Got a email from current insurance company Topsail who last year took care of my Cole 23.
This year, they have changed and no longer will offer insurance.
They acted as a broker and got a quote for me from New Wave with premium 13% of the insured value, or just 3rd party from Trident for premium 10% of insured value. both seem a bit high, so prior to shopping around, just throwing it out there to see what companies others are using for older, cheaper boats? Club Marine /Pent will just say no, so not going to try.
Searched other forum posts, but nothing obvious.No survey, swing mooring in quiet bay, zero through hulls, great condition.. But yes 35 years old, and low cost.
It's more and more common these days that insurance is only offered to the lowest risk boats as a way of making money, with little risk of paying out. Anything with the slightest risk attached attracts a huge premium. If it wasn't compulsory to have insurance to get into marinas to get work done (don't get me started) most of us would be better off self insuring and having boats we could afford to take the loss... 
Pantnius cover my nearly 60 year old work boat 3rd party on a swing mooring for $520. Only requirement is a mooring report from a contractor
we had a similar issue with topsail. insured with them for quite a few years however this year they advised that their underwriters (on Lloyds) will no longer insure permanent live-aboard / permanently cruising boats like us
did a good market search and wound up with pantaenius. cost was slightly higher but not ridiculous. works out to be just over 1% hull value for comprehensive
cheers,
Does the Pantaenius Australia policy still disallow solo sailing between sunset and sunrise?
Mine has conditional cruising ground between 26.5* south & 50* south & 200nm seaward, nil about solo cruising. I imagine individual agents make the clauses, Chubb is the insurer
I just looked at the Product Disclosure Statement on the Pantaenius website www.pantaenius.com/pantaenius-text/textsystem/renderbrief.do?prodversion=true&mt_brief_nr=200.12898&prodversion=true, it states the following on page 27 in the exclusions section.
10. Single handed sailing An event or occurrence while the Vessel is being sailed single handed between sunset and sunrise or for passages of more than 100 nautical miles. This exclusion shall not apply if Single Handed Sailing Cover is expressly stated in the Schedule.
I've checked them out a couple of times over the years by quizzing sales staff, and they've never allowed solo sailing between sunset and sunrise and wouldn't make any change to the policy to allow for it. My understanding is that this is specified by the underwriter, not individual agents. Perhaps the last sentence implies that it's an option now? Has anyone queried it properly?
So if you have Pantaenius insurance, just be aware that if you're solo and holed up somewhere overnight and the conditions change to the point where you have to move the boat, then with a standard policy, it's likely you won't be insured.
Select to expand quote2bish said..
So if you have Pantaenius insurance, just be aware that if you're solo and holed up somewhere overnight and the conditions change to the point where you have to move the boat, then with a standard policy, it's likely you won't be insured.
bit of a catch 22 as it's also arguable that if conditions get that bad and you DON'T move the boat you've not done all you can to protect the boat, and so insurance co can refuse any claim that may arise
nb : we also tried to get extended solo cover and pantaenius wouldn't offer it
cheers,
Select to expand quotePacificStar said..2bish said..
So if you have Pantaenius insurance, just be aware that if you're solo and holed up somewhere overnight and the conditions change to the point where you have to move the boat, then with a standard policy, it's likely you won't be insured.
bit of a catch 22 as it's also arguable that if conditions get that bad and you DON'T move the boat you've not done all you can to protect the boat, and so insurance co can refuse any claim that may arise
nb : we also tried to get extended solo cover and pantaenius wouldn't offer it
cheers,
Good point Pacific Star. Unconscionable practice in my opinion.
