RCD wanted

[narrowboatmick]

I am selling my narrowboat,I bought it as a sailaway and ive fitted it out and has a 4 years sefety cert and its under 2 years old,how much does an RCD cost and what are the options for doing it myself.I have someone interested in the boat but the marine mortgage people who they are dealing with want this certificate,thanks,mick.

[Ally]

Please use the search option top right of the page to search for the many other threads about this, one very recent.

An RCD is not just a certificate but a whole way of building and fitting a boat. You will need a specialised marine surveyor to do this, or, with lots of research and work, you could do it yourself, but as always it is worrying you were not aware of it when you were doing it.

Good luck

 

You cannot legally sell yet without an RCD by the way, though the BSSC you have should show you are some way towards it.

[narrowboatmick]

Thanks Ally,ive tried many times with the search box but nothing comes up,I did find some thing on google though.The building and fitting of the boat are fine and I was aware of the 5 year "rule" with the sale of the narrowboat, however I wasnt expecting to sell it within 5 years,thanks, mick

[Ally]

ah right...the unexpected eh?

Find yourself a qualified surveyor...not the cheapest route but the easiest and quickest!

[narrowboatmick]

ah right...the unexpected eh?

Find yourself a qualified surveyor...not the cheapest route but the easiest and quickest!

A surveyer? Thanks Ally I will look some up locally and get a few quotes,Mick.

[rjasmith]

This seems to be coming up quite a bit lately!

 

If you need a good overview of what the RCD involves, try this link to Canal Junction here.

 

I know what you mean about the CWDF search facility but as Ally says, it has come up before and a good recent thread is here.

 

As to how difficult/expensive it will be to prove RCD compliance on your boat now it is finished will depend on whether you kept comprehensive records of what you did when you built it.

 

A surveyor will want to go through the boat checking all manner of things but it could help him if you have some sort of file to go through as well.

 

Another way might be to use a company like CE-Craft that other CWDF members seem to like.

 

Their website is here

 

I haven't used either of these methods and am trying to do it the hard way by going through the ISO standards myself and doing all my own documentation. The cheapest way but MUCH more time consuming!

 

I can see it could be very difficult to have to work backwards when you've already built the boat without knowing what the requirements were! The BSS doesn't cover all aspects of the RCD unfortunately.

 

Richard

[dor]

A lot of the RCD documentation is listing all the things that the boat complies with.

It's a question of knowing what to include.

 

One route is to borrow one from someone else and go through and copy it, amending the bits that are relevant to the boat. This is only an option if you have a good understanding of what the RCD is about, and you know the relevant details for your boat. Presumably you have the Annexe III, which will be part of it.

 

You are perfectly entitled to self-certify the RCD, but if a purchaser finds something wrong you are liable to prosecution.

 

A surveyor will charge about £400 - £500 to do it for you, providing you have all the information in an easily understood format.

 

To anyone else fitting out a boat: I would do an RCD anyway, even if you intend keeping it for 5 years; it covers you in nbmick's circumstances, but also if you sell in 6 or 7 years, a buyer will be happier if it has the full RCD (as will a finance company).

[Ally]

I quite agree with Dor, the best route is always to do a self build to RCD even if you don't intend selling, you never know if your circumstances will change. My very first build was a self build with my then partner....we thought then we would grow old together but things change unfortunately. We did RCD it anyway, and were very glad we did so when we inevitably had to sell the boat.

You just never know what can happen in 5 years................

[Bob18]

As one involved in certification in another industry, and considering doing a self build, I've only one thing to say.

 

The best way to get the certification right, first time is to put it together as you go along.

This way you spot the holes when they are simple (less expensive) to correct.

Which would you rather have - the welder and his mate check all the hull welds before the shell leaves the yard, or find a missing weld the day after you've launched?

 

 

As a comment, I've had a look at the demo for the CE-Craft RCD spreadsheet, it looks good, but, as others have stated, standards have a habit of being changed. So just be careful, don't blindly copy the magnificent sample, think about what's being asked and what's intended (the recent "debate" about gas pipes rings loud in my ears).

[narrowboatmick]

Thanks for all the advice,ive now got a few tel numbers to call and hopefully get it sorted.