B.S.S

[Dave1258]

To obtain a current Boat Safety Scheme Certificate, the inspector said all I needed to get is an under engine drip tray.
My question is what would the learned panel consider to be an acceptable item?

Ta in adv. Regards Dave

<hr width=100% size=1>Someday my ship will come in, and with my luck I'll be at the airport!!

 

[sailorman]

how qualified is the inspector.
i cant rember the whole defenition of an EX-pert.
but those "who can" do & those "that cant" teach
good sailing / mo boating

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[Strathglass]

From memory you just need a container under the engine/gearbox to catch any drips and stop them mixing with the bilge water.
I would think that a metal tray for cooking a turkey may suffice if it was adequately secured.

Seriously however, the complete BSS spec is available on the wab and it will detail what is required.

Iain

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[Dave1258]

Inspection carried out by a Marine Surveyor who holds a M.I.I.M.S....whatever that is!
The report has come back saying that if a B.S.S. is to be applied for, then this would be the only point that would need adressing, ( I think this is a river thing but I'm not entirely sure).
So as Ian has kindly suggested a roasting tin or similar, velcroed to the hull under the engine would suffice?


<hr width=100% size=1>Someday my ship will come in, and with my luck I'll be at the airport!!

 

[Bejasus]

I know Seamasters are older boats, but <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.seamasterclub.org/magazine/magazines/issue112/engine_trays.pdf>this</A> may prove a suitable alternative measure. It's how I have mine. It would work just as well with a sterdrive, you just can't have a bilge pump in that area.

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[Dave1258]

Thanx h00, but that's where I hit another snag, 2 bilge pumps and a thru hull transducer fitted under engine!
Thinking of fabricating a Drawer type arrangement, a sliding tray in two lengths of channelling mounted on each side. Like an oven shelf sort of thing.

<hr width=100% size=1>Someday my ship will come in, and with my luck I'll be at the airport!!

 

[Steve Clayton]

Kitchen type drip tray sounds O.K.

Talk to SWMBO re Lakeland Plastics who do all sorts of sizes of tray!

You might also want to get the "pillow" that in the event of a leak soaks up oil. All swindlers do them. Want it MUCH cheaper then find your nearest "Pirtek" via the web - they do 18" squares of the "soak up oil" material for about a £1 (and they are one of the suppliers approved by the Environment Agency to clear up environmental spillages).

All this info care of someone who was motor cruising on the river Thames for years and went through the B.S.S. trauma and now has a boat with a big stick, rags, and bits of string!

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[PGD]

I had this problem with my old V6 the drip tray was a section of grp in a tray, the regs say it has to hold the capacity of the engine oil, which make it quite large.

Any bilge pumps have to site out side of this container so they don't pump oil into the water.

My new engine an AD31p can't fit a try underneath it, so my bilge area become the container for the oil and my bilge pumps has to site outside of that but below the two bearers the engine sites on.

I know before you say it, but oil is lighter than water so if I had a leak the oil would still get pumped out into the water - this will be an interesting point as I have my BSS to again do this year.

Peter


<hr width=100% size=1>Complete the Consumer Survey <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mssa.org.uk>http://www.mssa.org.uk</A> Marine Service Standards Assistance

 

[Trevethan]

Have the same promblem wwith the damned BSS.. except thee gap between bilge and engine is so small I get get an oven tray in there... I think I will either have to seal the under engine bilge area, but sinc the enging ids so huge most of the bilge will be lost to oil catcching.... the other option is going to be aluminium foil trays that can deform to fit them, but these would need stiffening.. we have a oil sponge already and when we clear out the seep from the stern gland it is completely clear....

I hate the BSS.. The rules of gas are sensible, and stuff like fire extinguishers, but thee is so much other BS in it that might bde fine for a river/canal boat, but just doesn't apply to boats intended for the sea -- the ventilation rules for example...


