Insuring a US flagged vessel in the UK

[shimari]

I recently purchased a used boat in the UK, and I needed insurance to cover the time from closing to shipping. I've opted to ship (even though prices are crazy right now) rather than sail her back primarily due to my work schedule. I can't spare a month away from work currently, and I'm not comfortable with someone I don't know sailing my boat without me.

My US broker could only offer a world wide cruising policy that was, to say the least, prohibitively expensive given I wasn't sailing her home. He recommend that I contact a UK broker.

I reached out to three different UK brokers. Only Topsail was the only one able to offer a UK coastal cruising policy. The others could only offer a world wide policy.

You do have to agree to a 1-yr policy, but you can cancel at any time for a prorated refund. If you cancel within 15 days, you only owe a small fee. If you cancel after 15 days but before 3 months, you will still owe 3 months. Thus if you can time closing such that you load for shipping, you really don't pay much.

The price of the policy was more expensive than what my US policy will be, but I'm just glad I was able to obtain a policy. Finding insurance wasn't as bad as I expected, but it did take a bit of time.

I highly recommend Topsail. They were incredibly easy to work with via email, and always responsive. I can't speak to their pricing as they were the only one of the three brokers I contacted willing to insure me.