Powered by YouSail.com.auWhat does a damage waiver actually cover?
It lowers your excess for a daily fee, rarely to zero, and commonly excludes tender, outboard, sails and groundings.
A damage waiver reduces the amount you are liable for if the boat is damaged, in exchange for a daily fee. It is not insurance you own, and it rarely reduces your liability to zero.
The structure is usually simple: without the waiver you are exposed to the full bond, which on bareboat can be thousands of dollars. With it, your excess drops to a smaller figure. What stays excluded is the part people do not read.
Commonly excluded
- The tender and the outboard. These are lost, holed and stolen more than anything else aboard.
- Sails, including damage from sailing with too much up in too much wind.
- Groundings, and any damage to keel, rudder or saildrive from touching bottom.
- Anchoring damage and lost anchors or chain.
- Anything that happens outside the permitted operating area.
- Damage while the nominated skipper was not in charge, or where alcohol was a factor.
- Personal property, which is your travel insurance's problem, not the operator's.
Read the number and the list together
A waiver that halves the excess but excludes the tender may be worth less than one that costs more and includes it. Ask for the excess figure and the exclusion list in writing before you decide. Both belong in the quote, not in a verbal answer at handover.
Should you take it
Most first-time bareboat charterers do. The realistic failure modes on a first charter are a bumped dock, a dinghy that got away and a grounding at a falling tide, and the waiver covers at least the first of those. If your own travel or boat insurance already covers charter excess, check whether it duplicates.
Also check the operator's own cover
The vessel carries insurance held by the operator, and the business holds a Certificate of Operation covering its safety management system. Your waiver sits on top of that arrangement, it does not replace it. Safety and commercial vessel rules explains the certificates.
See costs for how the daily fee affects the total, what is a bond for how the two interact, and the booking and contract checklist for the questions to ask.