boat insurance - Forums Archive

lil angel 31

2010-05-14 00:28:22

Anyone have any insurance suggestions. I'm trolling off of Oregon pretty much part time. Seasons are so short I work forty hours a week on the beach then try and get out as often as possible. All the agents I have taled to consider me a full time commercial fisherman the numbers I have heard are crazy.

Jim

ericv

2010-05-14 17:23:05

Jim,

I am in a similar scenario with commercial trolling occurring in conjunction with a full time job shore side. A friend years back referred me to the outfit he's insured with, they are Griffin MacLean Maritime Insurance based in Bellevue, WA. Their number is (425) 822-1368, John Long is the main person to work with. They insure many of the fleet up here and nation wide, their rates are competitive and they have a layup period. For example, my layup period is Oct 1 thru March 15th of which I am still covered if I use our troller for other things non-commercial related (hunting, camping etc). If I choose to go out commercially during that period, I simply call them up and there is a minimum 2 week activation fee of which is pro-rated.

I have been with them for 7 years now and (knock on wood) I haven't had to use their services which includes tow and salvage fees, fire, vandalism, collision etc. Give John a call, tell him I referred you as they are interested in how their services have been accessed. As with most companies, you'll more than likely need to get a current survey.

Eric Van Cise F/V New Hope Sitka, Alaska

lil angel 31

2010-05-14 18:02:22

perfect I'll give him a call Monday moring. Thank you so much.

birdfeeder11

2011-05-31 18:08:41

Apparently john is now at Northstar insurance 206-285-4655. The other place does NOT do commercial troller insurance anymore.

Super Cub

2011-05-31 19:47:17

http://www.salmontrolling.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=647&p=2279&hilit=insurance#p2279

I am still working on my insurance, but there is another referral in this old thread that was helpful to me last year (it is toward the end of the thread; I think it was Irving Bong or something).

When I started researching insurance last year, I was referred by several people to John at Griffin-McLean, but I could never get through to him. His cranky secretary would never let me talk to him or have him call back unless I provided them with a current survey first; she kept throwing figures around without any real quotes; and she said that I would have to add crew insurance for any person allowed on-board (in other words, if I had my stepson help me for a week, I would pay $500/month with a 1-month minimum for him; if I had a friend help me for a different week that same month, I would have to pay $500/month for them; other insurance companies have told me that I pay about $500/month for 1 crew slot and it covers whoever is the puller that day since they know turnover of deckhands is high). Obviously, several others have had good experiences with John's service; I just gave up after 3-4 tries to reach him.

Essentially, what I found for my little boat was that the insurance for the boat itself was not enough to meet the minimum for most companies to write a policy, but they would write it if I added a couple months worth of crew insurance to bring the total above $2k / year. I didn't run much last season, so I went without insurance, but I'll probably go this route this year.

Scott Johnson

ambition

2011-06-01 16:44:20

I'm not sure what sort of boats you guys own but if you really only do small amounts of commercial fishing annually, like 30 days worth you could look into state farm. They only charge $50 extra for the limited commercial use. But they are primarily insuring you for pleasure boat use.

lil angel

2011-06-02 02:30:49

thanks for the tip your timing could not be better. My insurance expires in a couple of weeks.

lil angel

2011-06-04 01:51:57

I called a local state farm agent and they said the boat had to be less than ten years old.