Sorry to be the bearer of “possible” bad news, but you may be affected by this.
Last year, in preparation for hitting the Bay of Quinte and Lake Ontario in this cold, open-water Walleye bite, I was telling a buddy, Jeremy Foote, to get his boat all readied up because an old fishing bud and l are hitting the water tomorrow and we could all hit the water with two rigs, sharing info.
In his scurrying around and mentioning it to his wife, she somehow… and thank god she did, remembered their boat insurance policy. As she looked into it, she told Jer that their boat was not insured on the open water, during the winter months. I thought to myself, “what a crock, that’s gotta be wrong”.
So, I wrote up a quick email to my boat insurance company thinking full well that Jer and Meg must have a totally different type of coverage, and guess what, the response to me was exactly the same. It read:
“Your boat is not covered for the water from Dec 1st to March 31st. So no coverage in winter. Sorry”
This was a total shock to me so I reached out to a bunch of buddies and, low and behold, EVERYONE has the same policy rules.
In my investigation I’ve been hearing about fishing guides getting extended insurance, obviously, they knew this hiccup existed and took care of it.
So, for you diehards venturing out to the big water for the remainder of this season, I suggest you look into your boat insurance policy to ensure you’re covered. That 25, 50, 75 or even 100 thousand-dollar rig could cause you a ton of grief.
6 Responses
Thanks for the heads up Pete. I had absolutely no idea the insurance companies would pull such a short sighted stunt. This extended insurance thing, although beneficial, sounds nothing more than “double dipping”.
Hey thanks again Calvin. As well you made some great points in your email that people should know. Maybe post it on the fan page… great observations!
Thanks for the heads up Pete, that is a croc of you know what! Those insurance companies got us by the short and curley’s they should stop that crap!!
No problem Butch, and I agree with you 100 percent brother!!!!
My first motorcycle insurance policy (from around 1982) was for 6 months, spring to fall – who would drive a bike in the middle of winter? Well, with climate change and guys starting to go out for a run on a sunny warm-ish January day, insurance companies decided to eliminate the 6 month policys, and they all are for 12 months now.
Perhaps it will follow suit for boats, as it becomes more common for boaters to be out on the water throughout the year?
Thanks for this burnunit, it is very interesting and makes me hopeful. Did by chance your premium go up or stay the same?