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| Just thought I'd help out a little bit. I’ve been a claims adjuster for about 5 years and picked up a few things regarding insurance.
Don't listen to what esoxcrp said (sorry buddy, hate to point your post out). It is highly likely you DO DO DO DO need boat insurance...don't just guess that your boat will be covered by your homeowners, because most likely it will not.
Most homeowners policies allow for coverage for a ONLY a boat that's 14 feet or less in length with a 25HP or less motor. Of course, here's the kicker...this is for ONLY liability coverage (i.e. you hit another boat or someone in your boat falls overboard without a life jacket, etc.). There would be very very very limited physical damage coverage (the equivalent of comp/collision) on the boat and whether or not they would be covered would depend highly on the circumstances surrounding the damages. On top of that, when a claim occurs the premiums for a homeowners policy will go up way way way more than the premiums of a specific watercraft policy.
Now, you may be able to purchase endorsements to your policy to cover larger boats or higher HP motors (even though it is not very likely), but to do so would be taking your chances. There's a reason watercraft insurance exists, and a reason for homeowners too...they are each intended to cover specific types of losses that insurance companies can reasonably predict...and specific means specific. If any one exclusion of the policy applies, your claim will be denied due to no coverage. Homeowners policies exclude lots of types of losses that wouldn't normally occur in a home. Basically, if your boat is worth something, or greater than 14 feet, or has more than 25 HP, get a specific watercraft policy.
What a homeowner’s policy WILL cover is personal property that is damaged, stolen, or whatever while it is INSIDE a boat (not the boat itself). This is true regardless of the size of a boat....we're really talking about personal property rather than the actual boat itself...for the same reason a homeowners will cover CD's stolen from a car before the auto insurance will...
The best option for anyone is to get marine watercraft insurance from a company that specializes in it. Their adjusters will be familiar with the types of boats, with the types of motors, with the types of trailers, with the functions...basically, they will be better able to handle your claims if one arises. I want my claims adjuster to know the difference between a 2-stroke motor and a 4-stroke and a Honda and a Suzuki. A lot of the larger personal insurers might not have as great of service for boats...State Farm (just an example) might not have local adjusters that handle boats...or might not have specific people that handle those special types of claims…this means that you might have someone that’s never handled a boat claim handle yours…do you want that???
Basically, before I purchase and insurance policy, I'd want to know what coverages are offered (how well I'd be protected), how many watercrafts the insurance company insures and whether they have specific watercraft claims adjusters, and lastly I'd want to know about price.
Just my advice...not just something to consider if you have a Ranger 620V...but something to consider if you have a Sea Nymph.
Halfpint
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