Residential Boat Condemned

[Gary Peacock]

A while ago you may remember me telling the story of the 3 year old residential broad beam boat supplied with a RCD certificate of conformity that in now way at all conformed to the RCD or BSS.

 

Well after it's 2nd electrical fire and the intervention of the BMF a full survey was carried out on the boat and this resulted in the recommendation that the boat was not safe for habitation, the family were forced to move into a tent in a family members garden.

 

We have being contracted to rectify the problems and I thought you might like to take a look.

 

 

The boat in question

 

 

 

Electrics to die for!

 

 

 

No liners were fitted to the mushroom vents allowing moisture into the roof space compounded by leaking vents and windows the rock wool insulation became saturated causing the MDF lining to swell distort and go mouldy. The full boat interior needed to be stripped out.

 

Subject to trading standards being unwilling to enforce the RCD and at one point even denying it was their responsibility to enforce compliance the owners are having to fund the refit and corrections to the hull themselves. Meanwhile the builder is still building these boats and supplying them with a certificate of conformity!

[bottle]

Gary

 

I know you cannot name names but surely ther is a way that this builder can be stopped.

[Gary Peacock]

Gary

 

I know you cannot name names but surely ther is a way that this builder can be stopped.

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Not without Trading Standard are pressured to take action, after 3 years of messing they are still very unwilling to do so. A complaint was made via the family's MP and they are waiting to see if this will help.

 

This makes a complete mockery of the RCD and the UK law, in effect we have laws that no one are willing to police.

[Richard Bustens]

Gary.

This wiring was done by a boatbuilder, and not the customer?

[Gary Peacock]

Gary.

This wiring was done by a boatbuilder, and not the customer?

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All the work of a quality builder so they claim.

[Alastair]

I'm sat on a 100-year-old boat in better shape than that!

[ChrisPy]

Gary, have you had sight of the RCD certificate? It would be interesting if you can confirm it included 12V and mains wiring, because like Richard I am sceptical that anyone except a downright bodger could wire a boat up like that from new. It does seem more likely that the residents have made modifications themselves after purchase and are unwilling to admit it.

 

I am not aware that all aspects of weathertightness (liners to vents, etc.) are specifically covered by the RCD. Interesting point.

 

To fit my liners I had to trim the foam insulation to a circle of the right diameter. I was wondering how to hold the liners in place. The answer is now obvious - remove the mushroom, inject cavity filling foam applied from above around the outside of the liner. Trim off excess and refit the mushroom. Sticks and fills.

[Gary Peacock]

The certificate of conformity given was a load of rubbish not correct in any way, but BW accepted it when the boat was licensed. The hull does not even have a HIN marking.

This wiring was all done by the builder it's behind the cladding and it's all that bad, The plumbing is no better and that is probably the cause of most of the water under the floor.

The boat also suffers from a number of serrious design issues that are going to need sorting out too.

 

 

 

 

[Gary Peacock]

Gary, have you had sight of the RCD certificate?  It would be interesting if you can confirm it included 12V and mains wiring, because like Richard I am sceptical that anyone except a downright bodger could wire a boat up like that from new.  It does seem more likely that the residents have made modifications themselves after purchase and are unwilling to admit it. 

 

I am not aware that all aspects of weathertightness (liners to vents, etc.) are specifically covered by the RCD.  Interesting point. 

 

To fit my liners I had to trim the foam insulation to a circle of the right diameter.  I was wondering how to hold the liners in place.  The answer is now obvious - remove the mushroom, inject cavity filling foam applied from above around the outside of the liner.  Trim off excess and refit the mushroom.  Sticks and fills.

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The poor standard of build with reguards to the leaks doesn't fall under the RCD and is subject to a potential civil action however the electrical and design defects most certainly do.

[Bullfrog]

Gary

 

I know you cannot name names but surely ther is a way that this builder can be stopped.

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Why can't you name the builder? Surely it's a simple statement of fact whose name is on the documentation. You don't need to comment on the quality of the build.

[Richard Bustens]

Gary

There are wires all over the place sticking out of holes and coiled up around the fittings, i can not belive that anyone would accept a boat in that state.

 

Was this boat supplied fully fitted,? if so how was the lining fitted with the wiring running on top of the battons.?

[Gary Peacock]

Gary

There are wires all over the place sticking out of holes and coiled up around the fittings, i can not belive that anyone would accept a boat in that state.

 

Was this boat supplied fully fitted,? if so how was the lining fitted with the wiring running on top of the battons.?

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The boat was supplied fully fitted (Not cheap) and ready to move on. The orange lawnmower type cable and white solid core 2.5mm ran behind the roof centre panel.

 

The waste pipe with the cable in was boxed in under the gunnel.

 

 

This is the rear of the electrical cabinet.

 

 

The boat is equiped with a 11KVA gen set the two burnt out cable are the supply from this into a 30amp choc block the thick 10mm cable at the back is the feed to the 11KW electric cooker. There are no fuses or breakers in the AC system only a RCD on the switch panel.

 

This boat is the subject of numerous reports but you don't need to be a surveyer to realise it is very wrong.

