Penalties
A person committing an offence under the 2017 Regulations may be liable to a penalty. Penalties can include a fine or a prison sentence of up to three months for the most serious offences. It is matter for the enforcing authority to decide whether prosecution is appropriate in each case taking into account the circumstances of the case and the enforcement authorities’ own policies, operational procedures and practices in line with the Regulators’ Code. Should a prosecution take place, it is at the discretion of the court to decide the penalties imposed on the offender.
Geoff takes up the story...
Marine manufacturers in common with all manufacturing industries face the same basic key challenges. They must be competitive within the markets they operate in, which requires them to produce the best possible products within strict financial constraints ensuring they make a profit and can continue to invest in research and development to create new products. This often leads to some manufacturers using components that are competitively priced rather than their quality and serviceability.
This is all very well, but the desire to produce a vessel which is a cut above the rest is driving designers and manufacturers to lose sight of the most important element which is safety.
A boat built to be ‘easy to use’ may compromise it being ‘safe to use’. As examples, I have included a couple of vessels which I have recently looked at that had safety issues.
In the first instance (Boat A), the vessel has a watertight/weather tight door which opens inward fitted in
the forward face of a wheelhouse/ deck saloon situated within a deep foredeck recess. The door is held closed by a magnetic catch released by a button. For aesthetics there are no obtrusive handles or clips, and this is a recipe for potential disaster. Without the door opening outwards and closing over a smaller opening any external pressure from wind or waves will force it open, as opposed to a door which closes over an opening where any external pressure would force it closed. (The door doesn’t seal anyway)!
The same Boat A has an aft cockpit deck which is positioned as close to the water line as possible. This is to allow the cockpit side bulwarks to fold down creating a flat level beach deck. Taking into account freeboard requirements this in itself is questionable, but then there is the cockpit deck hatch to consider, this gives access to the vessel’s electrical installation. In common with the forward door this hatch is only operated electrically by the push of a button and once again, for aesthetics, there are no obtrusive handles or clips - here is another recipe for potential disaster.
To make matters worse still, Boat A also has a soft sliding roof, the sealing of which is so poor that rainwater was dripping onto the helm when I visited her tied up at her berth in a marina. One can only imagine what would happen if a wave broke over her.
One operator of another Boat A, which is a commercially coded vessel, stated “when driving on rough seas, the door for passage from the bow to the ship's cabin opens by itself. There is no handle. The door opens and therefore bangs a lot, so the door must be held closed, which is very impractical” - apparently the helmsman would have to extend his/her left leg and hold the door closed by foot.
The following text is a summary of events which led to the swamping of Boat A:
While motoring at low speed the vessel encountered a series of waves typical of usual Solent conditions given the wind and tide forecast. On the day there was only 10knts of wind and well within the CE marking plate classification of Cat B Offshore Max 6 persons and Cat C Max 9 persons. The first wave that hit the bow, sprayed into the recessed bow area, the second and subsequent waves broke over the bow and through the anchor roller aperture flooding the anchor locker. Due to the water not draining quick enough the water flooded through into the forward cabin. The water flooding the forward seating area pinned the bow down to water level lifting the outboard engines out of the water rendering the vessel adrift. Water was also forced through the lower corner of the closed front door. The bow became submerged due to the amount of water in the vessel compromising its stability. The lower cabin flooded above the height of the bunk, and the helm station accumulated 100mm of water. Because of the bow down attitude the water could not drain through the bilges to aft, so the bilge pumps and drainage systems failed to cope. This allowed the water to rapidly accumulate in the bow of the vessel which meant that the engines were useless.
Now call me old fashioned, and I am sure that most people who know me will agree with that statement, but above all else a boat has to be a boat, and not merely a design statement.
Having spent at least half of my life at sea in ships and small craft I have experienced pretty much everything that mother nature can throw at you, and at times that can be very scary indeed. In the past, all
THE REPORT | MAR 2026 | ISSUE 115 | 69
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