Black Panther 1,591 Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Is this where we are headed? House Bill 4844 would be a brief addition to South Carolina law, requiring that owners who want to anchor in the state for more than two weeks pay for insurance to cover salvage costs if their boats sink: An owner of a boat that is anchored in the waters of this State more than fourteen days must maintain marine recovery insurance on the boat. To obtain marine recovery insurance, the boat owner must provide the insurer a recent vessel survey that includes a declaration that the boat is seaworthy and that the boat can move under its own power as intended when built. Sailboats must have working sails and powerboats must have a working motor. The survey must have been completed within six months of the policy being issued and completed by a licensed boat surveyor. All policy premiums must be current before a policy can be renewed and new stickers sent to the boat owner. The insurer shall issue two 3 ½ x 3 ½ inch watercraft stickers to the boat owner each time a policy is issued or renewed. The stickers must have the year in one inch font and the insurance company, policy number, and boat registration number on the sticker and be displayed on the boat. The insurer shall require a new survey from the vessel owner after each three-year period before renewing the policy on year four. A person who violates this provision is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned not more than thirty days and fined not more than five hundred dollars. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K4309 269 Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 We are already not far off it in NZ. I'm in the midst of getting a condition assessment survey for my boat, purely for insurance purposes. Cost of survey, rig check and gas certificate alone is in the order of $3k. Not counting maintenance work and renewals I need to complete ahead of the survey (that I had planned for anyway). Without insurance you can't moor in a marina or club mooring field (i.e. Weiti) and you can't haul out anywhere, so maintenance, or even doing an out of water hull inspection for the survey gets very complicated. Sure, you can still have an uninsured boat on a swing mooring, or anchor anywhere you want. But that is why all the derelict boats go to swing moorings. If you go for a putter up the Weiti past Stillwater you can see a bunch of abandoned boats bunged into the mangroves or tied to the bank. That is not counting the ones on moorings that are also clearly abandoned. What to do with old boats is a significant issue, and it is a community / environment issue now as well. I think in the State of Carolina they will just shift their issues somewhere else / the next state along. Not sure what to do in NZ. The cost of responsibly disposing of a boat is prohibitive. But there are no other options other than a big digger, crushing it and taking it to a landfill. In saying all of that, it's not just old boats that sink or hit rocks at full tilt. $2mil Rivitmos have been known to do some serious percussion hydrography and sink themselves in pristine bays and what not. Although you'd assume those types of boats are more likely to have full insurance, there is no legal requirement for it in NZ. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
waikiore 400 Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 Getting close over here, have had requests for an EWOF on two boats that I have -neither of which is ever plugged in to the national grid ! One does not even have any wiring on board ! (apart from outboard killswitch) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Psyche 634 Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 "must be imprisoned" 🤮 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
khayyam 75 Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 1 hour ago, Psyche said: "must be imprisoned" 🤮 That sets a *maximum* (of 30 days), not a minimum, as it implies out of context. Zero would be allowed. In general, I'm a bit torn. Yes insurance inspections are pain in the * and I hate them, and insurance premiums only ever seem to go one direction (up, and recently by a lot). On the other hand, old derelict shitters coming and occupying your anchorages, and maybe worse sinking there, isn't something we as a boating community want either. See, for example, the issy bay hulk saga and the weiti example above. How to solve that, I don't know. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aardvarkash10 968 Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 25 minutes ago, khayyam said: How to solve that, I don't know a disposal bond on all moored boats. Bond is held by the applicable regional authority. Just like a tenant bond, but different. It would probably require registraion and formal ownership tranfer I guess... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Panther 1,591 Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 I think that if a boat has decent mooring cleats and serviced through hulls nobody has any right to complain. I also hate the idea of an insurance company telling me what I can and can't do. e.g. leaving the pacific after October. That's my decision. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Panther 1,591 Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 BTW we wmt dinghysploring up the river over easter, didn't see anything to get excited about. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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