Dutch canals - your advice please: ATIS, BPR, channel 31

[Alicatt]

Also if you have gas on board make sure your gas safety certificate is up to date, it is a requirement in The Netherlands, not required in Belgium at the moment.

There is a Dutch gas inspector coming to look over our boats at our yacht club in Belgium next month and issue certificates if they pass.

 

[Tradewinds]

Also if you have gas on board make sure your gas safety certificate is up to date, it is a requirement in The Netherlands, not required in Belgium at the moment.

There is a Dutch gas inspector coming to look over our boats at our yacht club in Belgium next month and issue certificates if they pass.

New one on me.

 

[Alicatt]

New one on me.

It was mentioned by one of the sailing instructors a few weeks ago, and it is why our yacht club is getting the Dutch inspector to come and inspect our boats, even in my slow boat I'm only a couple of hours from the Dutch waterways.
It is a regular thing to go to Maasseik, Maastricht, and to Roermond, though that for me is a full days sailing to get there.

I've had a quick scan of the Binnenvaart Politie Regelment and can't see a reference to it, it might be local regulations in certain places, my Dutch is ok but I'm still learning it so I may have picked it up wrong.

This is part of the notice we got, t

Dear Members,

In the context of the safety of gas installations on board yachts, contact was made with a Dutch inspection company from Eindhoven, which carries out the tests and issues the necessary certificates. This certificate is valid for 3 years and is especially important if you go sailing in the Netherlands where they dare to ask for this certificate in the marinas. You can also use this option if you are interested in the condition of your own gas installation, as such an inspection is not yet required in Belgium.

The cost price is Euro 90.00 (payable locally) per inspected gas installation and the issue of the certificate valid for 3 years.
The appointment would be made with the inspector in the spring.
If you are interested in participating in this inspection, please let the secretary know

Original text:
Beste Leden,

In het kader van veiligheid van gasinstallaties aan boord van jachten werd contact gelegd met een Nederlands keuringsbedrijf uit Eindhoven, die de testen uitvoert en de nodige attesten aflevert. Dit attest is 3 jaar geldig en is vooral belangrijk indien je in Nederland gaat varen waar ze in de jachthavens dit attest durven vragen. Deze mogelijkheid kan je ook benutten indien je zelf interesse hebt in de toestand van je eigen gasinstallatie gezien zulk een keuring in België nog niet gevraagd wordt.

De kostprijs bedraagt 90,00 Euro (ter plekke te betalen) per gekeurde gasinstallatie en het afleveren van het attest geldig voor 3 jaar.
De afspraak zou gemaakt worden met de keurder in het voorjaar.
Indien je interesse hebt om deel te nemen aan deze keuring, kan je je dit laten weten aan de secretaris

 

[Matwill]

i just installed a vhf on my boat and wanted to do a radio check to my clubhouse, i got no response, walked up to the harbour master who said, oh yeah we dont bother to turn on the radio because everyone uses a phone these days, get the waterkaartmap that gives phone numbers for every bridge and it will be all you need, also i have a handheld and a mounted vhf and have atis on both. I have never heard of a rule that atis shouldnt be used on handhelds, kinda defeats the purpose of an atis

 

[Plum]

The "problem" regarding hand held VHFs and ATIS has been mentioned several times in this thread. Here is my understanding.

Assuming you have a "Ship Radio Licence" and your registered fixed vhf has DSC and is ATIS capable your license will show your MMSI and ATIS identity numbers so if you press the DSC Distress button the emergency services know who you are and something about your boat. If you have ATIS enabled in the Netherlands and call a bridge the bridge keeper will be able to identify you and the type of boat you are on from your ATIS identity number.

Hand helds (HHs) can be added to your Ship Radio Licence.

Now, if you have a HH VHF with DSC you should have a totally seperate "Ship Portable Licence" with a totally seperate MMSI to the one for your "ship radio licence". This is because you could take this HH with DSC onto any boat and if you press the DSC Distress button the emergency services will know they should not waste time looking for a specific boat. Now, if you had ATIS enabled on this HH DSC radio then the Dutch bridge keeper, when you called, would not be able to identify the boat you were on which is why Ofcom will not give you an ATIS number for a HH with DSC as there is no international agreement to this.

Therefore, any HH VHF that is ATIS enabled and that you want to take to the Netherlands should be programmed with your Ship Radio Licence ATIS identifier number. If it is a DSC HH that you want to take then don't declare that it is and only use the DSC Distress button while on your own boat. (and, don't forget to disable ATIS before re-entering UK
waters)

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[Alicatt]

The "problem" regarding hand held VHFs and ATIS has been mentioned several times in this thread. Here is my understanding.

Assuming you have a "Ship Radio Licence" and your registered fixed vhf has DSC and is ATIS capable your license will show your MMSI and ATIS identity numbers so if you press the DSC Distress button the emergency services know who you are and something about your boat. If you have ATIS enabled in the Netherlands and call a bridge the bridge keeper will be able to identify you and the type of boat you are on from your ATIS identity number.

Hand helds (HHs) can be added to your Ship Radio Licence.

