I'm working on a very detailed hurricane plan for insurance. I've found the more detailed you provide, the more likely they are to be happy. I'm modifying our old hurricane plan from our sailboat, and this is our first hurricane season with a trawler so I'd like some input.
1. Would you install the windshield canvas cover to protect the windshield, or remove it to prevent it getting torn off?
2. Would you secure the windshield wipers in any way, and if so how?
3. After removing the upper helm enclosure would you install the canvas cockpit cover or remove it?
Any other suggestions? TIA
You're going way too far if you're providing such detail to your insurer.
WARNING. Make sure you make it clear this is all possible actions you may take but that you don't guarantee taking any of the actions of your plan. Lives count more than boats and you have no idea the timing.
While it is important for you to answer the questions you've just asked, I would never put those as part of a plan. What if time runs out on you? Do you want to assume the liability for something then? Yes, we'll remove all canvas in ideal conditions, but windshield wipers are the last of our worries.
Our plan is so simple, paraphrased here:
1-If boat is in our local dock, then here is how it's normally tied. We will check and reinforce lines as appropriate. We may add additional fenders. We show the building we normally dock in and it's specifications. If we're not in our home area, we will likely not return there to do anything beyond our normal docking, but that is always in consideration of the possibility of hurricanes.
2-If cruising, we will likely return to a marina, looking for safety for ourselves and the boat, getting as far inland as we feel appropriate and getting a haulout at our full discretion. We provide examples based on where we might be when a hurricane approaches. This means boats at home are as they are.
3-We follow hurricane warnings and tracking and at all times give priority to protecting ourselves, guests, and crew. In doing so, we also feel likely to provide the best reasonable protection for the boat, but we will not take extraordinary steps to protect the boat at possible risk to human life.
I don't advise providing minutiae to the insurer. They may hold you to it.
I don't look to make the insurer happy, just to get the policy. Happy would be for you to assume all liability and you don't want to do that. Happy would be every boat on the East Coast to Jarrett Bay, but last I heard they are incapable of handling hundreds of thousands of boats. We commit to the least possible. We're among hundreds of thousands in SE Florida.
Keep in mind that when a hurricane approaches you have many priorities pulling you in all directions. Your family. Your home. You could have businesses and employees. We do, and our employees are far more important to us than our property.
Do what you'd normally do to protect your boat, not what you feel your insurer would like to see. They might like to see you promise something and then let them off the hook by failing to do it. No promises, please.