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BSS Requirements


Detling

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3 hours ago, WotEver said:

20 minutes?  Only if he's not doing his job. A decent BSS inspection should last at least an hour if not a couple of hours if he's being thorough.

Before my last BSS inspection I did my own pre-inspection following the list of requirements on the BSS website. It took all day! There's no way even an experienced inspector can do a thorough check of every item in even a couple of hours, especially on an unfamiliar boat. 

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When considering the price

... the examiner has to pay  a fee for each certificate - about £50. He also has to pay an annual fee to BSS and undertake training. This all has to be factored into the prices as does travel time  and cost as already mentioned , and the time to process the certificate . I thought £180 was expensive but on reflection people do have to make a living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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59 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Indeed. I got a fail on a flexible fuel pipe that, prior to our ownership, had rubbed against a pulley, creating a groove in it. The previous two BSS checks had missed it. A quick run down to Sam at Foxton saw the old ends crimped onto a new piece of hose. 

The reason he was given was the printing had faded on the outside, when he took it out of the dark engine hole it was bright cream, but in the dim lighting the examiner hadn't been able to read it. The new piece had green printing which is amost impossible to see so he will find out in 3 years.  I have a short bit on the webasto put in by Steve at kings lock, it is about 1 inch long and hasn't got the full BSS number on it because it is so short. Time will tell.

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4 minutes ago, Detling said:

The reason he was given was the printing had faded on the outside, when he took it out of the dark engine hole it was bright cream, but in the dim lighting the examiner hadn't been able to read it.

Offer the examiner a torch...

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7 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

......take it down to Langrick Bridge and let the examiner who did it last time do it again.

Using the same surveyor as last time seems to me a very good plan. 

 

That would be a good reason for a boat trip , not that  a reason is required.  I guess you are in no rush but I expect there will be demand on the  BSS surveyors as a modest backlog will have accumulated. So book early as Sir Fred would have said .  I went ahead with the BSS as soon as the opportunity came up . We can now get a river  license whenever we feel like it .

 

I have effectively had 6 months free as the last  BSS expired in November - since then  we have been off water so no problem.

.

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On 18/05/2020 at 18:25, MartynG said:

Ian Lumley

£180  .

 

 

We have booked Ian in to do the test next week.

 

He knows his way around the S23 pretty well so we decided to let him do the test while the boat is ashore.

 

Pretty sure there won't be a problem as it has sailed straight through it's last tests and nothing has changed on board since. We have all of the fire extinguishers, blanket, alarms and carbon monoxide alarm on board so it should be straight forward we would hope.

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On 19/05/2020 at 10:42, Phoenix_V said:

he sounds the man for me is he anywhere near

 

An independant inspection is also for your safety and is not just a pice of paper. What re you thnkng of☠️

My boat had a bit of paper when I bought it,  I called the previous examiner back out, got a refund, even then he was vague as to BSS requirements, this idea that they can "interpret" is madness.

M y new Gas Safe Examine  one spent two hours on work [gas oven and gas instal were not not compliant, and never had been] plus  an hour or more inspecting everything in detail.

 

Edited by LadyG
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16 minutes ago, LadyG said:

An independant inspection is also for your safety and is not just a pice of paper. What re you thnkng of☠️

My boat had a bit of paper when I bought it,  I called the previous examiner back out, got a refund, even then he was vague as to BSS requirements, this idea that they can "interpret" is madness.

M y new Gas Safe one spent two hours on work [gas oven and gas instal were not not compliant, and never had been] plus  an hour or more inspecting everything in detail.

 

Did you get one for your sea boat?

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22 hours ago, David Mack said:

Before my last BSS inspection I did my own pre-inspection following the list of requirements on the BSS website. It took all day! There's no way even an experienced inspector can do a thorough check of every item in even a couple of hours, especially on an unfamiliar boat. 

Absolutely. But if folk want someone who just gives the boat a cursory glance, drinks your tea and eats your biscuits while missing something potentially dangerous on the boat then I guess that’s their choice. 

