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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Boat insurance in Florida is out of control

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albert
Captain

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USA
262 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/30/2005 : 00:48:32

I'm up to renew my boat insurance. I had to use Boat US last year as West Marine's insurance company dropped Florida coverage. It went from $280 to $540 for the SAME coverage. I don't want to pay $540 again. Any other suggestions for insurance companies with better rates would greatly be appreciated. It appears that BoatUS has somewhat of a monopoly down here.

On a separate quote for a stink potter 18' flats fishing boat (valued at 12,000) they were asking $1700/year. (I know, I know its sacrilege, but its hard to fish the Florida flats on our sailboats

)This boat is trailered!!! I don't understand the insurance rates. I've a friend with a 2002 48' yacht valued at $650,000 who pays $7,000 per year. The rates on the 18' boat vs. 48' boat doesn't make sense.

He got insurance through a broker, but the broker isn't interested in our low valued boats.

Albert Iturrey
al@comhertz.com
Abacus 1984 C25 #4679

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Doug
Captain

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USA
457 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 02:15:39

Try whoever insures you house & cars. Probably going to be tough though. Insurance companies pour much more money into Florida than they take out in premiums. I suspect the market down there is going to get pretty hard. I see Safeco just pulled out of the homeowner's business all together.

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 09:33:49

I live in Tennessee, and plan to retire in 10 to 13 years. I have been thinking of looking for returement property in florida to invest in but have been having second thoughts. Your comments on insurance just adds to my reluctance to look at Florida. In addition to insurance, I keep reading about marinas going "dockominium" and how communities are increasingly banning anchoring out, or live aboards, and in general becoming "anti boater"
The articles in Southwinds sailing paint a really bleak picture of the future of boating in Florida
What do you think?

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Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 10:24:52

I believe I read somewhere that one can join the U.S. Power Squadron and obtain lower-cost insurance through them.

Frank is right, Florida is definitely heading away from being a boater friendly place. Marinas are being gobbled up by developers and turned into high-dollar condo projects or "dockominiums," and waterfront property value has gone so stupidly out of sight that only the wealthy will end up with a place to keep their boat in the water. The term "liveaboard" will likely be a thing of the past within the next decade as more communities lump liveaboards in with the homeless as being undesirable. Launch ramps are disappearing to development and the remaining ones are so crowded, it's a joke on weekends.

Local, state and federal agencies serve as incredibly effective stumbling blocks for developing any type of new boater-friendly facilities and that's when they aren't engaged in macho turf wars over who has jurisdiction - such as our confusing maze of conflicting manatee zone restrictions here in SW Florida.

But, other than those issues, hurricanes, alligators and amazingly bad drivers, it's a great place to live. Come on down Frank.

Steve

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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1916 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 11:40:27

Hey Steve,
I grew up in Miami, and at one time I swore that I would never live in Florida again. Maybe the northern gulf coast would be as far south I would like to go. I did an internet search for Oriental North Carolina. That's a town with 900 residents, and 2400 sailboats.

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 14:22:16

Various comments... All IMHO:

Albert wrote:

>"I had to use Boat US last year as West Marine's insurance company dropped..."

West Marine bought out the retail side of Boat US... I think I read that as part of the deal the insurance portions of those businesses went through some 're-arrangement'.

>"... 18' flats fishing boat... they were asking $1700/year"

Well, you've got a high-speed boat with no topsides operated in restricted/shallow waters... it probably has a very high claim rate. Insuring a Porsche is more expensive than a Taurus.

>"...2002 48' yacht valued at $650,000 who pays $7,000 per year."

At the rate hurricanes have been marching through Florida, that one seems cheap. Another triple or quadruple hurricane-hit season and insuring a boat down there may be nearly impossible.

If your boat is trailerable, you can get out of the way of bad weather, might consider a liability only policy. An '84 C25 no trailer is probably worth $4-$7K, (assuming total loss).

Gloss wrote...
>"... really bleak picture of the future of boating in Florida"

I'm planning on retiring as a livaboard in Baja California/Pacific Coast of Mexico. It has 1/3 (or less) the living cost of the US... the medical system is pretty good down there, very low crime rate away from the border towns and major cities.

Oh, and the cruising grounds are terrific.

