US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

Ain't that the truth!

PhantomChaos

Is that in Canadian dollars? If so.......it's not so bad.

X-Rated30

Wow. I want to see some law licenses here. Lots of legal advice being thrown around. Nothing will keep you from being sued, but depending on the law in your state and how good your attorney is, you can probably draft a waiver that will not only insulate you from liability, but will also probably get the putative plaintiff to pay your attorney fees. Not that I would know...

Smarty

I was thinking the same thing!

offshoresteve

There is a reason I don't have a back seat (liability seat) in my 28 Skater, Very few people have been for a ride,....I bought the boat for Me to enjoy hauling ass!!! If I wanted to entertain on the water it would be on a cruiser or pontoon

SS930

Many years ago a friend was coming into a channel on his boat. A good friend and somewhat drunk passenger decided he was going to dive in the water from the back seat, the captain was unaware of the stupidity that was taking place. Well the dumb azz broke his neck when he went head first into the sandbar at the edge of the channel. Unfortunately he lived. Of course the azz sued the owner of the boat since it was obviously his fault and I'm sure you can guess who won.

Ever since then I've been somewhat paranoid. It's sad but I very rarely push the boat hard for this exact reason (well that and unneeded wear/stress on the engines), unless the water is pretty smooth. More often than not we have visitors on the boat and unfortunate reality is if anything happens you know there's a damn good chance of being sued as a big "thank you" for having them on the boat.

It seems the ones that don't care about this liability are typically the folks that don't actually own chit themselves...

WakezoneINS

This is exactly why you never "carry the minimums" on your insurance. I have people say that to me often, thinking that it's going to save them a ton of money on their insurance. The reality is, on a v hull, the difference in cost between $100,000 and $300,000 in coverage is only $40 a year, a year! To go up to $500,000 is only another $40! (roughly).

I have found that often times when the word "liability" is thrown out there, the person I am talking to only thinks about what they cause to others while operating their boat, forgetting about the passengers aboard their boat.

When it comes to liability and medical payments on your policy, CARRY THE MAXIMUM possible. No one intends to hurt another or cause damage to others but accidents happen. You can be the safest boater in the world but there are factors on the water that are beyond your control...IF you got sued by an injured passenger on your boat, what is more costly? $80?or the extra $400,000 you have to come out of pocket for or sell off in assets to cover the judgment? Take the extra insurance. If you get sued, it will be the best $80 you ever spent.

Michael1

That's two incidents just on this short thread where the injured passenger was drunk. Might be a good idea to only carry sober passengers.

Michael

onesickpantera

iTrader: (1)

Excellent point! I raised my liability after actually reading my policy a few years ago.

onesickpantera

iTrader: (1)

I can't comment on the waiver but what most people don't realize is you can get sued even if the injured person doesn't want to. If someone is injured on your boat and they have health insurance that has to pay for their injuries then their insurance company may come after you.