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20 minutes ago, LadyG said:

An independant inspection is also for your safety and is not just a pice of paper. What re you thnkng of☠️

My boat had a bit of paper when I bought it,  I called the previous examiner back out, got a refund, even then he was vague as to BSS requirements, this idea that they can "interpret" is madness.

M y new Gas Safe one spent two hours on work [gas oven and gas instal were not not compliant, and never had been] plus  an hour or more inspecting everything in detail.

 

Your case is perhaps a little different in that the boat was new to you so making sure the systems were safe was more of a priority.

 

If you have had the boat a number of years and know that nothing has changed then perhaps the more lax attitude is different.

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4 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Your case is perhaps a little different in that the boat was new to you so making sure the systems were safe was more of a priority.

I disagree that a BSS automatically means the boat meets safety requirements.

 

I had a BSS done in 2015 as a condition of buying the boat and I doubt the examiner even turned up - many  non-conformances, the most obvious being :

 

 

 

Remember this was 2015 so not only were the fire extinguishers out of date, they presumably were also out of date on the previous examination

 

 

 

 

 

Extinguisher 1.jpg

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13 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I disagree that a BSS automatically means the boat meets safety requirements.

 

I had a BSS done in 2015 as a condition of buying the boat and I doubt the examiner even turned up - many  non-conformances, the most obvious being :

 

 

 

Remember this was 2015 so not only were the fire extinguishers out of date, they presumably were also out of date on the previous examination

 

 

 

 

 

Extinguisher 1.jpg

Couldn't have been any clearer too them either. It's in big enough letters!

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1 hour ago, rasputin said:

Did you get one for your sea boat?

No, I had it speced to RYA Offshore for my own safety, you can't mess about in the hope that you will manage with something suited to the Solent.

I had two anchors, a biggy CQR which lived  inside, amidships, and another modern thing, for most situations.  

In a small sailingboat you have to keep your weight low and amdships,and be prepared for bad conditions  A NB is not gong to be gong in to breaking seas, there is no winch, and as  a single-handed boater. I chose the tackle to suit that scenario.

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10 minutes ago, LadyG said:

No, I had it speced to RYA Offshore for my own safety, you can't mess about in the hope tht you will manage with a grapnel.

I had two anchors, a biggy CQR which lived  inside, amidships, and another modern thing, for most situations.  

Not that this is the anchor thread, but a CQR is the worst anchor I have ever used  

 

Not sure what "speced to RYA Offshore" means

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20 minutes ago, rasputin said:

Not that this is the anchor thread, but a CQR is the worst anchor I have ever used 

It was suited to my crusing grounds. I think it held me in a F8, but it's not what I would buy nowadays, I don't think I could lift it for a start. I've certainly had difficulty gettng them out after a week of strong winds, but they do not do much good in weed[kelp on rock] 

The come pretty big, and with lots of chain, you are good to go, if you are not trying to anchor up in a crowded anchorage with no protection.

Edited by LadyG
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45 minutes ago, LadyG said:

No, I had it speced to RYA Offshore for my own safety, you can't mess about in the hope that you will manage with something suited to the Solent.

I had two anchors, a biggy CQR which lived  inside, amidships, and another modern thing, for most situations.  

It really depends on your bottom. A traditional Fishermans anchor is best for rocky bottoms, fluke will dig into the cracks in rocks. Muddy bottoms a CQR or Danforth or mud weight, like an old gearbox is good., sandy bottoms are awkward though, chuck everthing you have overboard. But a good all rounder is still the well proven traditional Fishermans.

   I remember voyaging on a Townsend Thorensen ferry overnight from Southampton to Cherbourg. We arrived outside the harbour too early for the tide and the customs to open and had to anchor and wait. When we got the signal to go, we couldn't, anchor winch straining fit to bust, anchor fouled. They spent 3 hours recovering it by circling it using side thrusters while a chap stood by, eyes gleaming waiting for his moment of glory, clutching a Junior hacksaw ready to saw through the chain and abandon the anchor.  His moment of glory didn't happen though, eventually up popped the anchor and we sailed in very late.,  Them Norwegians.

