'Lo All,

The Celestial was insured with BoatUS, which is a GEICO policy. We
reported its loss as a result of Hurricane Michael. Within a day or so
of reporting the loss, BoatUS had an adjuster come out who determined
the boat was a total constructive loss. He asked how well the boat was
tied. It had pulled out 4 50' pilings that were 25' into the bottom and
took them with it when it "departed". His comment was that it was "very
well secured" after looking at the dock -  well, what is left of it. I
had tripled up the lines -  all being 3/4". We were lead to believe that
we would get up to a 8-12' storm surge, but the wind kept it out, which
exposed the dock to the wind's fury. Our neighbor, who has Hurricane
rated doors and windows, watched the whole episode of the Celestial's
final voyage. He measured the wind speed by measuring the speed of
blowing debris at 165 MPH. (He is a genuine rocket scientist/engineer).
The wind totally destroyed the dock. I had lowered the cradle for the
runabout down to the bottom, so that it wouldn't be damaged by the wind
and/or waves. It wasn't, but now, since the dock is destroyed and here
is no electricity to run the boat lift, I can't raise it back up. <sigh>
But, on a brighter note, our homeowners insurance will cover the dock,
as it was destroyed by wind and not by water. On a more frustrating note

• it will take a long time to get someone here to rebuild the dock.

There was absolutely no hassle with the insurance company. The adjuster
was totally professional - inspected the boat and reported his findings.
We signed the Coast Guard papers he provided which transferred ownership
to BoatUS after signing the insurance settlement agreement. Yesterday, a
crane went to the place where the Celestial came to rest and sunk
(laying 45 degrees or so onto its starboard side with water up over the
side-walkways) and removed it. Since it was declared a total
constructive loss, we will get a check for the full insured amount, less
deductible.

Based upon our experience so far, I have no trouble continuing the
BoatUS insurance on our little 17.5' runabout or recommending them to
others.

On a slightly different note, a huge barge with a huge crane came into
the bayou today and surgically removed a sailboat from a bunch of other
boats. Unfortunately, we have many boats that will probably become
derelicts because they had no insurance and the owners will simply
abandon them. Fortunately (for us), the boats destroyed, sunk or beached
are all on the other side of the bayou. One pile has about 5-10 boats
big and small (20'-65' give or take) stacked up. In another spot, a 70'
"sled" sailboat is sitting just up on the bank out of the water,
parallel to the bank, pretty as you please, at least from the water
side. Also, there are a couple of totally sunk boats - masts sticking up
out of the water.

Out in St Andrews Bay, across from the paper mill, there is a large oil
field boat that was just delivered from Eastern Shipbuilding and was
awaiting delivery. It had been tied to the  paper mill's dock. It rolled
over onto its side and sunk. Two fairly small crane barges have spent
the last week or so trying to turn it up and refloat it. All to no avail
last time I saw it yesterday.

The devastation around here is truly unreal. Places look like pictures
from WWI or WWII - destroyed by artillery shells.

Take care and be safe.

Wayne
Celestial
Albin43 Sundeck
Near Panama City, FL

In past years I've offered a few posts regarding insurance generally, and
boat insurance specifically, based on my background as an insurance
underwriter, and later as a broker.

For over 20+ years I've believed that BoatUS was by far my best choice in
terms the coverage for my boat. The reasons that I believed that are pretty
much irrelevant at this point in light of Dave's revelation regarding the
depreciation clause that Gieco now applies to boats over 20 years old.

For a long time I've known that Gieco has had a very bad reputation in
terms of how difficult they are to deal with in their claims handling, and
I also have on occasion indicated that when insurance companies spend a lot
of bucks on advertising, they have nowhere to recover those advertising
costs other than through higher premiums and/or heavy-handed claims
handling.

So when "lower" premiums are also part of their pitch, well, resisting
claimpayments is the only other alternative.

When Gieco first took over BoatUS, I made several calls to their management
and I questioned how this could be a good thing. I was told that nothing
will change.

Well obviously something has changed, and I can't tell you how embarrassed
I am to find out that I was apparently foolish to trust what I was told
without checking each renewal carefully.

This change is a real big deal and will cut BoatUS' claims expenses
enormously (at the expense of the policy holders of course).

I see no alternative but for me to change carriers at this point, and when
I return from our current holiday I will research my options.

Think about how many of our boats are over 20 years old, and some are
perhaps more valuable than when they were first purchased years ago. All of
us have had surveys which would tend to properly identify the value of our
boats, so what does the age of the boat have to do with the current value?
And what about classic or unusual or self-built boats - who accurately
values them?

A better underwriting standard (in my mind) might be to penalize operators
UNDER 20 years old rather the  penalizing vessels OVER 20 years old. IOW,
evaluate the operator, not the boat.

So BoatUS is now writing you a policy for a "value" that they never really
expect to pay since most losses are only partial.

Sure there are catastrophes, but that's not the norm.

If your boat was built 20+8 years ago (1998-99) you will only get 20% of
the value stated for your boat on your policy.

So if you have a $100K boat of that vintage, you will get $20K maximum for
a loss deemed to be less than "Total" ($95K perhaps?)

Personally I think this is absolutely disgusting. In my estimation the
premiums for the year that this change occurred should be maybe half of the
premium of the previous year.

One possible approach here is for you to callone of the BoatUS UNDERWRITERS
and ask for a justification for not getting a big reduction this year, but
in the end I believe we all just have to look for someone else to insure
out boats.

Even if your boat is not 20 years old, I would submit that there's no such
thing as a part-time skunk. Problems will come up as soon as you have a
claim.

BoatUS is now a whole new company.

Phil de l'Etoile

West Sacramento, CA

On Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 3:57 PM Bruce Adornato via Trawlers-and-Trawlering <
trawlers@lists.trawlering.com> wrote: