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!