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Depending on your area Liability is pretty cheap so I would get at least 300,000 or more. If you have assets like a home, savings, etc... you have more to protect. You should also look into med pay like up to $5,000 so if someone is hurt on your boat and does not have insurance or has a high deductible they will have some coverage to pay their med bills. This will help to prevent someone from suing you but does not guarantee they won't.
Get the same limit you have on auto liab and homeowner's liability. Then purchase a $1 million or $2 million umbrella on top of those limits, the umbrella is usually not very expensive, maybe $250 per year or something like that. Then you are really covered.
As a marine agent, I recommend 300K minimum for the average insured. Generally, as your assets increase, the recommended liability coverage increases accordingly. The more, the better. There is no such thing as too much, but having too little is a bad idea. It's always a personal judgment call, ultimately, except where unbrellas, contracts, business affiliations, or marinas require a certain minimum coverage, such as bigjimmie's marina (which is smart). Keep in mind that umbrella policies sometimes exclude marine coverage, but in such cases, you can usually buy out the exclusion. Also, they have a minimum underlying liabiltiy limit that you must meet before the umbrella's coverage kicks in. Ask your umbrealla provider about this if you have, think you have, or intend to purchase umbrella liability coverage over the top of your boat policy's liability coverage. I hope this helps.
Gotcha Covered,
Lee Strickland
Strickland Marine Insurance, Inc.
800-446-1862 / 843-795-1000
The way I see it, especially in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area there are a lot of very expensive boats on the water. God forbid I lose control and hit a 3 million dollar yacht, just a 300K policy would not be enough. I would hate to lose my house and have my income docked over a "fender bender" with a mega yacht.
Then there is the question of "what if someone gets hurt" God forbid you get hurt on my boat I want to make sure you are taken care of. I personally know people that have their boats paid off and have ZERO insurance. I tell them they are nuts and I don't go on those boats unless we are anchored up together and hanging out.