If you go boating during Level 4 and now Level 3, you are probably not covered by your marine insurer.
Laurie Cranfield, one of our long-standing contributors sent us an email last week regarding the insurance on his boat. His insurer, Baileys Insurance says that if you use your boat, under Level 3 & 4 Lockdown, having been told by the Government that you shouldn’t, then the short answer is you will have no insurance. It would be regarded as a reckless act and/or wilful misconduct, and your pleasure craft insurance policy contains an exclusion for that.
As per the NZ Government’s instructions around recreation on a Level 3 or 4, here’s details of the Government position: https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-system/alert-level-3/#recreation This clearly states that boating is not allowed.
According to Club Marine As long as your policy remains current it will respond in accordance with your policy terms set out in the schedule and their product disclosure statement (PDS). It is very important to be aware that one of the General Exclusions of the policy relates to Unlawful use, so if an individual is using their boat unlawfully, they may not be covered. So, going boating during lock-down would certainly be deemed an Unlawful use.
So looks like it will be prudent to stay on land until we drop into Level 1 or 2 and then maybe we can get back out on the water again.
