Navigation Limits: design categories

[Guest]

I am trying to find some information relating to the classification of leisure boats - this following on from the Marine Accident Investigation into the loss of the Bayliner 245 "Last Call" last year. Does anyone know of any source of information about the categories which exist.

For example I know that the top 3 categories are:

A - Ocean

B - Offshore

C - Inshore

That seems to be about the total of information I have been able to obtain off the internet - dozens of Google searches using various different wording have yielded virtually nothing and I've drawn similar results when directly interrogating sites like the RYA and so on. I'm just trying to find a more detailed summary of what constitutes each category (actual cruising grounds) and what the requirements of the different types of boat are.

I seem to recall David pointing out that Last Call was a Category B (offshore) boat which put it in the same class as Kingfisher and that she certainly did not belong there. More info please....

[thirdmate]

Hi,

I did some research on this a few months ago the RCD (Recreational Craft Directive). Catergories are an odd thingy, eg:

Nelson 45 RCD Category B 60 Mile coding 12 passengers + 2 Crew.

Don't laugh but this site has the answers

http://www.barging.co.uk/rcd.htm

Or if totally crazy have a rummage in these sites

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/ukr-home/p ... lships.htm

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-hom ... lships.htm

Have fun

Andy

[Guest]

Thanks for that Andy. If I'd known about the RCD acronym it might have made my searches more successful, but then again I might just have had results about residual current devices instead of offshore banking! The categories certainly do seem odd with a wide variety of vessels seeming to fit into each one. That first link you provided seems the most plain speaking and some of the descriptions and what vessels in a particular category are designed to withstand certainly far outstrips anything I would ever like to experience and you've got to wonder how to a Bayliner 245 could make category B.

[thirdmate]

Bayliner could have been a different Cat B. I beleive there is another class of cat's for pleasure craft something to do with council's and used on estuary/inland waterways.

Best we stick with RCD Cat's

Andy

[senator]

Hi Simon,

If you think about the number of different types and makes of boats all crammed into 4 categorys then there has to be a wide spectrum of ability's in each category.

Kingfisher would be well up the scale of B with the Bayliner just making it in but bear in mind that the Princess 65 flybridge that my boss owns is also category B if you want the extreems of the category.

From memory there is a section about distances from safe harbour so I can only guess that it is something to do with range.

Ian

[Guest]

Bayliner could have been a different Cat B. I beleive there is another class of cat's for pleasure craft something to do with council's and used on estuary/inland waterways.

Best we stick with RCD Cat's

No, it was definitely the RCD Cat - and classified as "offshore". The report queried whether the vessel would still qualify as a Cat B because somewhat more stringent requirements to a number of issues of sea keeping were introduced after the Bayliner 245 design had been assessed but there were no requirements for vessels to re-assessed according to the new criteria as long as the production continued to run unaltered.

I think Ian has done a good job highlighting the huge differences within a category and it does seem to me that Cat B is probably the category that needs attention. I would imagine that C and D are fairly straightforward - and probably A as well. Anything which assesses a 24ft Bayliner as being able to go out in the same maximum seas as a Princess 65 needs to be looked at a bit more closely methinks!

[Antares_9]

It’s not all about wave height though Simon, time to clear a swamped cockpit, righting momentum and all sorts of other stuff contribute to the seaworthiness of a vessel. Even something like being able to keep the prop in the water more of the time is quite significant.