T&T: Can't get there from here

[Rich Gano]

3. Many, many  people live in the interior, hundreds of miles from their
boats. Should  they then make plans to have someone else remove their
canvas, electronics,  etc? Sure, but will an insurer get away with
denying a claim if it doesn't  work out for some reason? Not likely.
4. Another obvious problem is that  some people find themselves unable to
attend their boats because they're  ill, a family member is ill, or
they're away on a trip somewhere. Should  they then prepare their boats
(or have them prepared) before any threat?  Yes, of course, but all of
the same problems present for the insurer.

My answer to this is that if you own a moored vessel that you expect an
insurer to pay up for when it is destroyed or damaged in a storm, you have a
responsibility to yourself, your neighbors, to the insurance company, to the
environment, and to the rest of the boating community at large to make
arrangements for the protection of said vessel AS BEST YOU ARE ABLE.  If it
is broken then, OK the company pays, but at least you tried.

Living far away or suddenly deciding that family, car, or dog are more
important should not excuse one from the fact that when the hurricane heads
to your neck of the woods that proper, prior planning would alleviate much
of the angst about which thing to take care of first or last.  There are
people one can pay to handle the vessel - it would be a lot cheaper in the
long run to ALL concerned if all at-risk vessels had at least a modicum of
pre-storm attention paid to their moorings by somebody who knows what they
are doing.  I would think this could be a huge opportunity for a start-up
business - go out on the waterfront and capture all the boat maintenance
people who are around the piers and form an emergency mooring service
company.  Insurance companies could then give customers a few points to
their insureds for a signed contract with these kinds of companies.

In regard to prophylactic haul-out, there is simply not enough time or room
at haul-out yards to get everybody out of the water.  Even that sounds a bit
dicey to me because I'd much rather have my boat in the water secured in a
storm haven than sitting high and dry waiting to be blown over in the local
yard which does not have the capability to secure the vessels to the ground
once they are on the hard.

Rich Gano
CALYPSO (GB-42-295)
Southport, FL