Boat Insurance in Maine: Coast, Lakes and the Rules That Come With Them

By Jon Merwin, Founder and CEO

Maine has two boating worlds. One is salt water: Kittery Point and Pepperrell Cove, York Harbor and the York River, Perkins Cove, Wells Harbor, the Kennebunk River and the long run of Casco Bay. The other is fresh water: Sebago, the Belgrade Lakes, Moosehead, the Rangeleys and the border lakes such as Great East and Province that Maine shares with New Hampshire. The same boat can spend June on a lake and August on a mooring, and each setting comes with its own rules.

Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance is an independent agency in Portsmouth, NH, across the Piscataqua from Kittery. We are licensed in Maine and work with Maine boaters by phone and email; we do not have an office in the state. Our family-run team has placed boat, home and umbrella coverage since 2005 and works with 40+ carriers, so a Maine boat can be quoted alongside the house and cars it belongs with. To talk through a boat, call (603) 431-4020.

New Hampshire’s highest-rated agency on Google · 1,000+ Google reviews and over 2,000 testimonials.

The paperwork that comes with a Maine boat

Motorized watercraft used on Maine waters must be registered, and the state’s registrations follow the calendar year, from January 1 through December 31 (Maine IF&W boating). Registrations go through your town office or a registration agent, and many renewals can be done online. Two details catch people who are new to Maine:

• Excise tax first. Maine levies a watercraft excise tax in place of property tax on boats. A Maine resident pays it to the town where they live; a nonresident, or a boat owned by a company, pays it to the town where the boat is principally moored, docked or located (36 MRSA §1504). The town certifies payment before the registration goes through.
• The lake and river sticker. Every motorized boat on Maine’s inland waters must display a Lake and River Protection sticker, sometimes called the milfoil sticker. For Maine-registered boats it comes with the registration. Boats registered elsewhere need their own sticker on each side of the bow before they launch on a lake or river; it is not needed for boats used only in tidal waters (IF&W sticker page; 12 MRSA §13058).

Boats registered in another state can generally use Maine waters for a limited time without a Maine registration, but the rules change once Maine becomes the place the boat is principally used (12 MRSA §13056). For Seacoast New Hampshire families who keep a boat in Kittery, York or Eliot, that line matters for registration, excise tax and the location shown on the policy.

Why the insurance file should match

Underwriters ask where the boat is kept, on which waters it is used, and who runs it. If the policy says the boat lives on a trailer in Dover but it actually sits on a mooring in York Harbor from May to October, the policy and the facts do not match. We would rather sort that out at the quote than at a claim.

Maine’s boater education law

Maine phased in a boater education requirement on January 1, 2024. A person born on or after January 1, 1999 may not run a recreational motorboat over 25 horsepower on Maine inland or territorial waters unless they are at least 12 and have completed an approved boater safety and education course, and they must carry the certificate (IF&W boating safety course). Personal watercraft operators born after that date need the course and must be at least 16. The Maine Marine Patrol lists exemptions for registered Maine guides, commercial fishermen, merchant mariners and daily renters who complete the rental agent’s temporary course (Maine Department of Marine Resources).

For insurance, the practical point is simple. List every person who drives the boat, including teenage children and adult children home for the summer, and make sure each one meets the education rule. Underwriters may also want to know how many seasons each driver has run a boat of similar size.

Town harbor rules: York and Wells as examples

In Maine, harbors are managed town by town. Each harbor ordinance sets its own mooring, speed and use rules, and several touch insurance directly. Two southern Maine towns show the range.

York

The Town of York Harbor Ordinance, revised through May 16, 2026 (York Harbor Ordinance), applies to all tidal waters in town. Points that matter to boat owners include:

• Personal watercraft limits. Docking, mooring or running a personal watercraft is not allowed on the tidal York River, on the Cape Neddick River above a marker east of the Shore Road Bridge, within Brave Boat Harbor, or in any defined bathing area at a beach.
• No recreational towing of skis, tubes, boards and similar devices on the York River and its tributaries, York Harbor, Cape Neddick Harbor and River, and Brave Boat Harbor.
• Five mile per hour limits on set stretches of the York River and the Cape Neddick River, plus headway speed close to swimmers.
• Annual mooring permits issued by the Harbor Master for a specific space and a specific size and type of vessel, with assignments that generally cannot be transferred.
• Mooring inspections. The Harbor Master may examine any mooring; one found inadequate must be corrected within two weeks or removed, at the assignee’s cost, and the town does not take responsibility for the hardware.
• Winter moorings. Boats left on a permanent mooring over the winter must be on a float or a bow-and-stern mooring.
• Derelict vessels. The Harbor Master can remove derelict or abandoned boats, and owners are liable for the town’s legal and administrative costs of enforcement.

