CE seaworthiness rating
The Recreational Craft Directive (official name Directive 2013/53 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ) is an EU standard that aims to guarantee uniform standards for the safety of watercraft that are put into circulation in the member states.
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With the introduction of the CE mark , watercraft that are used within the European Economic Area in sport and recreational boating were also subjected to so-called "harmonized" rules.
The EU Recreational Craft Directive was implemented in Germany by the Tenth Ordinance on the Product Safety Act (Ordinance on Recreational Crafts and Personal Watercraft - 10th ProdSV) and applies to recreational craft that were built after June 15, 1998 or were first marketed in the EU be put into operation. It also applies to their required fixed on-board equipment and items of equipment. The recreational craft directive does not apply to boats used in commercial shipping. Here are classification societies responsible.
There are four design categories A to D . Category A contains the highest requirements and must be met by boats that can also get into bad weather, while categories C and D are primarily intended for coastal traffic or inland waters. The categories are defined by specific limit values for wind strength (in Beaufort) and wave height (in meters). The CE classification (category) must be clearly visible in the boat in the area of the steering position. It gives the boat operator an orientation as to the weather conditions in which he can safely move the boat. The naming of the categories according to the distance to the coast - A for high seas , B for outside coastal waters , C for coastal waters and D for protected waters - was abolished in the revised version of the guideline from 2013 (valid since 2016) because the behavior of swell and wind does not necessarily correlate with the distance to the coast, but more essentially with the geographical latitude and the season.
Design categories
The seaworthiness of the pleasure craft is divided into four categories, identified by the letters A to D. These are assigned wind strengths and wave heights which the watercraft must safely withstand when fully loaded. The manufacturer of a sports boat must declare its classification in the corresponding category at the latest at the time of placing it on the market. Every component installed in the boat must also comply with the directive.
| category | Wind force ( Beaufort ) | Significant wave height | description |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. | over 8 | over 4 m | Designed for long journeys in which weather conditions with a wind force of over 8 (Beaufort scale) and significant wave heights of over 4 m can occur (e.g. in the high seas) and which these boats can largely survive on their own, but only extreme weather conditions ( e.g. hurricanes ). |
| B. | up to and including 8 | up to and including 4 m | Designed for trips in which weather conditions with a wind force of up to and including 8 and wave heights of up to and including 4 m can occur (e.g. outside of coastal waters). |
| C. | up to and including 6 | up to and including 2 m | Designed for journeys in which weather conditions with a wind force of up to and including 6 and wave heights of up to and including 2 m can occur (e.g. in coastal waters, large bays, estuaries, lakes and rivers). |
| D. | up to and including 4 | up to and including 0.3 m | Designed for trips in which weather conditions with a wind force of up to and including 4 and significant wave heights of up to and including 0.3 m and occasionally wave heights of maximum 0.5 m, for example due to ships passing by, can occur (e.g. in protected coastal waters, small Bays, on small lakes, narrow rivers and canals). |
Sometimes a number is listed after the letter. This is the maximum number of people permitted for the relevant driving area. If necessary, this is followed by further letter-number combinations. “A6B7C10D12” would be a ship with which 6 people can safely sail across the high seas. When the sea area becomes safer, more people will be allowed to travel.
In addition to the hull and, in the case of sailing ships, the rigging, the rest of the equipment must also be able to withstand high waves and wind strengths undamaged. In categories A and B there is usually a bunk for each person , because these ships are intended for trips lasting several weeks or at least several days without stopping. The CE marking also indicates which safety equipment is to be provided for the ship. For example, on ships of categories A and B and on ships of category C and D with a length of more than 6 meters, a storage space for a life raft must be provided. The locations of the fire extinguishers must also be specified by the manufacturer of the sport boat, unless they are already included in the delivery. Multihull boats prone to capsizing must have an emergency exit in the bottom.
The seaworthiness classification with regard to the range of stability and the capsizing angle is largely determined on the basis of theoretical values calculated on the computer. The actual values may differ for a specific boat, in particular due to the load or the differences between planning and execution. The classification alone is not sufficient for seaworthiness and especially seaworthiness . The owner and the skipper are responsible for ensuring that the ship and its equipment are and will remain in a seaworthy condition for the intended voyage. This includes regular maintenance of the ship and its safety equipment as well as training and education of the crew. The guarantee that a ship meets the requirements of category A primarily concerns the ship itself and not the crew or their life on board. Many popular ship models today are built with a focus on comfort, which may limit the actual suitability under heavy sea conditions, because an open, wide saloon, for example, offers fewer opportunities to hold on. An inexperienced crew may also get seasick in bad weather , do n't know how to handle storm sails, or panic spreads. Significant dangers of the sea exist regardless of the area and the size of the ship - navigation errors can lead to a stranding regardless of the ship and the traffic volume is higher near the coast, so that collisions are more likely.
The seaworthiness of ships that are not required to be equipped (in Germany all yachts only used privately) is not regularly checked, neither with regard to the ship nor the crew. In the event of an average, however , the owner or the skipper must expect consequences if negligence is proven.
The CE directive also places particular emphasis on the safety of engines and their operating materials. Petrol (gasoline) is highly flammable and highly volatile and can thus in a closed vessel hull a significant risk represent. Engine compartments for gasoline engines must therefore be well ventilated and provided with effective fire extinguishing agents. Diesel fuel is much less dangerous in this respect, which is why the inboard engines of displacement hulls (including almost all sailing ships) are almost exclusively diesel engines. At the same time, the directive also issues the associated exhaust emission regulations .
For each ship, the manufacturer must provide a manual for the skipper (owner's manual) and, if necessary, an engine maintenance manual in a language that the end customer can understand.
Exceptions
Some types of boat are exempt from the labeling requirement. This includes:
- Self-build (as long as they are not sold for a period of five years)
- historical watercraft with a design date before 1950
- Racing and training boats
- Surfboards
- Canoes and kayaks
- Pedal boats and gondolas
- Jet skis (if they were first placed on the EU market before 2006 - Directive 2003/44 / EC)
- Hovercraft
- Hydrofoils
Boats that were already registered in the scope of the standard before 1995 are also exempt from the labeling requirement, even if they are sold within the scope of application. However, the marking is required for imports into the European Economic Area , regardless of the age of the ships. For example, the importation of boats built in the USA into Europe is sometimes associated with great effort.
Web links
- Directive 2013/53 / EU (PDF)of November 20, 2013