Cable Maintenance

For boat dock owners, there isn’t anything more critical for dock safety and security than keeping attach cables maintained. All insurance policies that protect boat docks have a clause requiring that cables be maintained and not allowed to deteriorate beyond their serviceable life. What does that mean? If a dock is damaged in a storm event, and an adjuster inspects the cables and finds they are half eaten thru or very brittle due to rust, the adjuster can deny a claim based on the policy clause mentioned above. The way to avoid this type of claim denial is to develop and implement a cable service schedule including annual inspections, periodic and regular cable replacement with documentation of when each cable was replaced.

A rule of thumb should be that scuba divers inspect all galvanized steel cabling annually. Special attention should be given to areas where cable is attached to anchors. This is usually where breaks occur. Galvanized cabling has a limited serviceable life depending on the location of the dock and this fact should be taken into account with your cable service schedule.

Of course, stainless steel cabling is available and should be considered for all boat docks. It is more expensive than galvanized steel cabling, but will not deteriorate over time and will limit the replacement requirements over time. Stainless steel cabling does have a slightly lower tensile strength than galvanized cabling and that should be taken into account when using stainless steel cabling.

If the cost of stainless steel cabling is too high, then implementing a cable service schedule and documenting that over time is critical to avoid costly claims and potential claim denials due to cable deterioration.

If you do not currently have a cable service schedule, there is no better time than now to develop one. Please include the following information on a “per dock” basis:

1. Cable location/identifier on dock.

2. Annual date of inspection.

3. Last replacement date.

4. Cable material (stainless or galvanized) on a “per cable” basis.

5. Dock drawings are helpful.

Keep a copy safe away from the marina premises to avoid loss of this information due to a storm event. Please make sure that I know about the existence of this cable service schedule so that I can make the insurance company underwriters aware of your schedule.


Doug Timmons, CIC, CMIP

Marina Insurance Specialist

Commercial Risk Service