Wells

The Town of Wells harbor rules for the Webhannet River (Wells harbor code) go further on insurance. Every public mooring holder must keep liability insurance of at least $100,000 on the boat, and proof of insurance has to accompany the mooring application; if the coverage lapses, the permit is revoked. Public moorings are limited to boats of 42 feet or less overall, with older permits for longer boats grandfathered, and permits must be paid in full by April 15.

Kittery, Ogunquit, Kennebunkport and the Casco Bay towns each have their own rules. Before the season, ask your harbor master or marina for the current insurance and documentation requirements in writing, and send us a copy so we can match the policy to them.

What the January 2024 storms taught Maine boaters

Maine’s worst recent damage to the waterfront came in winter, not hurricane season. On January 10, 2024 a wind and rain storm hit the coast, and three days later a second storm arrived on an astronomical high tide. At 12:06 p.m. on January 13 the Portland tide gauge reached 14.57 feet above mean lower low water, breaking the record of 14.17 feet set in the Blizzard of 1978, in records that go back to 1912 (National Weather Service, Gray).

The Portland Press Herald reported waves of 15 to 20 feet, flooding in York County coastal communities, a boat aground in Cape Elizabeth and the Harpswell town pier tipped into the sea (Portland Press Herald). Mainebiz described wharves, floats and gear lost along the working waterfront, and a Kittery restaurant on the Piscataqua flooded by the river (Mainebiz).

Most recreational boats were already hauled out, which is the point. A boat on jack stands in a waterfront yard, a trailer parked near a marsh, or a float left in for the winter can all be damaged by surge and debris. Questions worth asking about any Maine boat policy:

• Lay-up and storage. How does the policy treat the boat while it is ashore, on a trailer or in a storage building, and does the storage location need to be listed?
• Named-storm terms. Some policies carry a separate deductible for named storms or help with the cost of hauling out ahead of one. Learn the triggers before the season.
• Wreck removal. If a boat sinks on a mooring, the town can require it to be removed. Some policies limit wreck removal separately from the hull amount.
• Floats and moorings. Mooring tackle and floats are often not part of the boat policy at all. Ask how they are handled.

Docks, floats and the house on the water

A shorefront home with a dock or float sits between policies. Under the federal flood policy form, building coverage leaves out docks, piers, wharves, bulkheads, seawalls and boathouses (federal flood policy form, Appendix A(1)), while a homeowners policy leaves out flood. A homeowners policy may cover a dock as an other structure for some non-flood perils, such as wind or fire, depending on the wording.

On the house, we place new NFIP policies through Selective. Private flood options we can quote include Flow Flood, Neptune Flood, Beyond Floods, The Flood Insurance Agency, CatCoverage and Aon Edge. Our flood insurance page explains the basics, and our York, Maine, Kittery, Maine, Ogunquit and Wells and Kennebunk and Kennebunkport pages cover coastal homes town by town.

Lakes: camps, trailers and border waters

Inland boating brings different questions. Many lake boats live on a lift or a trailer at a camp that is empty for weeks at a time. Others move between lakes, which is why the lake and river sticker and invasive-plant rules exist: Maine makes it unlawful to launch a boat contaminated with an invasive aquatic plant. On the border lakes, a boat kept on the Wakefield, NH side can cross into Maine water on an ordinary afternoon run.

• Camp and boat together. If the boat stays at a seasonal camp, the camp’s policy and the boat’s policy should be reviewed side by side. Our guides to Maine homeowners and second homes and seasonal homes cover the house side.
• Trailers. List the trailer, and ask whether physical damage on the trailer is covered while it is on the road or parked at the launch.
• Personal watercraft. Jet skis and similar craft are often written on their own policy. See our powersports insurance page.
• Guests at the wheel. Lake weekends mean borrowed boats and visiting drivers. Check who the policy allows to operate the boat.

Coverage to compare on a Maine boat

• Hull value. Whether the boat is written for an agreed amount or for its depreciated value, and which deductible applies to each kind of loss.
• Liability. Claims when someone is hurt or another boat, float or pier is damaged. Pick a limit that meets your harbor or marina rule and the umbrella underneath requirement.
• Medical payments. Pays treatment bills for passengers hurt aboard, regardless of fault, up to the limit.
• Uninsured boater. Protection for you and your guests if an uninsured boater causes injuries.
• Towing and on-water assistance. Useful on a falling tide in a shallow cove or with a dead engine off Cape Porpoise.
• Wreck removal and spill liability. Worth checking because towns such as York can remove derelict boats and bill the owner.
• Personal effects, electronics and fishing gear. These often carry their own limits.
• Navigation area. If you cruise to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, or down the coast to Massachusetts, confirm where the policy applies.

For the basics of how a boat policy responds, see how boat insurance works and our boat safety tips.