Edited by - on

At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 15:33:53

If you can live with just liability coverage, check your home owner's policy...mine included boat coverage as long as it was less than 35' and less than 50 hp.

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albert
Captain

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USA
262 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 17:11:17

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Gloss
 I live in Tennessee, and plan to retire in 10 to 13 years. I have been thinking of looking for returement property in florida to invest in but have been having second thoughts. Your comments on insurance just adds to my reluctance to look at Florida. In addition to insurance, I keep reading about marinas going "dockominium" and how communities are increasingly banning anchoring out, or live aboards, and in general becoming "anti boater"
The articles in Southwinds sailing paint a really bleak picture of the future of boating in Florida
What do you think?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I've a friend who lives in Key West. He confirms the dockominiums are taking over slips. Almost impossible to get dock space.

In addition to the reduction of slips, the cost of rental apartments has skyrocketed due to less apartments (more condo conversions). Average 1 bedroom $1400 per month! The nice thing about this is that it limits the availability of entry level service personnel. Dishwashers, waitresses, waiters, etc. can't afford to rent in Key West. Businesses are having trouble staffing. I guess Key West will become unaffordable to tourists and implode. Regardless, the keys get so much traffic on the weekends that its best to avoid them. Forget about going down there during long weekends.

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Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 17:13:12

I own a piece of land in a old marina in NC, has 2 slips and room to park a couple cars but not big enough to build on. I've been looking near by for property to build a retirement house on. There is a bidding war going on, even 10 miles inland, people are getting thousands over their asking price. Looks like I will have to kick my renters out and get a bigger boat and live on her at my dock when I retire.

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albert
Captain

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USA
262 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 17:25:32

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Gloss
 Hey Steve,
I grew up in Miami, and at one time I swore that I would never live in Florida again. Maybe the northern gulf coast would be as far south I would like to go. I did an internet search for Oriental North Carolina. That's a town with 900 residents, and 2400 sailboats.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Gulf coast gets red tide. See http://isurus.mote.org/~mhenry/rtupdate.phtml. Just came from Sarasota. Smells bad, dead fish on the beach, can cause coughing and watery eyes. Couldn't go fishing as many fish had been killed. They've had a problem since January 2005. You may want to try the east coast.

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matsche
Captain

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USA
280 Posts

Response Posted - 07/30/2005 : 21:02:56

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Gloss
 I grew up in Miami, and at one time I swore that I would never live in Florida again. Maybe the northern gulf coast would be as far south I would like to go. I did an internet search for Oriental North Carolina. That's a town with 900 residents, and 2400 sailboats.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I grew up in Florida as well and probably won't go back. It was a great place to grow up in the 60s and 70s, but has since gotten way too crowded to enjoy. I like Oriental and that "outer banks" area a great deal. My wife and I have been there several times, and spent a week in Oriental for sailing lessons a few years ago. It's uncrowded, unhurried and very friendly, though I'm afraid it's on the verge of "being discovered".

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 08/02/2005 : 22:13:54

We live in SoFla, and it's true that slips are slipping away every day.
But don't discount Florida as a sailing haven! The state parks down here are great.
Black Point Marina in Biscayne Bay, and Pennekamp state park in Key largo are great locations. In Miami you can buy a $120 annual pass to most all of the Miami parks. We normally pay $10 per night, so the $120 was a great deal.

In the Keys, it's true however. We researched ramps down in the Key largo area. If you are a sail boat, then stand by to be ignored.!

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mwalkup
1st Mate

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USA
79 Posts

Response Posted - 08/06/2005 : 12:24:47

North Carolina is indeed a wonderful and diversified state.
I grew up on the coast of our state in Wilmington, and it's been alot like John said about Florida, great growing up here (we did'nt realize how good we had it)catching shrimp & crabs in the waterways, underdeveloped with a slow geental way of life.

We thought progress had passed us by, but no such luck, and now it seems it's been nothing but unbridled growth.

I will say for my sailing friends here that Oriental N.C. is still a relatively well kept secret, with a wonderful small community feel and a magnificent front yard known as the Pamlico Sound.

I heard once that "progress kills what it creates" and unfortunatly that seems to be true in many cases.

Keep thinking good thoughts....
Mike
83 tr/fk

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