I have spent more than a few years as a liveaboard…
At one point, my liveaboard status was a point of pride. I was a young man figuring out the way of the boat. I felt I had unshackled myself from convention and found a peripheral orbit to inhabit. You couldn’t beat the view. Dolphins and sea lions were my neighbors.
To some degree I still feel this way. But, the novelty has worn off, as novelties tend to do…
I do still spend many nights on my boat, but I would not say I am a committed liveaboard. I make sure I have another place to hang my hat. The official way to say this, is that the boat is no longer my primary residence.
This is my pleasure craft, a gorgeous Newport 30 from 1976.
When I did consider myself a liveaboard, I found that marine insurance companies were often reluctant to insure me.
In fact, there are many insurance providers that will not offer insurance if you claim your boat is your primary residence. There are a host of reasons why this is the case. From what I’ve gathered from conversations with underwriters, the gist of it – is that liveaboards can have a higher rate of calamity.
Liveaboards are odd-balls and they may own an old and decrepit vessel. They may also be the type of person who does their own electrical wiring… That sort of thing could lead to a higher chance of a boat fire. I believe another risk is associated with the fact that liveaboards spend more time on their boat. This makes sense, as many of these poor bastards have nowhere else to go…
The more you use your boat, the more likely it is that mishap may occur.
And now, for my own conjecture… Liveaboards also tend to be alcoholics or at least heavy drinkers. And if you’re going to be sipping straight rum while re-wiring a faulty electrical connection, then you have yourself a potent brew of potential liabilities. Insurance companies don’t like liabilities.
What if you are a perfectly respectable liveaboard and you want to find affordable powerboat or sailboat insurance?
Excellent question.
First of all, unless absolutely necessary, don’t tell your insurance company that are a liveaboard. You don’t want to lie about this…but if you have another address that you spend time at, then make sure to state that your boat is not your primary residence. To be clear, you may have to dig into the semantics of how each company defines ‘liveaboard’. This could be a sticking point if they try to deny you on a claim. But, my point is this – do not declare yourself as a liveaboard unless you need to.
Second of all – there are a few insurance companies that will happily insure liveaboards. You may pay a slightly higher premium, but so be it. That’s the price of business. I have written this review that compares popular boat insurance companies. I go through the best providers and discuss their pros and cons. One of the factors that I discuss it the willingness of various companies to insure liveaboards. I do remember that BoatUS is one of the larger companies that doesn’t seem to have any issue with boaters living on their vessels.
In summary, if you are going to live on your boat, do it with style. By that I mean, don’t be a derelict. Don’t be an eyesore at your marina. Keep your electrical work neat and tidy. Keep your day drinking to a minimum and don’t crash your boat.
If you follow these rules, you should have no trouble finding reasonable insurance as a liveaboard…
Thank you for this info. Very helpful!
Hello. And Bye.