Carriers we compare for Maine boats

The boat carriers we work with for Maine are Hanover, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, SkiSafe, Foremost Specialty and American Modern, plus Chubb when the boat itself is high-value. Each one has its own appetite for size, age, value, horsepower and how the boat is used, so we match the boat and its home waters to the right market. Boats used for chartering, peer-to-peer rental or commercial fishing are a different kind of risk and are not what this page is about.

Liability is where boat, home and car policies meet. A personal umbrella sits on top of all three, and the umbrella carrier will name the boat liability limit it needs underneath. We check that number before we bind either policy. Our main boat insurance page has the general overview.

A Maine pre-season checklist

• Pay the town excise tax and renew the registration; Maine registrations expire December 31.
• Confirm the lake and river sticker for any inland use.
• Check that every operator born on or after January 1, 1999 has completed the boater education course.
• If the town, marina or club asks for a certificate of insurance, get it to them before launch.
• Review mooring permits, tackle and inspection dates.
• Update hull value, deductibles and named-storm terms.
• Tell us about trips outside your usual waters.
• Line up boat liability with your umbrella.

Related coverage: see our guide to Vermont boat insurance.

Request a Maine boat quote

To start, have the hull ID, the year, make and length, the engine and horsepower, and the Maine harbor, lake or yard where the boat lives. Request a quote. There’s no obligation to buy. Use the form below or our quotes page, or call (603) 431-4020 Monday through Thursday 9 to 5 or Friday 8 to 4, Eastern. We don’t charge any fees. Clients have given us 1,000+ Google reviews and over 2,000 testimonials, and you can read what they say about working with us on the client feedback page.

Frequently asked questions

Is boat insurance required in Maine?

State law does not make every Maine boat owner carry boat insurance, but plenty of others do. Lenders require hull coverage on financed boats, marinas and yacht clubs usually ask for liability coverage, and some towns write it into their mooring rules. Wells, for example, requires public mooring holders to keep at least $100,000 of liability coverage on the boat and to show proof with the mooring application. Even where nobody requires it, a single collision or breakaway can cost far more than the boat is worth.

Who needs a boating education card in Maine?

Anyone born on or after January 1, 1999 must be at least 12 and have completed an approved boater safety and education course to run a recreational motorboat over 25 horsepower on Maine inland or coastal waters, and must carry the certificate. Personal watercraft operators born after that date need the course and must be at least 16. Tell us every person who drives the boat so the policy lists them correctly.

My boat is registered in New Hampshire but I keep it in Kittery or York. What changes?

A boat with a valid registration from another state can generally use Maine waters for a limited time, but once Maine becomes the place the boat is principally used or kept, Maine registration and the town excise tax come into play. The excise tax goes to your town of residence if you live in Maine, or to the town where the boat is principally moored, docked or located if you do not. Tell us where the boat spends the season so the policy shows the right location.

Does my homeowners policy cover my boat?

Usually only in a very limited way. Many homeowners policies cap coverage for small boats and exclude liability for larger motorboats and personal watercraft. A separate boat policy covers the hull, the motor, the trailer and the liability that comes with running the boat.

What is agreed value on a boat policy?

With agreed value, you and the carrier settle on what the boat is worth when the policy is written, and that number, minus the deductible, is what a covered total loss pays. An actual cash value policy instead takes depreciation off at the time of the loss, which can leave an older boat well short of its replacement. We can quote both ways.

Is my boat covered while it is laid up for the winter?

Many boat policies keep coverage in force ashore, and some adjust for a lay-up period, but the details vary. The January 2024 storms flooded waterfront yards and wharves in southern Maine while most recreational boats were out of the water, so ask how each quote treats a boat on stands, on a trailer or under shrink wrap.

Which carriers do you use for Maine boats?

For Maine boats we work with Hanover, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, SkiSafe, Foremost Specialty and American Modern, plus Chubb when the boat itself is high-value. Call (603) 431-4020 and tell us about the boat and its home waters. Request a quote. There’s no obligation to buy.

Sources

• Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, boating and registration
• Maine IF&W, Lake and River Protection sticker
• 12 MRSA §13058, lake and river protection sticker
• 12 MRSA §13056, certificate of number and out-of-state boats
• 36 MRSA §1504, watercraft excise tax
• Maine IF&W, boating safety and education course
• Maine Department of Marine Resources, recreational boating safety
• Town of York Harbor Ordinance, revised through May 16, 2026
• Town of Wells, harbor code
• National Weather Service Gray, record water level at the Portland tide gauge (Jan. 13, 2024)
• Portland Press Herald, Jan. 13, 2024 storm coverage
• Mainebiz, damage from the January 2024 storms
• FEMA flood policy form, Appendix A(1) to 44 CFR Part 61

This page is general background for people who boat in Maine. Nothing here quotes, binds or interprets a policy, and it is not legal advice. The policy you buy decides any claim, and town harbor ordinances are amended from time to time, so check the current version with your harbor master.