True or false

[PaulGooch]

Posted on another forum today, how much of the following is true and how much is incorrect ?

Obviously you've never been in French waters. Carrying a black cone & ball on your boat is mandatory there.

You can be trailing a boat with a British car, & the gendarmes stop you. On the road. You have to have (with you) a minimum of your ICC, your (minimum 3rd party) insurance, your title (small ships registration is sufficient), flares, extinguisher, life jackets for however many people there are in your towing vehicle, nav. lights and a black ball & cone. Fail on any, and the boat & trailer are impounded.

If you're on the water, the same applies except for impounding the trailer, but you have to pay the mooring charges whilst you get the paperwork in order. The equivalent of the RNLI in France is the Gendarmerie Marine - civil servants - and they have teeth and don't hesitate to bite.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Posted on another forum today, how much of the following is true and how much is incorrect ?

Unless it's changed in the last few years we were inspected at least 3 times over 4 months and not once asked to show our anchor ball or show them life jackets.

However they are keen on ICC, VHF cert, insurance details, boat registration documents.

 

[landlockedpirate]

The engine fell out of the Discovery on the way through France while towing the boat.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the French could not have been more helpful. No demands for documents or inspections, just help, advice and the Gendarms even got hold of my brother who was 10 miles down the road to let him know what was going on.

Even if you were asked for any of the equipment mentioned, I would expect most people to be carrying it anyway.

 

[PaulGooch]

But how many of the items listed are actually legal requirements in France ? Would you even be required to carry them if the boat was on a trailer ?

You might just be passing through France to another country, where any of the above wasn't a requirement (assuming some are in France).

I do know that the ICC is not a requirement for French coastal waters.

 

[Wiggo]

Can't quite see why a motoring cone would be a requirement on a trailered mobo, either...

 

[Locki]

France has similar rules for cars... I don't know anyone that's been asked to show their spare pair of spectacles

 

[MoodySabre]

The French lifeboat service is the Societe Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer (SNSM).

Gendarmerie Maritime are police.