Steve:

Your note brings up a question that I assume many people would have. You mentioned insurance (notice I am not fretting over the family worrying issue) and I was curious how you handle insurance on an ongoing basis. Are you buying on an ocean by ocean basis with specific riders if you venture “too far north?” what to such riders cost or more to the point if you were to average your insurance costs over the 4000 hours you have traveled, what are you paying per hour, or per year? I would imagine the design of the boat brings these costs down as does your experience, but I am curious.

Thank you.

Your blog continues to be a great source of diversion and jealousy

All my best

Scott

Good question Scott:

The answer will vary with the insurance markets, cruising area, vessel and its condition, and experience of the crew.

For the past four years we have been insured with Pantaenius. We give the broker our estimated cruising plans, and they reply with a quote. Between New Zealand and Greenland, and now including Svalbard, the rate has been a consistent three quarters of a percent for declared value of the basic boat. There is an additional amount for liability insurance, and dinghy insurance.

The deductible for Greenland was about four tenths of one percent. For European waters about .006% of this and for the US, about .012%.

We do travel quite a few miles, but this does not seem to affect the cost of our insurance.

Metal construction, water tight bulkheads, a double bottom all help reduce risk and rates.