Get in trouble with BSS certificate. Need help

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Boater On Thames

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Dear Mates,

My 41 feet boat just had a BSS exam but found a big trouble. That is the two diesel fuel tanks are under the aft carbine. There is no full access can see and touch the whole tanks. We can only see a little part of the tanks now. That means I have to remove the whole floor, the bed and the whol bethroom in the aft carbine to show the tanks and hoses underneath. This sounds like a big project to me! Any idea? Any advice appreciated.
 
I don't know. But looks like the standard requires full access to the tanks. The examiner said he needs to see and can touch the whole tanks, all the fitting and all the fuel hoses from the filling point throughout the tanks and the engines.

Do you guys' boat can see and touch the whole fuel tank, all the fitting and all the fuel hoses? I have no idea.
 
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Thank you mate. The tanks' material clearly confirmed that is aluminium alloy by the examiner. Through the only viewable small protection of the tank. It looks clean, free of any signs.
 
I had to lift part of the cockpit floor to show the tops of the tanks the pipework needed securing with clips fixed to hardwood that I epoxyed in place. The examiner wanted to see the rating and condition of the filling pipes and the Eberspacher fuel hose had to conform to the new standards.
 
Yes, everything is ok. The transport company give me a reasonable price which is £1,500+vat because they have the return load. We unload her at Shepperton Marina because Penton Hook is not available at that time.
 
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Well done, did you get her home or are you on the hardstanding? I ask because if she's out of the water at Shepperton I'm concerned to know how they've supported the hull.
 
Forget the top its the bottom.

Lucas Gan said:
Thank you mate. The tanks' material clearly confirmed that is aluminium alloy by the examiner. Through the only viewable small protection of the tank. It looks clean, free of any signs.
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An unfortunate design fault in many US produced boats is the habit of glassing in and making it almost impossible to inspect the condition of fuel and water tanks.Although many UK boats are not without this problem.
The newer the boat the more acute the problem.
Aluminum is also not without its drawbacks as a tank material.It neeeds oxygen to protect itself. ????
Once owned a Regal with alloy fuel tank.Tank was laid directly on top of the hull stringers with layer of felt to help reduce vibration ?.
Entire void was then filled with foam and glassed in.This would has been fine in the desert heat of Arizona but in damp old UK the felt/ and foam absorbed and held bilge water resulting in the bottom panel of the tank corroding and leaking fuel into the bilge.
Floor had to be ground out , foam removed and tank extracted then repaired.
History of problems with tanks.
Glassfibre eventually dissolves, steel rusts and stainless fractures.Alloy usually develops a myriad of pin holes.
A simple and cheap repair if tank is removed and "tray" in welded in underneath.
Forget the tales about tanks exploding any outfit who knows their stuff can sort it safely and suprisingly economically.
Mine was fixed by a local company who fabricate fuel tanks for racing cars.
 
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Re: Forget the top its the bottom.

Good news! The marine engineer came just now. He found the inspection points and open it up already. What a smart guy! There are just some hatches under the bed, the wardrobe, the carpet, and on the wall which I didn't know before! Thank GOD! Looks like no need to remove the floor or any fixture. A happy day!
 
Re: Forget the top its the bottom.

Well that's a result. You couldn't contemplate taking the boat apart every time a BSS was required. Strange though that the BSS examiner didn't immediately look for and locate inspection access points.
 
Re: Forget the top its the bottom.

ms1 said:
Well that's a result. You couldn't contemplate taking the boat apart every time a BSS was required. Strange though that the BSS examiner didn't immediately look for and locate inspection access points.
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simply not economic for the BSS inspector to waste his time investigating and discovering all the nooks and crannies in order to gain access to the stuff he needs to see......Thats the owners responsibility, skipper should know his own boat and dismantle to expose anything not in plain sight, before the guy even arrives in the car park .
It supposed to be a basic and simple £100.00 ? safety check possibly including a cup of tea , not a half day discovery survey costing seven times as much ?
 
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Re: Forget the top its the bottom.

It went up last year. I think I paid around £240 for a 31ft boat with easy access and all the necessary panels removed in advance.
 
Actionmat said:
It went up last year. I think I paid around £240 for a 31ft boat with easy access and all the necessary panels removed in advance.
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I don't think there is a fixed price for the surveyors inspection nor any particular relationship with boat size. But the cost the surveyor has to pay to the BSS for each certificate did go up.
 
It was part funded or subsidised but no more. The examiner has to earn a living and he was very helpful, drew me a couple of diagrams showing just what I had to do to bring a 1970 boat up to today's standards. But it can be a bloody expensive process. Everything is going up apart from wages and that's not good news for Thames Boating.
 
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