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56 minutes ago, LadyG said:

No, I had it speced to RYA Offshore for my own safety, you can't mess about in the hope that you will manage with something suited to the Solent.

I had two anchors, a biggy CQR which lived  inside, amidships, and another modern thing, for most situations.  

In a small sailingboat you have to keep your weight low and amdships,and be prepared for bad conditions  A NB is not gong to be gong in to breaking seas, there is no winch, and as  a single-handed boater. I chose the tackle to suit that scenario.

An anchor has nothing to do with the BSS. Completely irrelevant. 

46 minutes ago, LadyG said:

It was suited to my crusing grounds. I think it held me in a F8, but it's not what I would buy nowadays, I don't think I could lift it for a start. I've certainly had difficulty gettng them out after a week of strong winds, but they do not do much good in weed[kelp on rock] 

The come pretty big, and with lots of chain, you are good to go, if you are not trying to anchor up in a crowded anchorage with no protection.

Where did you find one of those on the Solent?

 

A not crowded anchorage that is.

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4 hours ago, LadyG said:

An independant inspection is also for your safety and is not just a pice of paper. What re you thnkng of☠️

 

 

My other boat is in Belgium, the one in England is 15' long has 2 bunks a gas hob and an outboard. The outboard can be checked that its still as manufacturer made it, wires checked for any chafing fuses etc and the normal gas leakages test in about 30 minutes flat being as pernickety as you like, the guy I intend using lives about 10 minutes drive away all in all good value not as is evidenced by the fact that Alan's guy is apparently prepared to drive hundreds of miles to do one.

As for the other boat when that was last tested it was out of water and the  - different - tester wanted to fail it on the basis that the gas bottle locker base sloped ever so slightly away from the drain and wouldnt accept my home made sticker ("do not close" )on the vent but wanted to flog me some nice brass ones that he just happened to have.

In Belgium the water police check your boat every year or so never had any problems.

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I moved my boat to a new area of the network last October, the boat needed a BSS examination at the end of November, which meant that I engaged with an examiner who was not familiar with my boat. 

I wasn't at the boat at the time of the examination (my bad)  the result was 7 failure issues, 2 of which down to the examiner not finding elements of the leccy installation and 1 a wiring support rod had been deemed broken which was an emaination error, the rod was attached to the bulk head but this was missed. 

After the examination I had a call with the examiner a couple of days later to discuss the failures, fixed the issues, met the emaniner for the retest, BSS certificate issued, all good.

 

The examiner was a knowledgeable decent guy,   if we had communicated during the examination three of the failures would not have been raised and a result, I would not have reacted so negatively and challenging to examiner,  a much better outcome for both of us. 

 

My point is that, based on this experience,  communication during the examination is really important, if you are not able to attend during the emaination, due to corvid, restrictions, my advice would be to agreed to a call after the initial examination and before the examiner leaves the boat.

 

Is my boat safer having fixed the issues, arguably perhaps yes, was it a good experience, nope, but the outcome was, would I use the same examiner again in three years time, TBO, I hope I  would have moved to a new location as I am, reasonably confident lock down will have eased  by then, if not, then defo yes.

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Had our BSS yesterday which was a fail due to one fire extinguisher being out of date and the fire blanket not having the correct fire safety approvals.

 

Both of these items have passed two previous tests with two other examiners.

 

The fire extinguisher was dated 2007! Our own fault for not pulling it out of the holder to check it. We just checked the gauge which was in the green. We could just removed the date sticker but we have decided to buy a new extinguisher while we are getting a new fire blanket at the same time :rolleyes:

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1 minute ago, Naughty Cal said:

 

 

The fire extinguisher was dated 2007! Our own fault for not pulling it out of the holder to check it. We just checked the gauge which was in the green. We could just removed the date sticker but we have decided to buy a new extinguisher while we are getting a new fire blanket at the same time :rolleyes:

Was that an expiry date or manufactored date?

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