Boat Insurance?

Talk to Marshall Sterling. Then you will have to hire a marine surveyor to evaluate your boat. That will cost you $400 - $800.

Then you will need to fill out a twelve page application for insurance. Then depending on what the survey says and your application Marshall Sterling will underwrite your policy. For a boat you size depending on the value you will probably at least $1,200 for insurance and if it is newer and more valuable boat $2,000 would not be surprising.

It doesn't seem possible to buy liability insurance only so buying insurance here is going to cost you. There is a reason many owners don't insure.

Jim

I can tell you from first hand experience in St. Croix, that, unless you're boat is fairly new (say five years or less) and on a slip in a secured marina, getting it insured is a bonafide pain in the ass. Even if your boat does qualify, perpare to pay a pretty penny to insure down here.

I will say that a survey isn't as much as the previous guy said, at least not in my experience. We hired Bill Chandler for ours three years ago. He did a great job and it was only $300.

Bottom line: if you're boat is older and worth less than, say, $50,000, I'd FORGET about insuring it. Your best bet then is to try and find a quality mooring and put in the best tackle you can with a full three sand screws. And, when a storm comes, BE PREPARED to do what it takes (move to safe hurricane hole, strip boat down and remove bimini, etc) to protect it.

I paid almost $500 for a 23' boat last month for a survey. Boat insurance is expensive and a pain.

Jim

We have a 2007 twin-engine 23' boat and it's insured through Progressive. It was insured by them while we were living in the U.S. so all we had to do was change our address since they cover territories and pay a higher premium of course. We pay about $65/month for the boat and trailer coverage (I keep my boats on trailers as I don't need the hassle and expense of keeping them in the water.)

Heh, well, when your boat is 32' long and literally weighs ten THOUSAND pounds like mine does, you really have no choice but to keep it in the water.

Try Bill at Royal Marine. We insure ours through him at a reasonable cost.

PM me if you can't google the phone number.

Pamela

I have mine through The Pagasus Group stateside.

They specialize in boats planes etc. It runs around 800 a year for full coverage on a 25 foot power boat stored in water, mooring. It is insured year round but must be out of the water for a named storm.
Jay

Thanks for all the info and advice - I have a lot more to go on now!

Actually the reason why I have a diesel truck is because we were planning to by a Striper 3301 WA in early 2008 and the plan was to keep it on the trailer. My thought at the time was that I just didn't want the extra maintenance and care (corrosion, bottom paint, theft,etc.) that comes with mooring but since we never pulled the trigger I can't say whether my plan would have wored out or might we have found it easier in the end to do what you do. If my employer gets more stable or I change jobs I hope to find out 🙂

Heh, well, when your boat is 32' long and literally weighs ten THOUSAND pounds like mine does, you really have no choice but to keep it in the water.

I have mine through The Pagasus Group stateside.

They specialize in boats planes etc. It runs around 800 a year for full coverage on a 25 foot power boat stored in water, mooring. It is insured year round but must be out of the water for a named storm.
Jay

But, then what the hell is the point of having boat insurance? Named storms are by FAR the biggest threat and are precisely the reason I'd want insurance in the first place!

I have mine through The Pagasus Group stateside.

They specialize in boats planes etc. It runs around 800 a year for full coverage on a 25 foot power boat stored in water, mooring. It is insured year round but must be out of the water for a named storm.
Jay

But, then what the hell is the point of having boat insurance? Named storms are by FAR the biggest threat and are precisely the reason I'd want insurance in the first place!

Maybe the million dollars in liability, the coverage for accidents, theft, vanadalism etc. As for storms anyone that keeps a boat in the hurricane zone has to be prepared. A small boat like mine and the one the OP asked about aren't going to be safe in the water during a named storm. I do have friends with the same insurance company and they are insured in water on larger boats with a proper hurricane plan. In my case contracting with Sea Tow to get the thing out of the water was and is the simplest way to protect the boat. My mooring is strong enough for a boat two or three times the size of mine. Still wouldn't want it there in a storm. I dove some damaged moorings after the last storm in Elephant Bay and have to say I am surprised more boats didn't end up on the beach.
Jay

This was one of the major reasons I decided we'd always keep our boat on a trailer limiting us to boats no bigger than about 33' which is fine for our small family. I remember the rush during Omar to pull boats and some people didn't make it - and lost their boats and weren't covered by insurance since it was a named storm.

For smaller boats (under ~'33) I'm convinced it's a lot easier to keep it on a trailer than in the water.

I have mine through The Pagasus Group stateside.

They specialize in boats planes etc. It runs around 800 a year for full coverage on a 25 foot power boat stored in water, mooring. It is insured year round but must be out of the water for a named storm.
Jay

But, then what the hell is the point of having boat insurance? Named storms are by FAR the biggest threat and are precisely the reason I'd want insurance in the first place!

Yeah, I hear what you guys are saying. I mean, for a 25 footer, or any smaller boat, getting it outta the water isn't too tough. But, for larger boats like mine it's an expensive pain in the ass. Some years, if you were to pull her outta the water everytime a hurricane was threatening to possibly do damage, you'd end up pulling her our 5, 6 maybe 7 times. At a minimum cost of $500 per pull out, that get's costly, not to mention a huge hassle. Then throw in the cost of insurance and it just ends up not being worth it, at least for us.

Our boat is only worth $20-$30K. Insurance quotes were $2K a year, not including named storms. Add $3K to that for all the pull outs and suddenly we're paying $5K a year to insure a boat only worth $20-$30K? And, then on top of that there was a $2K deductible? Forget it.

Making matters worse is that even if you are contracted with someone to do the pull out, sometimes they just flat out don't get the job done. That happened to people during Omar. They had paid St. Croix Marine in advance to get their boat pulled in the event of a hurricane, but, since Omar came outta nowhere, St. Croix Marine wasn't able to get them all done in time and those poor boat owners ended up not getting their boats pulled anyway! Welcome to the VI, I guess. (BTW, I hate St. Croix Marine. They gouge the piss outta you. But, since they're the only game in town, whaddaya gonna do?)

Perhaps I just wasn't getting a fair insurance quote. That mght be the source of my troubles getting insured. But, if so, it wasn't for lack of trying. I busted my ass trying to get coverage quotes from every agency I could find, and the one I outlined above was the only thing I could get.

I don't know if it helps but if you have a military connection (self, spouse, parent) you could check into USAA's boat insurance program (which is a slightly discounted Progressive boat policy.) USAA does write policies for cars and boats here from what I was told (I didn't switch my boat over since in my case it would only save me a whopping $12/year.)

USAA Does not write boat insurance here.

Insurance for my 37' Hunter sailboat is $2,000/year. I'll be checking with USAA for the renewal.