Pete if its already a diesel hull designed for a diesel then your in with a chance in that it has the beam and freeboard to opperate ok as a work boat and may get yellow code 20 miles?
I am of the oppinion that the work boat only concept is fine if that is what your using her for,then at present the work boat catergories do not require stability tests for offshore use,eg yellow code 20 miles from a designated port.
The english channel is regarded to never have more than on average 2mtr high waves ,so in theory a Cat C leisure boat could get a work boat ticket with a range of 20 miles withought a major problem if opperating in this area,as the area it cruises or works in that must be within both sets of criteria.
The problem comes when a work boat is used for leisure purposes as it will clearly state it is a work boat on the reciept.Will the insurance boys honour this if there is a problem.?I dont know.The other side of the coin is that some practising surveyors have confessed to me that they are wrighting in exclusion clouses to there surveys and most people with older boats may have problems? I dont know.? I am going to get to the bottom of this as maybe I have been relieved of a considerable sum and made to conform to a potentiel problem in the future that doesnt exist or maybe could exist,I dont know?.I have asked by email the Mca for clarification on Cat C /B waters definitions and implications and had no responce,I have also asked for conformation on what happens if a work boat is sold to a leisure person for leisure use? and have had a number of different responces.
I have also asked what the warrantie issues are if a new work boat is sold to a leisure person and have been advised that in the trade they have been told to stipulate that it is a work boat on the invoice,so as to limit there warranties?. Its a nightmare out there and Im going to get to the bottom of it,We ran initially with a 30 ft boat that took twin 225 honda ,s and when we ran it through a autoship Cad programs it failed the Freeboard requirment for RCD with a diesel in it and it was a beamy boat, so we had to redesign to achieve the requirments to exeed,which meant we increased the length,so as to surpass the requirments for todays RCD which increases the freebord .It worries me as there are a lot of you out there who have boats on order and there are those who are contemplating putting big diesels into a rib that just cant pass todays stability tests for RCD offshore cat B becouse of the weight and you can do nothing with the length or beam becouse its to late,this is my personal oppinion.
Be aware it isnt easy as at present I dont even know what it means if you dont pass Cat B rcd,as there are more boats out there that dont than ones that do,Im a cynick and my feelings are that the insurance companies are happy bunnies as they have a get out clouses as long as your arms,the reason they arnt saying anything is they cant afford to loose all the buisness,and they will inform you all at a later date when it suits them all that unless your boat is Certified to B standared then you cant go offshore in it,and can only opperate within cat C areas,and they may also stippulate that all work boats used for pleasure may have to do the same thing or be stability tested,I know that certain boats cannot ever pass this test as it will not float high enough for the standards required for offshore cat B,as I floated a 30 ft boat with a big beam and it just doesnt work.
Im guessing here but it needs some carefull thought,if nothing else.The work boat code is not as strict as the RCD is for stability as there are no rules up to 20 miles yellow code, but there are for RCD cat B offshore leisure if opperated in waves over 2mtrs height and over f6?
I will report back if I am ever am sucsesfull at getting to the botton of it all?
Good luck
which is severly interupting the boat replacement / boat use and you can guess whitch I would prefer to be doing!
