An insurance policy is a contract with specific terms that we all agree to by signing the application. But just like the marina slip lease, our car owner's manual and our home mortgage, nobody reads the fine print of the contract until a problem occurs. Then it's too late to second guess the terms we agreed to in the contract. Insurance is a regulated industry which means the feds and your state pass laws to prohibit abuse of the consumer as well as defining what your rights are when claiming a loss.

Norm is correct of course. You can enter into an insurance contract that will pay you an agreed value of your vessel or a policy that will pay you a "book" value or a depreciated "fair market" value. The insurance quote you get first will almost always be a book value policy because it's a lower premium and insurance companies are competing for your business and we usually choose the cheapest quote without reading the terms. You have to ask for and negotiate an agreed value policy. It will require a survey.

Not only does a typical marina lease contain an exculpatory clause (relieving them of liability) but it probably also makes you liable for any and all damage to the marina and any other boats caused by your boat or your opperation of the boat REGARDLESS of the limits of your liability insurance.

no matter how you look at it the insurance company is going to screw you and then have the balls to raise your rates, sometimes i think we were better 40 years ago when most people
did not own anything they could not afford to loose and to heck with all those ins bills ,a big portion of most peoples salary goes to just paying ins

Doc, The Marina regularly ices up like that each winter as does the river. We have a bubbler system that protects the docks and boats from the ice. The problem they were having with the clean up was that the ENTIRE AREA was iced in. The Bohemia river, The Elk river, The North East river, The Susqehanna river and The C&D canal were all iced in. The barge with the crane was stuck a few miles (3-4) away at Turkey Point waiting for an ice breaker boat to open a path to the marina. As far as the sheds are concerned...it is MY UNDERSTANDING (what I have been told but cant confirm) that based on NORMAL weather that this area receives...the sheds were designed to handle approx. 30 inches of snow weight and up to 90 mph winds. What they got were approx 60 inches of snow in 5 days and 60+ mph winds in that same time period. The 30 inch design parameter based on MY personal experience for the area is WAY OVER KILL... 12-18 is about the MOST I have EVER seen there and 60 mph winds NEVER let alone 90mph. COMBINE the two and you have what the pics show. Its a shame it happened and I feel bad for all of those that were under the shed.

Unlike a house, those sheds don't have any heat source beneath them to help melt the snow.
They probably should have been using a roof snow shovel like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/SUNC...n_0?hash=item5639e482db

Hindsight is 20/20.

Amen on insurance companies. There are always exceptions to any advice but overall here is the trick: Most of them never even think about settling until you get them to the courthouse steps so my goal was always to get them there as fast as possible. No long letters, no wasting time. File your complaint, get through pre-trial motions and discovery just as fast as you can and scare the you-know-what out of them when you stand in front of the judge and say "We are ready for trial your honor."

Of course you have to make a claim. My point is they will try to draw you into a protracted war of correspondence and discussions. (Perhaps in the hope that you'll be distracted until the statute of limitations expires.) Those of you who don't practice law for a living will want a good attorney smart enough to know that you file the complaint shortly after they deny your claim.

..."good lawyer?"

Isn't that an oxymoron?

Jeff

Early 90's was working for insurance companies adjusting claims and raising boats. Got a call from a Compny I had never worked for out of Texas,wanted me to look at a sunk shrimp boat in St. Augustine. On my way there the guy called from the Ins. Co. told me DON'T FORGET WHO YOUR WORKING FOR ON THIS CLAIM!! IS' A WOOD BOAT, FND A WAY TO DISALLOW THE CLAIM--WE WILL COMPESATE YOU WHEN YOU SEND YOUR BILL!! I didn't like his attitude, to begin with. Drove into the yard, found the boat. Was the cleanest wood shrimp boat I had ever seen to this day!! Engine room looked like it was in the NAVY!! The son was running the boat for his dad, who had shrimped it 23 years and paid this co. $23,000 a year. I told them to start rebuiling the engine and get the boat fixed!! Mention me in that Marina In St. Aug and I'm still a hero!! Son is still working the 72ft Shrimp boat!!! Not all insurance Co. are out to beat you, some DO PAY THIER CLAIMS!! Think there is a site where you can rate them. Sorrydog PS. Boat had sunk because a wood piling had got caught up under the boat in a vertical position -at low tied and punched a large hole in bottom.

Premium cost aside, I had two good experiences with BoatUS insurance. They paid for full cost of replacing two engines (minus deductible) that had mysteriously blown out. Later, they kept following up with me to compensate me for damage to my boat by another of their policy holders - it was such a minor am't that I told them to forget it. My experience in the big claim was virtually hassle-free. One of the things that they told me helped speed the claim was my record of no nickle and dime claims (as a matter of fact, no claims).