blue water insurance

IMHO, the only thing worth insuring for is total loss and no insurance company will insure for total loss only. The rates for a transatlantic are normally very high. Getting insurance from a UK company for the Caribbean is also very difficult. Their excuse for rude premiums is the hurricane season.

Public Liability cover is now all I have when afloat.

Sorry I can't be of more help.
 
We use Pataenius. We tell them where we are going and they adjust the rates accordingly, there is a one off premium for crossing the Atlantic.

One thing to watch out for is the exclusion area for named storms. After Grenada got pasted by two hurricanes in two years some of the companies panicked and put Grenada off limits. One company also excludes Trinidad and Venezuela, thereby leaving nowhere (within reason) to go.

Many marinas in Europe asked to see third party insurance documents - no idea what happens if you don't have it. Nobody has asked to see our cover in the eastern Caribbean or Venezuela.
 
I saw an ad when I was in Trinidad for a Marina complex that had opened up in Guyana, providing an alternative to Venezuela and Trinidad, but I think that if the insurance companies won't cover boats in these 2 places, there is no chance they'll cover you in Guyana........
 
I asked Pantaenius about covering me across the atlantic, and they responded with a resounding 'no'. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

They did however offer me third party liability in and around Europe, for the quite reasonable sum of £153/year...

I'm not sure where to go from here, but I guess I will try and find personal liability with someone, I will do more research.

n
 
I am a UK insurance broker and this is something we tried to find for a client in the past we could not find any insurer to cover this risk, the only route we found was through an American broker but they would only deal direct with the client.
My advice would be to try a Google for a US broker
 
Re: Blue Water Insurance

Try www.Yachtsure.com.

They will only accept contact via their web site (unless your boat is worth 500K+) or through a broker.

They were the only people who would offer us cover in an old steel boat , crossing the Atlantic 2 handed at a premium of about 1.5% of hull value.

Have just renewed with them for another year to criuse NW Caribbean (Mexico. Gutalmala, Belize, Honduras)

Re hurricane cover, you have to be S of Grenada OR accept that name storm damage will be excluded in the summer months (this is our prefered option)

Good Luck
 
Re: Blue Water Insurance

I will try Yachtsure, no go from Admiral:

"Having regard to the age and relatively low value of your vessel together with intended cruising plans we regret to advise that Underwriters have declined to offer terms."

'Low value!' I would have thought that was a good thing /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Less to pay out when I crash it into a sleeping whale.

n.
 
Re: Blue Water Insurance

I didn't realise value was a consideration with insurance companies!

Thats quite worrying as the boat I'm buying is pretty low in value (boaty wise) what happens if I can't find an insurance company to cover it? Or does that just mean that they'll have an excuse to charge super high premiums?!
 
Re: Blue Water Insurance

[ QUOTE ]
I didn't realise value was a consideration with insurance companies!

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, it is. We were given this answer when looking for blue water insurance. One company told us £100,000 was their minimum risk (also only boats under 10 years old). I suspect the figure may have been higher for others.
 
Our boat was seriously damaged in Hurrican Ivan. At the time we were insured with GH and the policy was actually underwriten by Yachtsure. NIGHTMARE. Had to engage a lawyer and fly my own surveyor at my expense to Grenada after a serious dispute with their surveyor's estimates. Yachtsure more of a problem than GH who did not seem to have much weight. Eventually had to accept a settlement that both my marine lawyer and surveyor were unhappy with, but it had dragged on for months and months and was significantly higher than their first estimate. The insurance claim with these guys ended up being WORSE for me in terms of stress than the actual Hurricane. We are now with Pantaneius who were excellent (in comparison) with friends who also lost boats or suffered damage. It does seem you get what you pay for.
 
To back up what Jonic said about Pantaneius I found them excellent.

My boat was struck by lightning (a not uncommon occurrence the other side of the pond) whilst we were in the Chesapeake. It destroyed every single bit of electrical equipment in the boat including some wiring and everything on the mast head. - The eventual repair bill, if I remember correctly, was around $50,000!!!

Pantaneius were superb. Firstly they calmed me down. Then helped me find a suitable yard to do the repairs. Found a local surveyor to go over the boat and make a repair schedule. Authorised the repair yard and paid them a deposit to start work immediately. Paid the final bill without fuss and expeditiously so we could leave.

I had cover from them all round the world. Bit by bit just changing the cruising area as I went along which is far cheaper than trying to get world wide cover all at once.

Michael
 
Re: Pantaneius.

Pantaenius do still insure blue water yachts. We remain insured with them. Nor have they changed their summer exclusion zone in the Caribbean, like many other insurers. However like a lot of brokers in that market they don't insure older or lower value boats, and are a bit picky about what they sign on.

I have met locals in the Caribbean who insure with Anjo Insurance in Antigua, and have good reports. While they may not cover your transat (for which we got a hefty surcharge from Pantaenius) they might be worth a try for other cover.

Best wishes
 
Re: Pantaneius.

Pantaneius willingly offered me insurance for my first transat voyage 10 years ago, when my partner and I were qute inexperienced. (We eventually chose another insurer). When I reapplied to them last year they declined to quote, despite our experience, Ocean YM qualifications, and 10 years of a clean insurance record. As you say, they would insure us in certain areas - but, from memory, the yacht has to be resurveyed each time on arrival in advance of cover being issued.

Fortunately finding an alternative was not too difficult, but for anyone inexperienced and not on a recognised rally it must be very hard.
 
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