So I'm getting very close to the purchase of a boat in Airlie Beach.
If I buy it, I'll take ownership in the next week or 2.
What experience do you guys have with insuring a boat in Cyclone Season?
Who should I use?
Does it have to be in a Marina for insurance?
When does the season end?
Boat is currently in Able Point Marina. I'd rather not be paying $1000 per month to berth the boat, however if the insurance is void outside of a marina as I am told, I guess I have to.
What about all those boats on swing moorings in the bay at Airlie? All uninsured????
My thoughts at this stage are to keep the boat in Airlie for about 2 to 3 months then bring it back to Sydney. In the time it is in Airlie, we would fly up and use it for a week on a few occasions.
I realise it is a bad time to bring it back to Sydney (trade winds and winter in Syd). But we have a baby due in July, so the boat will not get used from June to about October.
Thanks for your help.
Sail down to MacKay, its a better cyclone harbour and cheaper. You will still be in easy reach of the Whitsundays.
My advice is that if the boat represents less than 10% of your nett worth, as it should, self insure.
The marinas are all anal about comprehensive insurance and the insurance companies are all anal about boats being kept on marinas.
If a vessel is insured for third party and public liability, I fail to see where the problem is.
Graft and corruption I say with collusion between insurance and marina companies.
my wife says i'm worthless....so does that mean I should only deal in zero cost boats????
Yep, the insurance game is well sown up, however I'll be another sheep in the herd with insurance on this boat.
Thanks. I'm looking into Mackay. No direct flights is a bummer
You will need 3rd party property damage cover to use most public slips. This is pretty much all you need.
Select to expand quotecisco said..
Public slips??
The last one of those I heard of was Mount Ararat!! 
Select to expand quotecisco said..
Public slips??
The last one of those I heard of was Mount Ararat!!
Ok, council run slips and slips owned by private individuals will require proof of public liability insurance.
Funny how everyone moans about needing insurance until they can't get it - then they moan about that.
Insurers don't collude with anyone. I should know, in a former life it would have been me doing the colluding.
Marinas require 3rd party insurance 'cos if you smash up their marina whilst uninsured they have a problem. If you bust up an expensive boat in the marina and don't have insurance the owner will go after the marina who have "deep pockets" AND insurance. Even if they don't win it costs time, legal expenses and, possibly, reputation.
As an aside, when you get the insurance bill, remember to deduct all the tax the state is taking to see how much the insurer is really getting for $10 MILLION of Third Party cover.
Cheers
Bristle
Select to expand quotecisco said..
My advice is that if the boat represents less than 10% of your nett worth, as it should, self insure.
I cannot agree with this any less..... No-one bar maybe you partner can tell you what your boat should be worth.
Your boat should be worth whatever it takes to put a smile on your face. After that you need to decide if it is worth insuring.
But as for your question, I think your boat would be reasonably safe if you made all the appropriate preparations if you left it IN the marina. But it is as you have said very expensive. So I would be moving it as far south as you possibly can. I would not be leaving it at anchor and if the mooring are the ones I think you are talking about, it is fairly shallow in there, so it would depend on what you draw.
Select to expand quotejunek said..
So I'm getting very close to the purchase of a boat in Airlie Beach.
If I buy it, I'll take ownership in the next week or 2.
What experience do you guys have with insuring a boat in Cyclone Season?
Who should I use?
Does it have to be in a Marina for insurance?
When does the season end?
Boat is currently in Able Point Marina. I'd rather not be paying $1000 per month to berth the boat, however if the insurance is void outside of a marina as I am told, I guess I have to.
What about all those boats on swing moorings in the bay at Airlie? All uninsured????
My thoughts at this stage are to keep the boat in Airlie for about 2 to 3 months then bring it back to Sydney. In the time it is in Airlie, we would fly up and use it for a week on a few occasions.
I realise it is a bad time to bring it back to Sydney (trade winds and winter in Syd). But we have a baby due in July, so the boat will not get used from June to about October.
Thanks for your help.
So I did exactly what you're proposing, 12 months ago. Bought in Airlie (in Abell Point) and brought her to Sydney starting 30 June 2017. We had some great weekends and Easter in the Whitsundays between buying and bringing her down. The trip down wasn't the best sailing I've ever done but it wasn't horrendous either. Breeze was on the nose pretty much all the way and took 8 full days with one overnight in Yeppoon. Motor sailed virtually the whole way.
With insurance, we bought the boat just before Cyclone Debbie, suffered a bit of damage but again could have been a lot worse. My Club Marine policy now has the following clause.
'In the event of a named cyclone warning the Insured will make every reasonable endeavour to remove the Boat to a cyclone proof shelter or mooring or take other reasonable precautions as may be necessary to safeguard the Boat. In the event of a claim for loss or damage to Your Boat caused by a named cyclone it is agreed that your excess noted on the Policy schedule will be increased by 100%.'
My understanding is the swing moorings outside the marinas are not covered and the clause above wasn't in the PDS I got in 2017, (interesting change), in fact being in Abell Point meant there was no excess on my claim for Debbie.
I considered a swing mooring but eventually decided $3k (3 months in the marina) was a reasonable price to pay for having her checked daily (They walk each arm of the marina), attached to shore power, being able to fly in and walk up to her and definitely covered when Cyclone Debbie arrived.
$3k was a pretty small portion of the purchase price.
Gerald
interesting topic . in general how do you crew go getting insurance up there in the cyclone zone ? can you get any insurance against storm damage ?
Thanks Gerald - exactly what type of info I was after.
I have since found out that basically no insurance company will cover the boat if it is outside a marina during a named storm up until the end of cyclone season (30th april)
I will therefore leave her in the marina until then. After that time I may move it out to one of the commercial moorings in the bay at $50 a week for my Catalina 320.
Unfortunately I don't have time to bring her back myself, so I will be paying someone to have the fun for me around June.
Just looked over the calendar and we dont have time to use her until late april. So after that time on the boat, I may deliver it back to one of the commercial mooring balls.
I lost my yacht off my own swing mooring in Cyclone Debbie and received a full payout, less excess. However, now only Pantaenius seem willing to insure any boats on swing moorings in Airlie (or any cyclone area) and I don't think that you can just get third party property insurance any more. Although, I'd like to hear if it's available. I understand that it has to be comprehensive. Marinas also seem to demand comprehensive. And, of course, if you want to stay in any marina for even a night, they all seems to want full insurance. Doing without insurance may be cheaper if you can survive a total loss. But if it represents a lot of your money, or the bank's, insurance seems necessary.
The cyclone season is I think November to March. When I was there a few years ago the Airlie Marina offered a discounted rate for the cyclone season. If you are bringing it south before then I would think a mooring would be fine. A problem with moorings in Airlie and Shute harbour is that if one poorly maintained tether lets go then the drifting boat then takes out a number of other boats.
