Hawaii Boat Insurance Requirements: What’s Actually Required

Almost every article on this subject gets it wrong in the same way: it treats “Hawaii boat insurance requirements” as one rule. It isn’t. There are two separate requirements, they come from different places, they cover completely different things, and satisfying one does not satisfy the other.

Here is the short version, then the detail.

1. The statewide law: grounding insurance for boats 26 ft and over

In 2019 the Legislature passed Act 94, which became Hawaii Revised Statutes §200-13.5. It took effect March 1, 2020, and it says that if you own a vessel of 26 feet or greater in originally-manufactured length — and that vessel is either registered under HRS §200-31(a) or operated in state ocean waters under valid Coast Guard documentation — you must carry insurance “with a limit of not less than $100,000 per occurrence.”

The critical detail, and the one most write-ups miss: this is not general liability insurance. The statute is specifically about the removal and salvage of a grounded vessel. Hawaii passed it because the State kept getting stuck with the bill for pulling wrecked boats off reefs. It is wreck-removal cover, and it does very little else for you.

Two things to note:

• It applies wherever you keep the boat — state harbor, private marina, mooring, or on a trailer in your yard. It follows the vessel, not the berth.
• If you have previously grounded a vessel in state waters, the requirement applies to you at any vessel length. There is no 26-foot floor for repeat offenders.

What about boats under 26 feet?

There is no general statewide law requiring you to insure a boat under 26 feet kept outside a state harbor, unless you have a prior grounding. That surprises people. It does not mean going uninsured is a good idea — it means the State isn’t the one forcing your hand.

2. The harbor rule: $500,000 liability to hold a state berth

This one is older than the statute and catches far more boat owners, because on Oahu most people keep their boat in a state facility — Ala Wai, Ke’ehi, and the rest are all run by the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR).

DOBOR’s Harbor Tenant Handbook puts it plainly: in December 2009, DOBOR made insurance mandatory for vessels moored in state boating facilities as a condition of a mooring permit. Acceptable coverage means protection and indemnity (boat liability) insurance naming the State of Hawaii, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation as additional insured or additional interest. The Handbook states the minimum was increased from $300,000 to $500,000 as of January 1, 2014.

DOBOR’s own insurance page also indicates coverage should include salvage, pollution, and dock damage.

The insurance requirement is also a gate on getting a berth at all

Proof of insurance is required at application and at every renewal — alongside proof of ownership, registration or documentation, and a marine survey no more than two years old. If you are on a waitlist and your survey has gone stale, that is worth fixing before your name comes up rather than after.

How the two rules stack

If you own a 40-foot boat in an Ala Wai slip, both apply to you. You need the statutory grounding cover and the $500,000 liability naming the State. In practice a proper marine policy from a carrier that actually writes Hawaii business will handle both, but do not assume — ask your broker to confirm in writing that the policy meets HRS §200-13.5 and the DOBOR permit condition, because those are two different boxes.

If you keep a 30-foot boat on a trailer at home, only the statutory grounding requirement applies. If you keep a 22-foot boat on a trailer at home and have never grounded anything, neither applies — the State is not requiring you to carry anything.

What about lenders?

If you are financing, the lender sets its own terms and they are usually stricter than the State’s. We deliberately aren’t going to publish a “lenders typically require…” figure here, because there is no published Hawaii standard and every number you’ll find quoted online is someone’s guess. Ask your lender directly, in writing, before you close.

Practical advice from the brokerage side

• Get the quote before you make the offer, not after. Insurability is a real variable in Hawaii, and it moves with the boat’s age, condition, and survey. On older hulls it occasionally becomes the deal-breaker — and finding that out after your deposit is down is a bad afternoon.
• A current survey helps twice. Underwriters want one, and DOBOR wants one under two years old. One survey satisfies both.
• Name the State correctly the first time. “State of Hawaii, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation” as additional insured. Not “DLNR.” Not “Ala Wai Harbor.”
• Re-check at renewal. These minimums have been raised before — the liability floor went from $300,000 to $500,000 in 2014 — and they can be raised again.

Sources

• Hawaii Revised Statutes §200-13.5, Vessel insurance (Act 94, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019)
• DLNR / DOBOR, “Mandatory Vessel Grounding Insurance”
• DLNR / DOBOR, Harbor Tenant Handbook, July 15, 2023
• Hawaii Administrative Rules, Title 13, Chapters 231 and 234