose boats were destroyed while in storage. The recent one, the storage building caught on fire, and the owners insurance only covered the building. Each of the boat owners were on their own with respect to insurance coverage. I guess you could drop liability coverage, but it won't save you much.

Peter;

Most ask for a layup period where your boat is still insured but for peril rather than liability use.

Talk with Chris at Hagerty to get detail but just because your boat is not in use does not mean you don't want it insured.

We have done countless stories on this very issue on Woody Boater around fall.. When folks think it's safe.. Actually about 50% of all claims happen when the boat is not in the water. Or in the case of this Hurricane. Not in the water, then in the water, then through the boat house roof.. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.. If we all knew when stuff was going to happen, we would not have accidents.

As Matt indicates, in any given season just under half of our claims happen when a boat is in storage, and the majority when the boat is NOT in use. We do try to take the amount of time the boat is actually used during the season when rating. How / where the boat is stored can also make a difference....but things happen...we have even had climate controlled buildings have the system fail and cook the seams open on a very expensive classic runabout. Our policy has always been very liberal compaired to a traditional marine policy, in that it does not have specific lay-up dates.