DandV

They may be a future problem, but that future can be some way off if you keep up with simple cleaning and three monthly oil wipe over with branded "bench oil". And eventually a relitively simple refurbish with sandpaper and more bench oil restarts the clock. Our 12 year old wooden benches, looked great still when we sold after the equivalent of 6 years livaboard boating. I think the timber was iroko. Closely resembled the Australian Jarrah we have on one of our kitchen benches and our bathroom benches here at home. You probably have worked this out already but! Our bench top had carefully routed channels to provide a drainage area back to the sink. They would have been great, if the boat floated level fore and aft, which of course it did not. Drainage water instead migrated to the aft end of the bench and hence down into the cupboards below, until thwarted by a bead of silicone sealant.

Is there a relationship between no engine, and the location of the home mooring, or cruising territory? I could imagine insurers being wary of offering insurance to an unpowered boat on any waterway prone to flooding, mainly rivers, as they could be unable to mitigate the risk by just moving to a safer mooring ahead of forecast flood risks.