Hi,
I am new to boat ownership, and have therefore never insured a boat before.  Can anyone recommend insurance companies which will insure Merlin Rockets at a reasonable fee.  I have been told by two companies so far that they won't insure this class of boat.

Also, do people view their boat insurance in the same way as they view car insurance, in that they wouldn't insure an old boat for more than third party risks, or do peeps normally go for fully comp.

Please help.  Have had real difficulty just finding who does sailing dinghy insurance.

Thanks.

Catherine

Bishop Skinner or Craft Insure - both online.

Bishop And Skinner are the cheapest around beat my last quote by miles go for fully comp as if you break any thing big they should pay for it.

Cheers MR2293

At Wormit last week all 5 Merlins were insured by the owners under Bishop Skinner - there was no-one else to touch the quote.

Thanks, i got a quote off bishop skinner, and it does seem like a pretty good quote.

If anyone else has any suggestions, please post them, but we will probably go with bishop skinner, has everyone found them ok to deal with on claims etc.

Does anyone know why Merlin's inparticular seem to be insured at a higher risk than other dinghies?  Do you guys crash a lot?LOL

I think the formative years of carbon spars may have taken their toll on some underwriters profit margins.

Also, while serious damage to Merlins is rare, when it does happen it's never cheap to put right especially with wooden ones.

I had a spinnaker trashed at the Abersoch champs in 2004 and was refused insurance by Admiral for 2005. I'm now with Noble who have sorted out the Rutland unpleasantness in record time, though they are expensive compared with Bishop Skinner.

After my boat was written off Bishop Skinner sold her back to me for £50. She is now repaired looks great and sails like a dream. Bishop Skinner were happy to take me back and I have insured the hull for twice it's value at the time of the write off, they just wanted a letter from a builder quoting the hulls value after repair, my premium rose by about 30%.

Hello Catherine, welcome to Merlins, the friendly class.  In fact, we are so friendly we like to cuddle each others' gunwales particularly on start lines and round marks.  See link below.  As Chris says, repairing wooden boats with quite complex structures and a first class finish in good quality materials is not cheap and I suspect a few insurers offering particularly cheap premiums have had their fingers burnt.  I paid my previous insurer (Admiral Marine) about £400 in premiums over 3 years and they paid out in all about £1,800 in claims.  I am not very good with money but I still think that is not very good business.  I'm now with Bishop Skinner and have yet to make a claim.

Just over 4 weeks till Salcombe, so please can everyone practice avoiding collisions!!!!  The hole in my boat will be just as big if you shouted STARBOARD beforehand and I promise to do my turns if you call me even if you avoid contact (Alan I really didn't see you and didn't know it was me you were shouting at, just in case it still rankles 3 years on)

Andrew, ref your comment in brackets, assuming that the link you include is related, that I wasn't referring to you as you didn't go to the Rutland Silver tiller this year. But obviously something happened a long time ago that I have long forgotten.

I used Noble Marine in Southend, via their website. They were very helpful and provided a cover note online. Cover was comprehensive and a good deal (I thought). Hope his helps.

It was the start of the Salcombe Silver Tiller some while back Alan, and one of the 1st open meetings you had done in Merlins.  Everyone started on port, you tacked across and everybody pretty much ignored you, including me.  You wondered if Merins were always like this.  A photo I had on my desktop for a while neatly illustrated the position, sadly I can't find the link now