Boat insurance is remarkably like car insurance. The first part of insurance for your boat is not if something happens to your boat, but rather if you cause damage to someone's property or cause bodily injury to a person or persons. If you have any assests away from boating to protect (ie a house, investments, etc), then consider having higher liability limits $100,000/300,000 at a minimum. After you decide on what level of liability insurance you want, then you can look at whether you want physical damage coverage for your boat (if you can afford to fix or replace your boat - you said value was about $1500- then you probably don't need this coverage.) and remember the insurance company will only pay for the value of your boat at the time of the loss
less your deductible.
And if you don't have experience, certainly avail yourself of the various courses, get a good map (Bizer's my choice and can be ordered on this website), and go slow!!!! Learn the lake, learn your boat, gain experience, respect other boaters, drive defensively ... Gawd, I sound like a parent
. You know what I (we) mean.