I don’t do boats. I have never enjoyed being drug around the back of a boat either above or below the water (yes I have done both). I lived on a lake for a number of years in my youth and found boats to be noisy and contain many noisy people who loved throwing trash in the lake. Most of the time that trash found my no longer litter free shore. My little brother would come home from school and ask me to drag him (skiing) around the lake. If I felt I had other, better, things to do and wasn’t happy about it…….it sometimes took me a while to pick him up after he fell (I know, but he was my LITTLE brother).
That being said, there are a lot of you around who are not as hung up on time, expense, noise, expense, maintenance, cost or expense of owning and enjoying a boat. For all of you Captain Ahabs, I have some insurance type tips:
• BUI’s: Above I mentioned I’d take my little brother skiing and sometime leave him in the drink to allow him time to repent for taking me away from a good book. One time, in the middle of the lake, a police boat came up next to me and, using a HUGE bullhorn asked me to pull over……..pull over…..middle of the lake. What happened is a story for another time. This bullet point is that there are police on the water and they will find you if you have been drinking to excess. They will ticket you just as they would if you were driving a car and the fines are as steep. If you are taking to a police officer because your being drunk caused an accident:
• Liability coverage of your boat insurance. If you caused the accident, this is the coverage that could help, instead of you having to sell your boat to pay the damages.
• Your policy could also include water skiers medical. I think my little brother could have used that.
• Also included would be coverage for the boat itself, the motor(s) and the boat trailer. All good to have if the trailer bounces off the hitch on the freeway…….boy, was it fun explaining that to my stepfather (now you’re starting to understand why I don’t like boats).
• One last thing: if you’re not too drunk or been left to float around hanging on to your ski, watch out for snags. They can punch really big holes in your stepfather’s boats hull………….