Nowadays, boats don’t come cheap. Indeed, for many people who own them, boats are among their most expensive possessions. To be sure, whatever a boat is bought for, it usually delivers quite well: whether it was bought for pleasure, or as income-generating asset for business.

Unfortunately, due to the aquatic environments in which they operate, boats are vulnerable to a lot of things. A boat could, for instance, quite easily get irreparably damaged in a storm (and this is the best case scenario). It could also get into quite a nasty accident with another boat in water, especially in these days when their numbers and speeds are increasing so much. Then again, a boat could get stolen. It may sound improbable, until you get to hear of the many people who have had their boats actually stolen, never to be seen again!

In the face of all these vulnerabilities, you may find yourself – as a boat owner – wishing there was a way you could somehow protect your valued boat. Unfortunately, some of things, like getting into storms or collisions with other boats, are not things you can do much about, as they tend to manifest as ‘accidents’ in the realest sense of the word.

Yet there is a possibility to at least protect yourself from the financial implications of these catastrophes, which is where they tend to hurt most. This possibility lies in taking up boat insurance – which is also variously referred to as yacht insurance, jetski insurance…and so on, to cover the various types of boats. So if yours is a leisurely yacht, you take yacht insurance. If yours is a speedy jetski, you get jetski insurance. In either case, the aim is to protect yourself from the financial implications of an accident/incident befalling your boat.

Boat insurance seems to be really catching on, in terms of popularity – as people become awake to the reality of the vulnerability of their boats. The UK boat insurance industry, for instance, has grown to be a multi-million pound business, and counting. This is a significant pointer to the popularity of the global boat insurance industry, taking into consideration the fact that the UK boat insurance industry is fairly modest, by global standards.

With boat-insurance, you stand to benefit from the peace of mind of knowing that although your boat is still vulnerable to the various things, at least you are protected from their financial implications. This is very important thing, because there are stories coming up about people without proper boat insurance, who went on to face complete financial ruin in the event of their boats suffering the disasters or being stolen (especially where the boats happened to have been bought on loans).

In some jurisdictions, boat insurance is a legal requirement – especially for boats used in ferrying paying passengers. In such jurisdictions, not having boat-insurance would open you to problems with the law. It could also be that similar requirements exist where you are: something you need to confirm, before opting to take the imprudent step of putting your boat into the waters without proper boat insurance!