Sure you can buy a separate marine insurance policy, but you can also add your boat to your auto insurance or even your home insurance. Does it really make a difference? The answer is a rather resounding "Yes."

Insurance policies designed for home or automobile are flat-out less comprehensive when it comes to your boat. In fact, these other policies often have considerable limits as far as marine-related risks, such as wreck removal, salvage work, environmental damage and even machinery damage. For instance, a typical homeowner's policy will cover something like $1,000 or 10 percent of the property coverage for physical damage to your boat. Well, we all know how far $1,000 goes when it comes to boat repairs. Other things likely won't be covered at all. Say you run aground in a storm, sustaining some prop damage but also sucking up mud and sand, which in turn overheats your motor. With a homeowner's or auto insurance policy, the secondary motor damage would most likely be ruled ineligible for coverage because the damage was not caused by the wreck itself, but by an "outside force."

So it makes sense to spring for true marine insurance, which will be either a boat or a yacht policy, depending on the size of your boat (a boat policy is for boats 26 feet and under, yachts are 27 feet and above). But shop around for the right policy because all policies are not all alike. They vary widely in price depending on the length of your boat, its cost and the amount of coverage you elect, and they vary from company to company, too.

At a minimum you'll need liability coverage for others, which includes injury, loss of life and property damage as well as coverage for incidents with uninsured boaters; medical payments, to cover injuries to you, your family and your passengers while aboard, embarking or disembarking your boat as well as towed passengers (skiing or tubing); damages to your boat and equipment; and wreck removal. You might also want coverage for fire, lightening or an explosion; sinking or stranding; underwater damage; damage while hauling or launching; and theft. If you trailer your boat, you'll probably want coverage for that as well.

Perhaps you best bet is something called and "all risk policy," which provides the most comprehensive coverage, excluding only those items specifically listed. Such exclusions typically include normal wear and tear, dents and scratches, marred finishes, damage caused by animals, damage due to ice and/or freezing conditions, osmosis, blistering, electrolysis, damage from marine life and defects attributable to the manufacturer or the design of your boat.

- Linda Hoff

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