[Richard Bustens]

So you or someone has half striped the fittings out ?

 

not that they have never been there.

 

What is the cost to repair the problems?

[stuart]

Makes me feel much better about my DIY fit out now! LOL.

 

Also quite scary that I could have gone out and paid my £50K+ on a new boat and ended up with this dangerous floating skip.

 

Are you taking it back to bare metal and just re-using the parts?

[maffi mushkila]

Didn't I see that boat when I was up at the yard?

[John Orentas]

I find it very hard to believe that a boat builder could have done such a job, much more likely as someone has said that it was a private owner who decided to install mains wiring and other 'improvements'.

 

In any event cases like this, and I don't think they are so uncommon, go some way to demonstrate the all the regulation that is imposed on all of us is of little value, there will always be people who will not even consider the most basic laws of common sense let alone a set of sometimes subtle regulations.

 

This chap will not comply with any kind of of rules even the simple laws of the land, he will go through life not considering that he knows best, rather not considering anything at all.

 

What can be done without imposing impossible restrictions on the freedom of all of us, I don't know.

[Gary Peacock]

Believe me a boat builder did this and the owners plan is for him to have his day in court to discuss it.

 

I can't and wont say who it is because of the legal implications if you ask around the cut in West Yorks it's easy to find out, this boat is quite famous or should I say infamous . But the owner bought a fully fitted boat from a supposedly reputable dealer and got this.

 

Prior to the BMF getting involved he had very little success with getting the matter resolved.

The boat was stripped out here and photo documented for evidence in any future legal action.

 

The owner had nothing whatsoever to do with the wiring or building of the boat he purchased a fully fitted boat with a certificate of conformity and got that mess for his money.

Edited July 22, 2005 by Gary Peacock

[Gary Peacock]

Makes me feel much better about my DIY fit out now!  LOL.

 

Also quite scary that I could have gone out and paid my £50K+ on a new boat and ended up with this dangerous floating skip.

 

Are you taking it back to bare metal and just re-using the parts?

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The owner wants to keep the hull so we are going to do the modifications it needs and then start from scratch again.

The MDF lining was so damp due to the wet rock wool that nothing was worth saving.

 

In effect they are starting again with a bare shell even the windows need replacing due to the way they were fitted.

 

You could say they were foolish to hand over the money but like a lot of customers I see they were new to boating and very trusting. I would imagine before all the problems began to show the boat would have looked quite nice.

 

The hull in all fairness is quite well fabricated but some of the design features are just wrong.

 

The boat was so over ballasted that the water was within 1 1/2" of the weed hatch lid.

 

 

Quick release?

[Gary Peacock]

So you or someone has half striped the fittings out ?

 

not that they have never been there.

 

What is the cost to repair the problems?

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The owners stripped it out here to save the cost of us doing it.

 

How much is it going to cost to repair?

Well lets just say it's not going to be very cheap and it is going to make it a very exspensive boat at the end of the day.

We got the contract so I guess we must have been the cheapest.

[onionbargee]

I know where a wide beam is being built, the welder is totally unqualified, he can sell this boat, so the rules governing this are just a joke.

[Richard Bustens]

Onion Qualifications count for nothing is is how good you are at what you do .

 

When i was 16-21 i was at Worksop collage and did 4 years to get city and guilds 1-4 and a further year to get Nat crafts then on to onc

 

The traffic devision of the police did a 6 week 1 day a week compressed course and passed out with the same qualifications as i spent 4 years working for, i sent the lot back in disgust.

 

On paper they were as qualified as me

Edited July 22, 2005 by Richard Bustens

[fender]

I hope the boat wasnt bought from Poundland!

 

If this was a genuine boatbulder's job then its just so god damn awful!

Edited July 22, 2005 by fender

[ChrisPy]

I know where a wide beam is being built, the welder is totally unqualified, he can sell this boat, so the rules governing this are just a joke.

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Onion, I don't know the guy, so my comments are general:

 

There are plenty of 'unqualified' people doing a very good job. We should be careful not to become too subjective. Skill, care and experience are sometimes worth infinitely more than a certificate issued after going through a short training course.

[Gary Peacock]

I hope the boat wasnt bought from Poundland! 

 

If this was a genuine boatbulder's job then its just so god damn awful!

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If this was a one off it wouldn't be so bad unfortunately there are more.

[david and julie]

How old is the boat?

 

Sorry, just noticed you said it was 3 years old in your first post.

 

Don't want to appear ignorant but you mentioned liners in the mushroom vents.

 

No liners were fitted to the mushroom vents allowing moisture into the roof space compounded by leaking vents and windows the rock wool insulation became saturated causing the MDF lining to swell distort and go mouldy. The full boat interior needed to be stripped out.

 

My shell is fitted with mushroom vents which are just screwed to the roof with(I think because I am not at the boat) a gasket ,or similar, in between the vent and the steel. Inside is just an open hole. I intend to fit the brass covers which reasemble speaker grills. Do I need to fit a liner of some sort between the vent and the grill?

 

The roof inside is T&G and the boat is sprayfoamed.

Edited July 24, 2005 by david and julie