RCD FOR RACING BOATS

[ROCKETSHIP_11]

Advice please, I am looking to purchase a sydney 36 cruiser racer from An****a
the boat is 1998 Australian built and UK registered since new, I have asked the broker if the boat is CE marked, he says racing boats are exempt from RCD I ask him if he has any official Documentation to back up his statement he gives me a vague answer, this model is currently being sold new in the EU so the necessary Docs should exist to CE mark it, I want the boat but what should I do, any extra expense or hassle is unwelcome.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Cantata]

Depends when in 1998 it was sold. If before June 1st (I think!!) then RCD was not then in force and it would not have had to be CE marked (I have an early 1998 Moody, it has a CE mark but, again, didn't have to).
Statement about racing boats is twaddle IMHO.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[flaming]

Can't see the logic behind the racing boat thing, and never heard of it either. What about cruiser racers? Does a first 40.7 count as a racer or a cruiser? How about a Xyacht?
Suspect that could be "salesman's logic".

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[gjeffery]

Racing boats are excluded from the RCD - but must be "intended solely for racing for racing", whatever that means. Eg, is a Moth excluded but not a Wanderer?

==================================================

Excluded products
4. The following are not products for the purposes of these Regulations—


(a) craft intended solely for racing, including rowing racing boats and training rowing boats labelled as such by the manufacturer;



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[gjeffery]

If it is a Cruiser/Racer, then it is not solely for racing, and requires RCD classification. But I have yet to find out what a boat intended solely for racing looks like.

I have a number of difficulties with the RCD, not leat, the extent to which it is permitted to modify a boat that is coded, or which is exempt, without incurring the need to recode. Asking these questions of Trading Standards is a fun, but unfair sport! In retrospect, I wish that I had indsisted that they put their (incorrect) advice in writing!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jamesjermain]

To sum up: racing boats can be exempt but it is very unlikely this one would be. I don't know the model so can't be categorical.

If it was in the EU before 1 June 1998 it is also exempt but you must have proof. If after it may be in this country illegally so give it a miss.

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ

 

[Stemar]

Ask Ancasta to put their money where their mouth is and accept responsibility (in writing) for any lossses you incur if she's not RCD exempt. They won't, of course, but it could be entertaining.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[kingfisher]

On racing boats

Comments on the RCD directive, edition 2004:
"The exclusion in (a) concerns craft intended solely for racing and designated as such by their builder. These include rowing racing boats and boats intended for rowing training that are designed exclusively for racing. Some racing boats are by their very design so extreme in their racing profile that they could in no way be examined against the requirements of the directive. It is these designs for which this exclusion was drafted. In the remaining majority of craft, examination against the requirements of the directive could be feasible. That said, a manufacturer who decides, as it is his decision, to label the boat ‘intended solely for racing’ is demonstrating the intended prime purpose of the boat to compete adequately
with other boats (perhaps employing minimalist internal fittings). Such a labelling should be clearly visible when affixed to the boat. If, in the future, this boat is placed on the EEA market not as a racing boat, perhaps because the design
is no longer competitive, the boat then falls under the requirements of the directive as this would constitute the ‘first placing on the market’ as a recreational craft."

SO:
1. Ancasta clearly has to provide a statement by the mftr or temselves (they are the importer) that the craft is intended solely for the purpose of racing
2. You will run into problems if you try to sell it afterwards, where you might be responsible for the CE-compliance


<hr width=100% size=1>Group of people on the pontoon: skipper is the one with the toolbox.
http://sirocco31.tripod.com

 

[kingfisher]

On modifications

Guide to the New Approach (Blue Guide), 2003 edition:
Products which have been repaired (for example following a defect), without changing the original performance, purpose or type, are not to be considered as new products according to New Approach directives. Thus, such products
need not undergo conformity assessment, whether or not the original product was placed on the market before or after the directive entered into force. This applies even if the product has been temporarily exported to a third county for
the repair operations. Such operations are often carried out by replacing a defective or worn item by a spare part, which either is identical, or at least similar, to the original spare part (for example modifications may have taken place due
to technical progress, or discontinued production of the old part). Thus, maintenance operations are basically excluded.

SO:
1. Replacing one worn out part by a similar part: no need for re-certification
2. Making considerable changes, whereby you change the risk evaluation (changing a cast iron keel to a lead, changing to a carbon rig), could endanger the builder's CE-marking. It will not make the product illegal, it's just that the original builders' responsability is void. Bigger problems are encountered with re-enginening, ever since the change to the RCD concerning environmental exhaust regulations.

<hr width=100% size=1>Group of people on the pontoon: skipper is the one with the toolbox.
http://sirocco31.tripod.com

 

[dwatson]

Is this what was called a BH36 when they were initially brought into the UK? If so it was Geoff Howison (the BH stands for Bashford Howison) who imported a number of them primarily to Scotland and may even have owned this boat himself. He may be contactable through the Clyde Cruising club or the Clyde Yacht Clubs Association. He should at least be able to confirm exactly when the boat came into the country.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jonjo]

If this is the Ancaster IOW example, then their description of the yacht as a "cruiser racer" sinks the RCD theory.

From the external picture it looks like a nice middle of the road design but extreme racing machine that could not be assessed against RCD criteria, I think not.

<hr width=100% size=1>