Now, if you have a HH VHF with DSC you should have a totally seperate "Ship Portable Licence" with a totally seperate MMSI to the one for your "ship radio licence". This is because you could take this HH with DSC onto any boat and if you press the DSC Distress button the emergency services will know they should not waste time looking for a specific boat. Now, if you had ATIS enabled on this HH DSC radio then the Dutch bridge keeper, when you called, would not be able to identify the boat you were on which is why Ofcom will not give you an ATIS number for a HH with DSC as there is no international agreement to this.

Therefore, any HH VHF that is ATIS enabled and that you want to take to the Netherlands should be programmed with your Ship Radio Licence ATIS identifier number. If it is a DSC HH that you want to take then don't declare that it is and only use the DSC Distress button while on your own boat. (and, don't forget to disable ATIS before re-entering UK
waters)

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

My Belgian ships radio licence has my fixed DSC/ATIS radio and the hand held DSC/ATIS radio both with the same MMSI and ATIS numbers for both radios


I see nothing in the Dutch radio regulations that a hand held radio has a separate call sign/ATIS or MMSI to the sheepsradiovergunning just that it has to have the ship's ATIS/MMSI if so equipped for DSC called a Combi Radio in the Dutch Regulations. There is no mention of a "Ships Portable Licence" like there is in the UK in either the Dutch or Belgian regulations, just that you have to have the proper operators certificate and the radio on the ships licence.
Dutch Radio Regulations wetten.nl - Regeling - Regeling gebruik van frequentieruimte met meldingsplicht 2015 - BWBR0036375

I cannot get deeper into the Dutch website as I'm not a Dutch citizen, they require you to log in with your rijksregister number.

The Netherlands has also adopted the VDES channels as of 1/1/2023 and all radios for use in Dutch territorial water should comply by 1/1/2024
Wijziging marifoonkanalen
The UK is one of the countries that want to delay the introduction of VDES

 

[ylop]

You may not pump sewage overboard, they are borderline psychotic in that respect.

I'm not sure why that is psychotic. Its debatable in the open sea, but in inland (or even inshore) waters its actually quite sensible. If you see the consequence of over "fertilisation" within the water Isjelmeer and its weed problem to see why they care. Speaking of which if the OP is headed that was he'll likely be interested in the "Waterplant Melder" app which provides near real time updates on the routes through the weed. Lovely area to cruise, very friendly harbours and harbour masters - don't expect any response on VHF unless you are probably so close you can use sign language anyway!

 

[Pye_End]

I'm not sure why that is psychotic. Its debatable in the open sea, but in inland (or even inshore) waters its actually quite sensible. If you see the consequence of over "fertilisation" within the water Isjelmeer and its weed problem to see why they care. Speaking of which if the OP is headed that was he'll likely be interested in the "Waterplant Melder" app which provides near real time updates on the routes through the weed. Lovely area to cruise, very friendly harbours and harbour masters - don't expect any response on VHF unless you are probably so close you can use sign language anyway!

Far from convinced boaters should burden the responsibility for this.
It's official guys, the Netherlands has the DIRTIEST water in Europe

 

[Alicatt]

Far from convinced boaters should burden the responsibility for this.
It's official guys, the Netherlands has the DIRTIEST water in Europe

Phew! At least they are not blaming Belgium

 

[DanTribe]

I believe we may be guilty of overthinking these problems.
1/ I have ATIS but seldom [never] felt the need to use my VHF in Nederlands inland waters. Marinas usually have a visitor or reporting pontoon usually with an intercom, locks and bridges often have these also but usually the lock keeper sees you coming and is prepared. Some marinas use red and green labels, Green for vacant, red for keep off.
2/ Sewage disposal, pump outs are becoming more available but still not universal. Our holding tank is small but lasts us about 4 days. A standby Portapotti is a reserve and takes up little locker space. The waterweed growth is problem. From Edam to Hoorn we had to turn the engine on and back up several times but still had huge amounts round the rudder and prop.
If there's any body of water, there will be Dutch people swimming.
3/ Some people complain about having to carry Wateralmanak 1. When you think that all locks and bridges are operated without charge and the bouyage is excellent, it's a small price to pay. The Dutch have to carry it, why should we be exempt?
4/ The gas regulations are new to me. Any more info?

 

[Alicatt]

I believe we may be guilty of overthinking these problems.
1/ I have ATIS but seldom [never] felt the need to use my VHF in Nederlands inland waters. Marinas usually have a visitor or reporting pontoon usually with an intercom, locks and bridges often have these also but usually the lock keeper sees you coming and is prepared. Some marinas use red and green labels, Green for vacant, red for keep off.
2/ Sewage disposal, pump outs are becoming more available but still not universal. Our holding tank is small but lasts us about 4 days. A standby Portapotti is a reserve and takes up little locker space. The waterweed growth is problem. From Edam to Hoorn we had to turn the engine on and back up several times but still had huge amounts round the rudder and prop.
If there's any body of water, there will be Dutch people swimming.
3/ Some people complain about having to carry Wateralmanak 1. When you think that all locks and bridges are operated without charge and the bouyage is excellent, it's a small price to pay. The Dutch have to carry it, why should we be exempt?
4/ The gas regulations are new to me. Any more info?

4/ No more info, will find out more next weekend when the guy comes to inspect the boats, but from what I understand is that it is some marinas in the Netherlands that are requiring it, still not a requirement in Belgium.

Lots of SUP paddlers in our local canals to watch out for