Harry Caskey wrote:

The Insurance question did not do so well under the finance thread so here it is again:

The financing question dovetailed nicely into my concern over insurance. Terry mentioned BoatUS above, which happens to be my agent for Liability only.  If I received good information today from their underwriter, then I will need to find another Insurer before heading into the Caribbean as they only cover Canada and the US including the Bahamas.

I asked for referrals and am currently waiting on a response from World Marine, and quotes from International Marine, and Atlas Marine. American Marine declined due to the age of the vessel.

I'd prefer to continue with Liability only but it has been mentioned before that full coverage is the minimum offered outside the US.

I've heard of several issues with underwriters, including regional exclusions, inflated premiums, Ryders, and recurring haulout survey's $$$.

The alternative of voyaging sans insurance doesn't seem very appealing either.

What is the general consensus among westsailors.

Scott 

 

Since that post both World Marine and Atlas Marine declined. International Marine offered to write a policy extending to the Caribbean but it was restricted to within 75 miles of the coast. International recommended another policy(Jackline) underwritten by Markel American Insurance which can be tailored for worldwide travel and allows for shorthanded cruising(2 minimum).

I was told this weekend to look at Commandeur Insurance from the Netherlands.

http://www.commandeur.nu/yachtinsurance/home/home/english

They were willing to offer me a policy for a reasonable amount with the ability to modify on the fly for different regions of the world, and based on experience will cover singlehanders.

Anyone interested should not be discouraged by the vessel minimum value of 90,000 Euro's as they average current value and replacement value and from most surveys replacement value could be 200,000 to 300,000 USD.

scott

When we cruised Mexico we had Dolphin Insurance which is located in Vancover. We also had a quote from Bluewater, which was a little more. One year in Mexico was @$1500, not including the survey which is usually required. After four months cruising we were notified that we did not have insurance because we did not have a rigging survey. This was after recieving conformation we had insurance befor leaving Calif. I replied that there was no surveyor available and the riggin was new, if this was not good enough they could refund the money. They decided that this was acceptable and gave us our insurance.

When it came time to renew we declined and finished the cruise uninsured. Even though we have a tremendous amount of money invested in Worldwind, when we leave this fall we will be without insurance. Three of our four best cruising friends cruise uninsured. One for twenty years and another is now in the So. Pacific.

We will have the required Mexican liability insureance which is cheap.

Jim