We had a boat that was set adrift from its ponton and destroyed by fire , the insurance wont pay because they say it was not in use , when in fact we were on board the day before getting her ready for the summer ,we have been to solicitors but they were not very helpfull , Can anyone please help us i dont know what else to do , thank you for reading this ,I hope you can help regards lady1947.

What does the policy say in terms of use or not coverage.

Hi Conniff, The policy says the boat must be out of the water when not in use , its insured when its moored or at anchor and must be secured when unattended , which she was ,but they are still not paying , they say that when we are not on it , it should be in dry dock , which for a 22ft cabin cruiser is not good ,

That's impractical. You're supposed to haul it out of the water each time it's not in use? That's not possible. Would you have to crane it out? In which case it would cost a fortune.You should write to one of the sailing magazines about this shower. They'll soon find yachties avoiding them in droves. Usually a boat of that size would be in the water for much of the summer.

Apart from that gripe it was in use. Contact them again and ask them to define "out of use."

Thank you Fuzzgin for your advise , I will contact them first thing monday morning and hopefully they will see that our claim is right , but i still think they will try to get out of paying . My daughter , who i spoke to today says to get in contact with the ombusmen , what do you think ?

It wasn't out of use, it was unattended. Does the policy state you have to be onboard 24/7 whenever it's in the water?

If its covered when its moored and secured, check the small print to see what the maximum period for being unattended is stated as.

For example my home insurance asks me confirm that our home isn't unattended for more than 30 days and this forms part of my contract with them.

It sounds like you can easily prove that you had been attending to the boat so its difficult to see how they could use this argument to get out of paying.

I'm curious to know how the came to the conclusion it was not in use?

Any news on this?

Hi Fuzzgin Waiting on news at the moment , because we have written to the ombudsmen explaining the problem , we know it will take time for them to deal with it , but we are hopefull . Thank you for asking , and i will let you know what happens , but we think it will take 6 to 9 months before we hear , that will be for there decision , and an appeal if needed , regards Sandy