With summer arriving, most of you will be starting to launch your pride and joys, ready for a few months of bliss on the water, but have you made the correct preparations before launching your yacht?
Yacht maintenance is one of the most important areas for consideration for any owner. The problem is that, naturally, everyone has a different concept of what ‘well-maintained’ means. We have all seen yachts that we’re surprised to remain afloat unassisted, with huge rust patches or cracks in the structure of the hull. Others are of age and immaculate to the eye, but that’s not necessarily indicative of what’s happening below the surface.
4 Benefits of Keeping Your Yacht Maintained
- A good maintenance plan will help prolong the life of your yacht; this can come from very small details such as regularly changing the anodes if she is predominately in the sea to regular engine servicing, including oil and filter changes to prolong engine life.
- If you regularly maintain your boat, this will normally mean a better performance output from the vessel. For example, algae growth on the hull dramatically reduces the yacht’s efficiency, resulting in lower speeds and much increased fuel consumption. Modern antifoul paint can help to reduce this, but an annual inspection out of the water and a pressure wash are always beneficial and will help your yacht achieve its best performance.
- Yacht maintenance also normally results in a better standard of safety onboard. You should always know where safety equipment, such as flares and life jackets, are stowed but it is astonishing how often these items end up buried in the bottom of a locker. Often this hidden safety equipment will also have expired inspection dates that have gone unnoticed; a well-run yacht will usually have a regular cleaning regime where lockers are emptied and repacked so oversights such as this are found in advance, giving you peace of mind that, if you need your safety equipment, it is where it is expected to be and more importantly, it works.
- Now for, arguably, the most important aspect; if your yacht sinks and it is deemed by your insurance company that she has not been maintained to what they deem a good enough standard, you may well discover you do not have cover in place for this peril.
It’s one thing if your pride and joy sinks, it’s another thing to not receive a settlement for the loss. As if this weren’t daunting enough, there is also the possibility you could receive a bill for the salvage of your yacht, which normally starts in the thousands and can increase significantly with the size of the vessel.
So, how can you prevent this?
The best way, and what we would recommend, is to have a shipyard or marina give your boat a full service and inspection before you launch the vessel, at the end of every winter. These people are professionals when it comes to vessel maintenance and should know exactly where every seacock and water inlet is throughout the boat. When did you last shut the valves to the sea chest (if you have one)? It’s very easy for these things to be overlooked if you are launching your boat; normally there is an excitement to get back on the water after winter and inspections can become rushed. Having said this, if you do use a shipyard or marina, it is important to speak with your broker to ensure you have cover in place to protect your boat whilst it’s undergoing any maintenance or work.
This leads us nicely to our next point; it may be worthwhile considering asking your sailing club or marina to launch your boat. Again, they are professionals and will run checks when the boat is back in the water. More importantly, if they launch your boat and she sinks, you are better covered from an insurance perspective. If you launch the boat yourself and she sinks, it can create a complicated scenario in which you could be held accountable and, as such, receive no payment for the loss.
The suggestions we have touched on may well be an additional cost to your annual expenses, but we believe it is a relatively small one to know that, should the worst happen, a lack of maintenance to your yacht will not be cause for a lack of reimbursement from insurers.
Speak to us today
If you would like any yacht insurance advice or to discuss the maintenance of your boat in relation to its insurance, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our yacht specialist, Henry Coxe at henry.coxe@mcclarroninsurance.com or by calling 07707 287637.
Author: Henry Coxe, Development Executive
Tel: 07707 287637
Email: henry.coxe@mcclarroninsurance.com
