BSS renewal

[Naughty Cal]

1 hour ago, MartynG said:

That's a very good reason for not letting the BSS expire . Thank you.

I don't make any online bookings but I do book tidal locks by phone so maybe the same issue would apply.

 

You would need a license to go through the locks anyway. A requirement of obtaining a licence is a valid BSS.

 

For what little the BSS costs I'm not sure why you would be reluctant to obtain one?

[cuthound]

2 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

As your selective quote reverses the meaning of what I wrote, I shan't bother to elucidate.

I don't think it has any value whatsoever, except to the examiners who make money out of it. The gas check is useful, the rest is nonsense.

 

I found my last BSS inspection very useful. The examiner (who is also a surveyor) gave me a verbal valuation, prompting me to increase the insured value.

[Momac]

1 hour ago, Naughty Cal said:

You would need a license to go through the locks anyway. A requirement of obtaining a licence is a valid BSS.

I think we all know that .

 

1 hour ago, Naughty Cal said:

 

For what little the BSS costs I'm not sure why you would be reluctant to obtain one?

Where did you get that idea from?

Edited October 21, 2023 by MartynG

[Arthur Marshall]

2 hours ago, Paul C said:

I thought you now needed to book the Harecastle tunnel online.

Summer hours you can go through in the mornings without booking. From 1Nov you have to book.

[Rob-M]

5 hours ago, PeterF said:

One issue from a lapsed BSS from CRT interactions may well occur if you try and book something through the CRT bookings web page such as a lock passage, visitor mooring or Anderton lift. We went onto the Montgomery last month and the booking system would not let me book because the insurance details had expired and I had not put the new policy details in. Whilst this is not the BSS per your question, I would expect consistent checking on the booking site.

We had the same issue when trying to book Frankton as our insurance was due to expire a couple of days beforehand so I just made up a new end date for the insurance so I could make the booking.

[Jak]

Mine expired last year when I left the exam a bit late, then failed needing a new gas hob.  Sourcing and fitting a new one, boat gas safe engineer, retest.  I contacted CRT and they weren’t bothered. Just said to keep in touch and get it sorted ASAP. In the end I think we were 2 or 3 weeks over. But very good point about the insurance. 
 

[Scholar Gypsy]

CRT licence terms and conditions "The Boat must always comply with Boat Safety Scheme requirements"

Section 6:  https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/original/43943-general-terms-and-conditions-for-boat-licenses-june-2021-searchable-file.pdf

Prompted by my recent full survey, I finally got round to strapping the batteries down.  They have never moved an inch in 30 years, despite some quite rough water conditions....

Edited October 25, 2023 by Scholar Gypsy

[David Mack]

12 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Bit of a rat's nest of wiring there! And uncovered terminals.

[Tracy D'arth]

3 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Bit of a rat's nest of wiring there! And uncovered terminals.

And lots of thin wires connected directly to batteries with no immediate fuses. Where are the 30 odd isolator switches that you need to isolate that lot?

[Mike Adams]

The main problem is you have a live terminal close to the steel weedhatch cover which could easily short out if you were removing the cover in a hurry. I thought they all had to have an insulating cover to prevent such things happening but maybe I have misread the rules.

[Scholar Gypsy]

Thanks for the comments. There is (of course) a cover that fits on top of the lot, to avoid shorting. The thin wires connect to a battery charger (not in use now I have solar), and a sulphator. There are a number of fuses just out of shot (eg for the Smartgauge, solar, and bilge pump).

[Mike Todd]

1 hour ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

CRT licence terms and conditions "The Boat must always comply with Boat Safety Scheme requirements"

Section 6:  https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/original/43943-general-terms-and-conditions-for-boat-licenses-june-2021-searchable-file.pdf

Prompted by my recent full survey, I finally got round to strapping the batteries down.  They have never moved an inch in 30 years, despite some quite rough water conditions....

Strangely that only demands a compliance with the Scheme but not a current certificate!

[Scholar Gypsy]

Just now, Mike Todd said:

Strangely that only demands a compliance with the Scheme but not a current certificate!

That's a tougher test. For example if you make a modification to your boat there is no requirement to get a new certificate, but the work still has to be done in a way that maintains scheme compliance.

[MtB]

7 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

Strangely that only demands a compliance with the Scheme but not a current certificate!

 

Maybe that's because compliance with the scheme is no guarantee of getting a certificate. As one or two posters on here can evidence. 

 

 

[Momac]

A brief update

The BSS exam was completed today. No changes relevant to the BSS have bee made to the boat since last time. The (almost) 4 years since the previous BSS test has gone very fast.

The fee is £220 which is a bit more than I had anticipated but nothing unusual in that.

At least it has passed with no expense on modifications or upgrades and with no comments.

 

[peterboat]

26 minutes ago, Momac said:

A brief update

The BSS exam was completed today. No changes relevant to the BSS have bee made to the boat since last time. The (almost) 4 years since the previous BSS test has gone very fast.

The fee is £220 which is a bit more than I had anticipated but nothing unusual in that.

