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B
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OATING
OATING
& marine
Insights into boat insurance
ICertified professionals are wired for good times
and a GPS destination elaborate equipment. subsequent insurance The bottom line is point on a black and It’s probably not claim for damage to that their qualifica- white screen. the place to go pok- your boat, to other tions should make
N the past, peo- ple thought in terms of purchas-
ing a boat, motor and Also, somewhere on ing around – unless vessels sitting nearby them knowledgeable
trailer.
Today, it’s often boat,
your boat – often be- hind the helm – you’ll find a myriad of wires that might be manag- ing a sounder, plotter, radar system, head- ing sensor compass, sound system, cabin cockpit and naviga- tion lighting, bilge pump, electric anchor winch, live bait tank and deck wash, not to mention the outboard itself, as well as an electronics backbone that allows various pieces of equipment to talk seamlessly to each other.
you have the expertise or are looking for a simple fault such as a blown safety fuse, or a short resulting from a wire that has rubbed against another one.
when things went pear-shaped, to people and to infrastructure, could become your personal liability.
about the right way to make the wiring work and the right way for it to interface with on- board systems.
motor, trailer, elec- tronics, networking system and possibly other equipment, such as self-deploying elec- tric thrust motors.
Specialists similar to Nautilus Marine In- surance will tell you likewise.
Only competent pro- fessionals such as ma- rine electricians are recognised as know- ing the right type and gauge for a certain wire carrying a cer- tain load over a giv- en distance – know- ing whether the way something is wired will interfere with the performance or opera- tional safety of anoth- er piece of equipment and similar factors.
They know how to foreshadow and pre- vent problems, and most importantly they have seen where and how things go expen- sively wrong.
And every one of those items has its own electrical circuits.
When you decide to undertake wiring works without formal training or certifica- tion, you could be jeopardising your ma- rine insurance policy.
An outboard techni- cian could plug into your motor today and download a raft of information about how many hours it has been used, the maxi- mum revs achieved since its last service, any warning or prob- lem codes that have been activated, and other information.
So, when you start fiddling with your electrics, you could in fact be fiddling with tens of thou- sands of dollars of very expensive and
Ordinarily marine insurance policies require all technical work – such as boat repairs, electrical, gas and fuel systems – to be undertaken by cer- tified professionals.
They know whether that strange smell in the bilge is a pillie that found its way there when you were baiting up, or whether it’s a wire that is about to cook itself into flames.
We’ve moved be- yond the days of a block-style sounder
The reasons are fair- ly obvious.
They’re trained in how to lay out wires, which wires can be bundled, and which ones need to be sepa- rated, as well as what and where things need to grounded or termi- nated.
When it comes to marine insurance, al- ways check your Prod- uct Disclosure State- ment and if you have a query, ask your in- surer for clarification.
Shane Beardmore’s beautifully restored Cruise- Craft Rapide with electrical rewiring undertaken to a high professional standard.
If the work should have been executed by an authorised profes- sional but wasn’t, any
If you need further information, you can contact Nautilus Ma- rine Insurance on 1300 780 533 for any boat insurance re- quirements.
If a would-be home- handyperson decides it’s time to rig the boat for ship to shore pow- er and makes a rookie mistake in the setup that results in a fire, the ensuing legal and financial exposure could be horrendous.
They know whether things should be run directly from the bat- tery, via a switch or a bus bar, where fuses are required and the correct specifications of those fuses, and they know where there should be emergency cut-offs and how they should operate.
Any special condi- tions and excesses should always be ex- plained clearly in your insurance policy’s Product Disclosure Statement.
Advice in this article is general and might not apply or be right for you. Before acting on it, consider its appropriateness having regard to your objectives, nancial situation and needs. Nautilus Marine Insurance is a business name of NM Insurance Pty Ltd ABN 34 100 633 038 AFSL 227 186 (NM Insurance), the issuer of Nautilus Marine Boat Insurance. Consider the Product Disclosure Statement at nautilusinsurance.com.au before deciding whether to purchase a policy.
www.bnbfishing.com.au
Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2021 – Page 77