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[Steve Clayton]

Tend to agree that some aspects of B.S.S. are good practice and some aren't. My experience has been with river/canal and so my cruiser had to be licenced with the Environment Agency and you need the BSS certificate to get the licence. I'm not aware of any B.S.S. regs or details applying to craft outside of Environmental Agency licencing areas (ie tidal waters or sea going). B.S.S. made some serious errors in the early days (eg use of multi-strand wiring for mains on board and then changing the regs so that single strand was acceptable).

What makes a difference so I found was the reasonableness of the examiner as to what he thought was sensible - there was no way I could get a drip tray under my engine on the crusier so the examiner suggested/insisted I use the oil soak up sheets and told me where to get them.

I also needed a gas take off test point; the regs say it needs to be as close to the cooker as possible. The inspector suggested I fit it in the gas locker (12' away from the cooker) but it was his opinion that there was no point in introducing potential leak points in the main saloon area.



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[lanason]

I had the same problem - The requirements are that the drip tray must be made of a "marine grade" material and not plastic. It must be 4" high and be under the engine. The reason is to stop Oil being pumped into the river.

HOWEVER there is a simple solution - I determined that my bilge IS the drip tray and the Bilge pump is thus mounted 4" above the bilge bottom - using the logic that if there was 4" of fluid then the drip tray would flood anyway.

This was acceptable and i got my BSS. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif.

<hr width=100% size=1>Adrian <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/kelisha>Kelisha</A> I never snub anyone accidentally

 

[TonyBrooks]

I do not understand the complications this thread is producing, unless you all have wooden boats or unless your engines are sat on pads rather than beds - even then the problem is solvable.

I assume the transducer will not be unduely troubled by oil on the outside.

Every GRP, inland boat I have delt with has used the beds for the sides of the tray and then wooden uprights are glassed in to form the ends of the tray. Theer can be a problem with very low prop shafts, but then taht satys in the "tray" as well and you take care over disposal - or run your gland just at the "no leak" point of tightness (stainless shafts only).

Steel - weld the ends in as described.

Wood - can still be done, but teh engine has to come out to glass up the insides of the beds and up the front and rear ends.

GRP with engine on pads. Fit wooden sides outside the pads and fit end pieces, then glass them to the hull.


What have I missed?

Tony Brooks

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[lanason]

If we followed the ventalation rule to the letter then the boat would sink at sea.

As BSS Inspectors are allowed to use comon sence depending upon the design of the boat, the Cabin windows are classed as ventilation and have to have stickers on them to that effect - and must be open at all times when on the river. Quite classy actually - but not very areodynamic.

<hr width=100% size=1>Adrian <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/kelisha>Kelisha</A> I never snub anyone accidentally

 

[Trevethan]

We moor our boat in Limehouse on the Thames downstream of Tower Bridge-- buts its owned by BW so all boats there need a BSS.....

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[Trevethan]

Lifting my engine, a one tonne four cylinder lister, would entail a very big hole in the pilot house roof for the crane, and removal and rebuilding of the piklot house deck beams so not really a solution

I could box in under the engine, but the engine is almost as long as the main bilge, so if I seal it water would fill the remaining space very quickly and slop into the sealed area, which would then have to be carefully removed etec etc... Its not as easy as you make out, especially for older seagoing vessels!

Add to all this access to the area is very tight so doing any work is a nightmare!

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[Dave1258]

What really pi$$es me off on this issue is the fact that the sump on my engine is snuff dry. I take pride in my boat, the engine is polished the sump is polished! and you can eat yer dinner off the bilge floor, there is not one drop of oil any where!

<hr width=100% size=1>Someday my ship will come in, and with my luck I'll be at the airport!!

 

[PGD]

Even before my refit mine was much the same, insurance assessor made particular note of that. Now it's as you describe, but at least the surveyor that will do my BSS is a fellow boat owner and has plenty of common, so I don't envisage many problems.

Peter

<hr width=100% size=1>Complete the Consumer Survey <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mssa.org.uk>http://www.mssa.org.uk</A> Marine Service Standards Assistance