Sea Kayak Insurance?.

[creatamax]

Hi everyone, but if a random one. Im getting a 3 piece latitude made at the moment and I’m looking to insure it for damage or theft as it’s a big outlay and I would never afford to replace it.
Ive had one quote for £74.99 for the year from insure4boats.
Had anyone else used anyone they can recommend for a better price or good reputation?.

Cheers Mike.

[PlymouthDamo]

Hi everyone, but if a random one. Im getting a 3 piece latitude made at the moment and I’m looking to insure it for damage or theft as it’s a big outlay and I would never afford to replace it.
Ive had one quote for £74.99 for the year from insure4boats.
Had anyone else used anyone they can recommend for a better price or good reputation?.

Cheers Mike.

I never bothered with insurance for my boats as they're all hand-built, so I think they'd be off thieves' radars and would be very conspicuous if anyone tried to use them. However, I've just bought a mountain bike which retails at four grand, which is the only thing I own which is valuable enough and nickable enough that I'd be wary of leaving in my car or chained up anywhere - so I decided to get it insured. My home insurance happened to be coming up for renewal around the same time, so I spoke to them and they offered to put me on a higher level of cover which included valuables stolen away from home - I think up to eight grand. I haggled them down without trying, i.e. all it took was for me to sound a little pensive and not commit to taking it straight away for them to immediately undercut a fictitious quote I claimed to have been given by a competitor. The overall price increase was something like £40, and that's comparing with the cheapest quote which didn't cover any possessions away from home. The insurer is Admiral, by the way, and I'm on a deal with a big discount for covering both my house and car. (I think the policy covers for damage too, but I'm not 100% certain without digging out the agreement.)

I've also got a three-piece and, because it can be stored anywhere, it's the easiest thing to secure. At home, it could be stood up in the corner of my front room, and whilst away I can fit the whole thing inside my small hatchback. In reality, I don't do any of that - at home, I leave it disassembled out in my garage or when out and about I leave it assembled on my car roof-rack, but again - that's because it's a conspicuous wooden thing which I don't think is likely to be nicked.

[TechnoEngineer]

If you join British Canoeing you can opt for Boat Insurance
https://www.britishcanoeing.org.uk/memb ... -insurance

With them I have made successful claims for lost/broken paddles on my insurance.

[creatamax]

Hi PlymouthDamo thanks for the reply, unfortunately I don’t have a house or flat so don’t have house insurance or would follow that. Thanks for the reply though.

TechnoEngineer
That’s a great idea! I never thought of that I think I’m a member haha. Cheer!

[MikeB]

You might want to have a look at the level of cover the BCU policy provides.

[robhorton]

The BC insurance is limited to £2000 which is unlikely to cover a new three piece kayak.

[ChrisJK]

I was going to suggest BCU but I see it has been done and they will insure a couple of boats which you don't need to specify. How does that work for a self build but such as Plymouth Demo's three piece?

[MikeB]

The BC insurance is limited to £2000 which is unlikely to cover a new three piece kayak.

Indeed. You'll be hard pushed to get a new one-piece covered under the BCU / SCA policy with such a low maximum cover level. Oh, and if there's you and your partner, they'll not insure two craft under a "family" membership. You need individual memberships, so there's yet further additional costs.

I did at one stage have superb cover under my household contents policy, but then the underwriters were changed, and I found the "all-risks / new for old" I'd had no longer applied. Not that the wretched brokers I'd been using actually told me that! Which is why they don't get recommended anymore.

Anyway - we ended up putting the boats onto a stand-alone policy to get the scope of cover we needed. The OP might want to talk to Towergate Insurance. I'm afraid I've no idea how they would handle a self-build, but as with all things it's worth asking.

Jake Holbrook - Marine Sales Advisor - Lifestyle Division

Towergate Marine Insurance | Specialist Personal Lines

T: 01242 531172

E: jacob.holbrook@towergate.co.uk

W: towergateinsurance.co.uk

A: Floor 3, Ellenborough House, Wellington Street, Cheltenham. GL50 1XZ

[Beryl]

When I had built my Shrike it was the thing I most valued at that point in time. It took a few weeks to overcome the paranoia of someone stealing off my roof rack overnight. Now I realise no self-respecting thief would look at it... its made of wood for heavens sake!