A friend of mine has an older hatteras 55-60’ in ft Myer’s. He was telling me he takes the insured value down well below half and assumes he is self insuring for the rest.So, here is the insurance story in Fl to add to the boat purchase calculus.
Boat over 50 feet, older than 10 years, any claims within five years, year around location in Florida.
There is no insurance available, period.
If you have insurance be ready for cancellation.
My insurance (SafeWaters) is completely pulling out of the market. They notified me in June of non-renewal.
My broker (based in Fl) has been looking for a market to insure my boat since June.
They finally landed on a high risk specialty carrier called Concept.
I've owned and been running these boats for over 20 years and check the boxes in the USCG safety courses. I don't have a six-pack or other licenses. I did have an insurance claim due to a lightning strike in Aug 2019 (more than 3 years ago).
The premium has come back at just under $13,000 per year.
This does not include a Bahamas rider which is an additional premium cost for each trip.
I must have a person over the age of 21 on the boat with me whenever it is in motion (figure that one out).
All survey recommendations (not only the mandatory fixes which there were none) must be listed and a date when addressed.
So, that's the story and my broker fully expects things to get more challenging going forward.