"Safety Standards for Backyard Boat Builders"
From the "Letters" section of Boatbuilder magazine, May/June 2002.
Coast Guard Standards
On the subject of powering a homebuilt boat, the present Safe Powering Regulations (effective date: 1 November 1972) in Subpart D of Part 183 were adopted from industry standards published by the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) and the Boating Industry Associations (the former BIA is now the National Marine Manufacturers Association). These standards were originally developed by a team of boating experts. They tested a variety of boats (approximately 150) and rated each boat according to the horsepower they felt was safe or unsafe. The ABYC plotted these test results against boat dimensions (length and transom width) and derived an average safe horsepower recommendation.
The boats tested by these experts were off-the-shelf models which were available during the period 1954 through 1967. All of the boats tested were of conventional design (semi-V, round chines, cathedral hull). All of the boats had a length-to-beam ratio ranging from 2.2:1 to 3:1, and the smallest boat tested was 14 feet in length.
Later amendments to the Safe Powering Standard (effective August 1, 1987) allowed manufacturers of small outboard-powered runabouts with remote wheel steering to use the ABYC safe maneuvering speed and quick turn tests for computing horsepower, provided they met certain qualifying criteria: (i) 13 feet or less in length; (ii) remote wheel steering; (iii) transom height (A) minimum 19-inch transom height; or, (B) for boats with at least a 19-inch motorwell height, a minimum 15-inch transom height; and (iv) maximum persons capacity not over two persons. Manufacturers of small outboard runabouts meeting the special criteria who used the performance tests for determining maximum horsepower were limited to a maximum of 40 horsepower.
Now I want to touch briefly on the subject of the "Safety Standards for Backyard Boat Builders" pamphlet. First of all, it is just that-a pamphlet that provides a simplified explanation of the Coast Guard safety standards and regulations to individuals building their own boats (people who are building a boat for their own use and not for sale).
The pamphlet is not a regulation and has no force of law. If there are readers of Boatbuilder who are manufacturers in the business of building boats for the purposes of sale to the public, they should not be using the "Safe Standards for Backyard Boat Builders" pamphlet, but, should instead be following the pertinent regulations in the Coast Guard regulations 33 CFR Parts 179, 181, and 183.
Second,
while the Coast Guard encourages individuals building boats for their own use and not for the purposes of sale to build them in compliance with Coast Guard safety standards, there is no regulatory requirement for them to do so. If you are a manufacturer of boats for the purposes of sale to the public, you can expect: (1) a visit by a Compliance Associate (trained inspectors under contract to the Coast Guard) for inspection of your production for compliance with Coast Guard regulations; (2) your boats might be spot checked for compliance by Coast Guard boating standards personnel at a boat show; or (3) one of your boats might be purchased on the open market and tested for compliance with the regulations.
There is no similar enforcement mechanism for individuals building boats for their own use and not for the purpose of sale.
Alston Colihan
[email protected]
