There is no standard yacht policy.
Homeowners and auto forms are standardized and filed with the state, which is why two quotes on your house are broadly comparable and the conversation comes down to price. Marine policies do not work that way. Ocean marine and yacht coverage sits largely outside the form and rate regulation that governs personal lines, and each carrier writes its own wording.
The consequence is that two yacht quotes on the same vessel can differ enormously in what they actually do, while looking similar on the summary page. Comparing them on premium alone tells you almost nothing. This is what to compare instead.
A yacht policy has two halves
The first is hull coverage, which insures the vessel, her machinery, and her permanently attached equipment. It is usually written on an agreed value basis and functions much like inland marine coverage.
The second is protection and indemnity, which is marine liability. P&I is materially broader than the liability section of a packaged boat policy, and it is the reason yacht owners are better protected than their coverage summary suggests. It reaches obligations that a boat policy handles poorly or not at all: wreck removal duties imposed by authorities, pollution liability, injury to people working aboard, and liability arising from the vessel’s operation in ways a general form does not contemplate.
When you compare quotes, compare both halves separately. A competitive hull number attached to a thin P&I section is not a competitive policy.
What “all risks” means, and the clause that decides it
Hull coverage is often described as all risks, which owners reasonably read as meaning everything. It means loss from any cause except those the policy excludes, and marine policies exclude wear, corrosion, gradual deterioration, and mechanical breakdown, which covers a large share of what actually goes wrong on a boat.
This is where the Inchmaree clause matters. It extends coverage to loss caused by latent defects in the hull or machinery, by the negligence of crew or repairers, and by similar causes that would otherwise sit outside the form. A yacht with a defect nobody could have found, or damage caused by a yard’s mistake during service, is covered where the clause is present and frequently is not where it is absent.
Read how it is written. Most versions cover the damage resulting from the defect while excluding the cost of replacing the defective part itself, which is the correct and expected structure. What varies is how broadly the clause is drawn and what it reaches. This is the single provision most worth comparing between two yacht quotes, and it appears on almost no agency website.
Warranties are the operating manual, not the fine print
Marine policies rely on warranties, which are promises about how the vessel will be used and kept. A breached warranty can defeat a claim that is otherwise squarely covered, and this is a different mechanism from an exclusion.
Four recur on Florida yacht policies. A lay-up warranty gives a premium credit in exchange for the vessel being out of commission during a stated period, and operating her during that window breaches it. A captain or named operator warranty requires a specific qualified person at the helm, which matters if you hand the boat to a friend for a delivery. Survey compliance makes coverage contingent on addressing the recommendations from the condition and value survey, on the carrier’s timetable rather than yours. And the named storm provisions specify what you must do when a system is named.
Florida policies also frequently contain a geographic storm restriction, requiring the vessel to be outside a defined area during named windstorm season or hauled at an approved facility. Owners who cruise in the summer need to know where that line falls before they plan the season. The general logic of storm warranties is covered in High-Value Boat Insurance in Florida.
Deductibles are percentages, and there is more than one
Yacht deductibles are typically expressed as a percentage of the insured hull value rather than as a flat sum, with a separate and larger percentage applying to named windstorm losses.
Two things follow. Raising the hull value raises both deductibles along with it, so the decision to insure at a higher agreed value has a cost that is not only premium. And the named storm deductible on a substantial vessel is a large number that the owner should know as a dollar figure before June, not as a percentage discovered in September.
If anyone is paid aboard, the rules change
A yacht with paid crew is operating under maritime law rather than ordinary employment law, and the differences are significant.
A vessel owner owes an injured crew member maintenance and cure, which is medical care and basic living support during recovery, and that obligation exists regardless of who was at fault. Separately, a crew member may pursue a negligence claim under federal maritime statutes with remedies well beyond what workers’ compensation provides. Neither is automatically included on a yacht policy, and neither is covered by a household workers’ compensation arrangement.
This applies to more owners than expect it. A regular captain, a mate for offshore trips, a person paid to wash and maintain the vessel: all of them can trigger it. If money changes hands for work aboard, say so when the policy is written.
A total loss is more complicated than a number
When repair costs approach or exceed the insured value, the vessel may be declared a constructive total loss and settled at the agreed value. What happens next is worth understanding in advance.
On payment, the carrier generally takes the vessel and whatever salvage remains. An owner who wants to keep the hull, or who has a sentimental or practical interest in the boat, is negotiating to buy back something he no longer owns. And the wreck removal obligation, which can be ordered by authorities independent of any of this, is a separate question answered by the P&I section rather than by the hull settlement.
Reading two quotes side by side
The practical comparison is short. Look at the hull limit and whether the valuation is agreed value throughout or agreed value on the hull with depreciation applied to machinery and canvas. Look at the P&I limit separately. Look for the Inchmaree clause and read it. Look at both deductibles as dollar figures. Look at every warranty, particularly lay-up, captain, navigational territory, and storm. Look at whether wreck removal and pollution sit inside or above the liability limit. And look at whether crew coverage is present if anyone is paid aboard.
Navigational territory deserves its own attention if you cross, and that is covered in Boat Insurance for Bahamas Trips.
Worth confirming on your current policy
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Whether the agreed value applies throughout, or only to the hull
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Whether an Inchmaree or latent defect clause is present, and how broadly it is drawn
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Your P&I limit, separately from the hull limit
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Your standard and named windstorm deductibles, expressed in dollars
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Every warranty on the policy, including lay-up, captain, navigational, and storm
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Any geographic restriction during named windstorm season
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Whether crew coverage is in place if anyone is paid to work aboard
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Whether wreck removal and pollution sit inside or above the liability limit
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Whether survey recommendations have been addressed and documented
We will read the form, not the summary
Atlantis Insurance is an independent agency in Stuart serving yacht owners across the Treasure Coast, Palm Beach County, and Florida’s west coast. Because yacht forms are not standardized, the useful service is not producing another quote but reading the one you have and telling you what it does.
Send us the full policy, including the endorsements, and we will go through it clause by clause.
Atlantis Insurance Inc 850 NW Federal Highway, Suite 129 Stuart, FL 34994 561-983-4333