At least it has passed with no expense on modifications or upgrades and with no comments.

 

Mine is tomorrow at 1230 180 squids in my case

[Momac]

34 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Mine is tomorrow at 1230 180 squids in my case

That's a good price.

 

For me this was the third BSS on the same boat by this  surveyor. 

 

Will you attend during the exam ?

I prefer not to be present and have never attended a BSS exam. 

I used to do house surveys and always thought the presence of the owner a distraction.

 

[peterboat]

2 hours ago, Momac said:

That's a good price.

 

For me this was the third BSS on the same boat by this  surveyor. 

 

Will you attend during the exam ?

I prefer not to be present and have never attended a BSS exam. 

I used to do house surveys and always thought the presence of the owner a distraction.

 

I will be present I know the examiner as a friend,  he is fair but safe which is what the BSS is about. He also can offer good advice which is invaluable 

[Naughty Cal]

11 hours ago, Momac said:

That's a good price.

 

For me this was the third BSS on the same boat by this  surveyor. 

 

Will you attend during the exam ?

I prefer not to be present and have never attended a BSS exam. 

I used to do house surveys and always thought the presence of the owner a distraction.

 

We had 3 tests done on NC all by different surveyors. (Boston Marina, Geordies at Langrick and Ian Lumley at BW)

 

Never had a problem with them. 

 

We were never present for any of the tests, but we were always within the locality for if a trivial item needed attending too that could be done there and then.

Edited April 17 by Naughty Cal

[blackrose]

12 hours ago, Momac said:

Will you attend during the exam ?

I prefer not to be present and have never attended a BSS exam. 

I used to do house surveys and always thought the presence of the owner a distraction.

 

 

I'm always there - occasionally I learn something. Last year I paid £170 so I'm going to try to get maximum value out of it.  My most recent examiner was happy for me to follow him around. I do my best not to ask too many questions or get in the way, but if an examiner found my presence a distraction that's his problem - it's my boat and my home he's inspecting and I'm paying his wages. 

 

Also, last time the inspector told me that the flexible fuel line feeding the Webasto I'd installed wasn't compliant, but I assured him it was and I found the ISO number on the back of the hose which I read out to him. (Yes I should have installed it with the number facing forward so it could be easily seen). He then changed his mind and said he'd never seen a proper fuel hose that thin. So sometimes it is worth being there so you can show an inspector a new installation or show a new inspector how to access something. 

Edited April 17 by blackrose

[LadyG]

I've got my BSC examination this week, I fear I don't have enough labels

I don't know where they have gone!

I cant find the info on the 192 page document, well, got to about p9 and gave up.

Can I just write out a few labels on sticky back paper, there was mention of Dymo embossed tape not being acceptable for some applications.

I could write

Battery isolators below

Fuel cut off below

LPG 

 

Do the DC circuit breakers need to be individually identified, there are a lot of them!

I have three battery banks, Starter, Domestic, Bow, do these need to be  identified. There are other isolators, (maybe relays) do these need to be identified individually.?

The Gas Locker has lost its label, does it need to be weatherproof, its outside.

I will remove non gas stuff from gas locker, the bottles are chained. 

I think the fire extinguishers are OK.

 

[blackrose]

Yes you can just stick on some labels and tell him they're just temporary until you can get some proper labels. The cheapest way to permanently label them is probably a plant labelling printer that gardeners use. The labels are for exterior use so waterproof. Have a look on Amazon.

 

You only need one label for the battery isolators if they're all in the same place, but if there's a battery bank at the bow that will need its own label. 

 

I'm not sure if all the DC circuit switches have to be identified and labelled? Just put one label on the board saying DC circuit isolators.

 

Diesel filler needs to be labelled too.

Edited May 26 by blackrose

[ditchcrawler]

58 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I've got my BSC examination this week, I fear I don't have enough labels

I don't know where they have gone!

I cant find the info on the 192 page document, well, got to about p9 and gave up.

Can I just write out a few labels on sticky back paper, there was mention of Dymo embossed tape not being acceptable for some applications.

I could write

Battery isolators below

Fuel cut off below

LPG 

 

Do the DC circuit breakers need to be individually identified, there are a lot of them!

I have three battery banks, Starter, Domestic, Bow, do these need to be  identified. There are other isolators, (maybe relays) do these need to be identified individually.?

The Gas Locker has lost its label, does it need to be weatherproof, its outside.

I will remove non gas stuff from gas locker, the bottles are chained. 

I think the fire extinguishers are OK. 

 

Were they not fixed on for the last BSS inspection?

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

I've got my BSC examination this week,

 

 

Surely you knew (you've had 4 years notice) that it was going to happen this week, it's  not as if it has come as a surprise.

 

Anyway - you can buy a self adhesive set of BSS labels on Ebay for a 'few pounds', but you may have left it a bit late.

 

 

 

Edited May 26 by Alan de Enfield

[Tracy D'arth]

Written on the wall/cover/deck with a felt tip pen will pass inspection.