Bareboat charter insurance, built around who controls the boat.
Bareboat charter insurance is Rise’s leading line. On a genuine bareboat charter the charterer takes possession and control of the vessel, and that one fact changes what the policy, the contract and the regulators care about.
This page is for owners who offer the boat without crew. If you supply or require the captain, read Charter Business Insurance; rental and livery businesses start at Commercial Use Coverage.
Three sets of rules decide whether it is really a bareboat charter.
A genuine bareboat charter depends on how the arrangement works, not on what the contract calls it.
Possession and control (federal guidance)
USCG guidance treats actual possession and control as central, including who selects, pays and can dismiss the captain. It is a 2017 interpretive bulletin; apply it to the real arrangement with current specialist advice. A list of owner-paid “recommended” captains is exactly the arrangement to have reviewed. We do not help design an arrangement to avoid passenger-vessel rules.
Florida’s livery definition (state)
FWC dates an updated livery definition to July 1, 2025. Under current guidance, an owner who provides, or requires the renter to provide, a USCG-licensed captain does not meet it. An operation that does meet it needs an annually renewed permit and statutory livery insurance. The statutory minimums are $500,000 per person and $1 million per event: minimums for qualifying liveries, not adequate limits and not a rule for every charter. This is state livery scope only, not a federal bareboat ruling.
Passengers, tonnage and crew (federal classification)
“Six-pack” is about passengers, tonnage and crew, not a headcount. Federal definitions treat uninspected passenger vessels under 100 gross tons differently from larger ones; that is where six and twelve come from. The passenger definition excludes the charterer, the master and qualifying paid working crew; guests cannot be relabelled as crew. Subchapter T includes small charter vessels with owner-provided crew carrying more than six passengers, or with no owner-provided crew carrying more than twelve. None of this is permission to carry a given number of people.
What a bareboat policy has to answer.
A bareboat charter changes who is operating, who is aboard and who is responsible. The policy has to reflect that, in writing, before the first booking.
- Is the use accepted? Some insurers offer occasional-charter endorsements; regular charter use typically needs a different policy.
- Who is insured, and in what capacity? Owner, owning company, charterer, the charterer’s captain. →
- Is the captain approved? Ask how a charterer’s captain is approved before the trip.
- Hull value, deductible and deposit. A deposit, a damage waiver and a deductible are three different things; read the agreement and the policy together. →
- Where may the boat go? Federal route terms are not your navigation limit.
The documents a bareboat charter runs on.
| Document | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The bareboat charter agreement | Records who takes possession and control, for how long, and what the charterer is responsible for. |
| A separate captain engagement, made by the charterer | If a captain is used, the charterer selects, pays and can dismiss them. |
| Vessel documentation, with gross tonnage | Tonnage measures volume, not length or weight, and drives the federal classification questions. |
| The ownership entity | If an LLC or trust owns the boat, the policy should name it. |
| The current policy and endorsements | Shows whether bareboat use was disclosed and accepted. |
| Marina, lender and management contracts | They can set their own insurance requirements. |
We ask for documents that already exist. None are sent through the website.
One line of business, one named person.
Roberto Guerrero, President and Principal Agent, handles every bareboat conversation. The structure of your arrangement is a question for a maritime attorney, and the coverage decision is the insurer’s; we tell you which is which.
Speak with Roberto.
Roberto Guerrero · President and Principal Agent · Licensed agent