Boating insurance is supposed to make your time on the water less stressful and any accidents that you might suffer less impactful on your life.

A good boating insurance policy covers liability, collision, and damage by vandalism. The coverage itself will vary with the type of watercraft that you own and operate, but all of the policies are intended to help you get underway without fear.

Protection of your boat usually covers damage to the hull, sails, machinery, furniture, and most other equipment that is used in the normal operation of your boat. If your docking procedure is short a buoy or two and your hull is a casualty, your insurance company will cover the damages.

Your insurance company should also cover the damages to the dock itself resulting from you collision with it, or to any other boats that you may have collided with. Most policies also cover vandalism to your boat, malicious mischief, and often even damages resulting from latent defects of workmanship.

Your boat insurance policy should also cover liability losses (like that dock that you bumped earlier) as well as bodily injury or death of another person as a result of your negligent operation of the boat. The insurance policy will also cover your guests or family's medical expenses if they are injured while on your boat, or while boarding it or disembarking.

Don't forget to check to make sure that your trailer is also covered by your boat insurance policy, since damage to your trailer can be both expensive and extremely inconvenient. Loss of the trailer should also be covered, as it does no one any good on the bottom of the lake, damaged or not.

If you own a shipyard or use your boat for business purposes, then any non-crewmen working on your boat are covered as well. This includes mechanics, carpenters or painters and cleaners who are working on your boat. If any of these people sustains injury, then their medical expenses are covered by your boating policy. Crewmen injured aboard your boat should be covered under the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act.

If you are a believer in the saying "better safe than sorry", then you will probably be interested in insuring your boat against the little extras that might come along. Extra insurance can be purchased to insure your boat against uninsured boaters who might damage your watercraft.

If you are an avid fisher, or if you like to bring a few little extras along with you on long boating trips, then you might want to find a policy that will allow you coverage of these things. With many policies, you can add coverage to insure your personal property, and even your fishing equipment against damage or loss.

Boating is supposed to be relaxing. Having your boat and your gear properly insured will help you to leave the cares of life behind you as you sail into the sunset.