Boat Insurance & Summer Stowage in Caribbean

[WelcomeIII]

Hi - I just brought my 1995 Pacific Seacraft 37 from Boston to Antigua. I am an experienced blue water sailor and have made the voyage before. I am also a licensed master. I could not get adequate insurance on the boat - wind damage exclusions were the biggest hurdle. TL Dallas excluded everything it seemed. The Jackline brokerage that does so much advertising was not very helpful either - they did not listen to my requests and did not put any effort into working with me. I decided to go without insurance for the voyage. Now that the boat is in the islands and will be empty for some of the time, I want to find decent insurance. I would like to leave it on the hard this summer in the islands. Right now it is at Jolly Harbor, but will be at Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, for most of the winter. Two questions:

1) Insurance suggestions that include wind damage? Any companies to avoid?
2) Boat Yards to recommend in the Caribbean?

Thank you.

Donna Turley
Welcome III

[camaraderie]

If you want insurance for wind damage/named storms, my guess is that you're gonna have to move the boat "out of the box" down to Trinidad or Venezuela for hurricane season. We had very good results with IMIS/Jackline during Ivan so I am surprised at the lack of responsiveness you found. If you want to try them again...I suggest dropping a note to Bob Bell there. Tell him Camaraderie suggested you get in touch with him. They are not cheap but they are good.
Bob@IMIScorp.net
Here's some good info on the marinas and services in Trinidad if you end up there as most do...
http://www.boatersenterprise.com/

[Faster]

Friends of ours have had very good experiences with a small yard in Tyrell Bay, Carriacou, for summer dry storage.

Carriacou is far enough south for their insurance carrier as well. The one minus is that access to and from Carriacou is not as good as other areas. They often hire a small boat to get from the Union Island airport to Carriacou - they don't arrive dry!

[SusanBaker]

Hi WelcomeIII,

It looks like this post is a bit old but it just came up for me while doing some homework on Google and I think this is an important topic. People should seriously reconsider if they aren't planning to buy boat insurance. First of all, I think the decision to go without insurance for the voyage is not a wise one. I’m pretty sure it’s required by law but I’m not an attorney. However, if you get into a boating accident and injure someone, and they sue you, you could end up in debt for the rest of your life. Even worse, how would you feel if you injured someone and then you couldn’t afford to pay for their medical expenses (and neither could that person?). I don't know much as to which insurance includes wind damage, but [EDIT] does. So far the best insurance provider I’ve found is [EDIT] because you can actually buy [EDIT]… most sites only provide a phone number or a basic quote. They offer pretty good service. Don't be penny wise but pound foolish. Enjoy and be safe out there!

Susan

Originally Posted by WelcomeIII

Hi - I just brought my 1995 Pacific Seacraft 37 from Boston to Antigua. I am an experienced blue water sailor and have made the voyage before. I am also a licensed master. I could not get adequate insurance on the boat - wind damage exclusions were the biggest hurdle. TL Dallas excluded everything it seemed. The Jackline brokerage that does so much advertising was not very helpful either - they did not listen to my requests and did not put any effort into working with me. I decided to go without insurance for the voyage. Now that the boat is in the islands and will be empty for some of the time, I want to find decent insurance. I would like to leave it on the hard this summer in the islands. Right now it is at Jolly Harbor, but will be at Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, for most of the winter. Two questions:

1) Insurance suggestions that include wind damage? Any companies to avoid?
2) Boat Yards to recommend in the Caribbean?

Thank you.

Donna Turley
Welcome III

[sailingdog]

Susan—

Just curious as to what your relationship is to policydog.com. It sounds like you are in the insurance industry and as such posting a link to your company violates the TERMS OF SERVICE agreement and the forum's Special Interest Full Disclosure policy and makes you a spammer as well. Considering that 2 of your 4 posts advocate policydog.com, I'm a bit suspicious.

[Zanshin]

sailingdog - I had a lengthy rebuttal posted which I deleted after I realized that (a) this was an ancient thread and (b) susan's post was most likely advertising and I didn't wish to pull traffic to a thread which should remain dead. At least American Modern Insurance (the one behind the website) is Rated A.

"I'm pretty sure it is required by law..." - for cars maybe, but not boats.

[martinarose]

Good info, buddy!!!
This will help many. However, no need to get worked up over these. There are various boat insurance helpline sites that make your work easy...

[martinarose]

Hey guys,

Can anyone help me find a broker at affordable price to provide value by matching my auto insurance needs to the various policies through different carriers???

Thanks in advance...

[martinarose]

Originally Posted by WelcomeIII

Hi - I just brought my 1995 Pacific Seacraft 37 from Boston to Antigua. I am an experienced blue water sailor and have made the voyage before. I am also a licensed master. I could not get adequate insurance on the boat - wind damage exclusions were the biggest hurdle. TL Dallas excluded everything it seemed. The Jackline brokerage that does so much advertising was not very helpful either - they did not listen to my requests and did not put any effort into working with me. I decided to go without insurance for the voyage. Now that the boat is in the islands and will be empty for some of the time, I want to find decent insurance. I would like to leave it on the hard this summer in the islands. Right now it is at Jolly Harbor, but will be at Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, for most of the winter. Two questions:

1) Insurance suggestions that include wind damage? Any companies to avoid?
2) Boat Yards to recommend in the Caribbean?

Thank you.

Donna Turley
Welcome III

Hi, Donna!
Yeah, one of my friends has been through all this too. These so called big boat insurance companies make tall claims and advertize hard, but when it comes to customer service, they take short cuts. He ended up buying insurance online after I showed him a web page where you can comparison shop. I don’t remember if it shows you the exclusions because it was a while ago, but you might want to give that a try. Let us know how you make out!