One boat in your shed can exceed your entire care, custody, and control limit.
That is the defining problem of marine artisan work on the Treasure Coast, and it comes from the range of vessels here rather than from the volume.
A yard in Port Salerno may spend most of the year on center consoles and cruisers in the ordinary range, and then take in a sixty-foot sportfish for a repower. A mobile tech running the Manatee Pocket works a dozen boats a week, any one of which might be worth more than the rest combined. A limit sized against what you usually handle does not respond to what you occasionally handle, and the occasional job is the one that sinks the business.
The Treasure Coast vessel mix is unusually wide
Stuart has been a sportfishing center for decades, and the custom boatbuilding tradition that grew up around it means the local fleet includes vessels well beyond what a general Florida assumption would suggest. Sailfish Point, Sewall’s Point, and the Hutchinson Island waterfront hold owners whose boats are insured for figures that would surprise most landside contractors.
Fort Pierce has added a different dimension, with large vessel refit and service work drawing yachts that dwarf anything in the recreational fleet.
For a marine trade, that means the exposure is not smooth. It is a normal workload with occasional very large numbers passing through it, and care, custody, and control limits need to be set against the peak rather than the average. Our care, custody, and control guide covers how to evaluate that properly.
Two related questions. Whether the coverage applies away from your own premises, since much of the work here happens at the customer’s dock or in someone else’s yard. And what your aggregate looks like during storm season, when you may be holding several boats at once.
The Okeechobee Waterway brings you other people’s boats
Stuart sits at the eastern end of the Okeechobee Waterway, which makes it a natural stopping point for vessels crossing the state and for boats moving up and down the Intracoastal.
That produces a steady flow of transient work: repairs on boats that do not belong to local owners, whose insurers are elsewhere, and which leave when the work is finished. It is good business and it changes how you should document.
Photograph the vessel on arrival and on delivery, in detail, with dates. Get the scope in writing and signed before you start. Keep a record of who authorized what. A dispute with a local owner usually resolves in a conversation. A dispute with an owner who is now in Charleston and whose carrier has never heard of you is a different matter, and the paperwork is the only thing that settles it.
Seasonal storage means long possession
A great many Treasure Coast boats are laid up for part of the year, and yards that store them are in possession for months rather than days.
That extends the exposure in two ways. The obvious one is time: the longer you hold a vessel, the more opportunities there are for something to happen to it. The less obvious one is that the owner is usually not around, which means damage may not be discovered for weeks and the argument about when it occurred becomes harder.
Storage agreements matter here. Whether yours allocates risk usefully, whether it is signed, and whether it holds up are worth a look — and your insurance should be built for what the agreement actually says rather than what you would prefer it said.
The Manatee Pocket is dense, and density spreads fire
Port Salerno’s working waterfront is one of the more concentrated marine service areas in the state, with yards, storage, and trades sitting close together on limited ground.
Hot work, fuel, resin, solvents, and battery charging in that kind of proximity means a fire does not stay on one property. Your general liability responds to damage you cause to others, and the limit should be sized against the neighbors rather than against your own building.
It also means a loss at the property next door can shut you down without touching your own equipment. Business income coverage, and specifically whether it responds when access is blocked or a neighboring property is the problem, is worth confirming.
Storm season is when the exposure peaks
Yards and storage operations hold the most vessels at exactly the time they are most likely to be damaged, and the 2004 season remains the local reference for what a direct hit does to this coast.
Three things to have settled before June. Your care, custody, and control aggregate against everything you could be holding at peak. What your storage agreement says about storm preparation and whose responsibility it is. And what your own property and business income coverage does if the yard itself is unusable for months while the trades that would repair it are all committed elsewhere.
Our hurricane damage guide for marine artisans covers the coverage side in detail.
Your employees may not be on the right compensation policy
Worth raising because it applies to nearly everyone on this coast and is missed constantly.
Employees working on or near navigable waters can fall under federal maritime compensation law rather than Florida’s workers’ compensation system, and a state policy without the federal endorsement may not respond to their injury at all. A yard hand on a dock, a mechanic aboard a vessel in the water, a rigger on a travel lift — the same employee moves in and out of maritime status during a normal day.
If anyone you employ sets foot on a dock or a boat, this needs checking. See USL&H coverage for Florida marine artisan contractors.
What we write on the Treasure Coast
Prestige Insurance Group places marine artisan and marine contractor coverage throughout Stuart, Port Salerno, the Manatee Pocket, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound, Palm City, Fort Pierce, and Vero Beach.
The trades include engine and outboard repair, fiberglass and gelcoat, marine carpentry and joinery, welding and fabrication, rigging, canvas and upholstery, marine electronics, refrigeration, bottom painting and detailing, hull cleaning and diving, dock and lift installation, and mobile repair operations.
A general contractor’s policy does not do this work. The coverages that matter — care, custody, and control at a limit that reflects your peak exposure, the federal compensation endorsement, and pollution — are placed through specialty markets, and whether they are on your policy is the difference between a specialist and a generalist wrote it.
Worth confirming
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Your care, custody, and control limit against the most valuable vessel you could be holding
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Whether that coverage applies away from your own premises
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Your aggregate exposure during storage and storm season
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Whether your workers’ compensation includes the federal maritime endorsement
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Whether pollution coverage is included
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What your storage and repair agreements say about risk and storm preparation
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Whether business income responds if a neighboring property shuts you down
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Whether the endorsements your marina and yard customers require are actually on the policy
Send us the policy
We will read it against what you actually handle and tell you where the gaps are.
Miami: 305-969-8776 Orlando: 407-993-2331 Stuart: 772-247-3788
Or request a quote online. Related reading: what insurance marine artisan contractors need in Florida and the biggest marine artisan claims in Florida.
General information only, not legal advice. Federal maritime law, coverage forms, and carrier requirements vary and change over time; confirm the requirements that apply to your operation before relying on any of the above.
