Boat and Boatmans licences

[scm]

Hi All,
Has anyone had the pleasure of being inspected and issued with the above by any of the Solent Harbour Masters Association?

Just got a letter from the New Forrest District Council stating that they can now issue the above licences.

Saves going down the MCA route but just as legal and above board.

Regards
Stuart

[tim griffin]

you still need all the kit with the exception of the liferaft then an annual inspection £158 approx boatmans license is £150 including medical approx(valid 3 years not same as commercial endorsement minimum of pb2 for day and advanced for night)
as long as you do not intend to go past the needles or the nab you can ply for hire in the Solent, as SOLENT classed as inland sheltered waters cat c/d
it is goverened by the habourmasters association and under the MCA
regards
tim
www.griffmarineservices.co.uk

[scm]

Thanks Tim,
Glad i bought that liferaft then!!
Yes i am only concerned with the solent, not bothered going outside of that.

Regards
Stuart

[Islander]

Quite right Stuart
You can now obtain a boatmans licence from New Forest District Council and local boat licensing as well.
The person to contact for boat licensing is Tony Hetherington on 02380 285449.
James Brooke at Advanced Yachting Lymington is the assessor for boatmans licences.01590 689191 or info@advancedyachting.com
If you have all the correct tickets and local knowledge of the Solent then at the assessors discretion he may grant an exemption to undertaking an exam.
From what I now understand, even if you are coded through the MCA and hold a commercially endorsed qualification, you still need a local boatmans licence to operate in the Solent and Southampton Waters if you are commericially chartering your vessel. You are operating under section 94 of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1907
If you know any different then please post. I am commercially endorsed but have also obtained an annual boatmans licence for operating in these waters.

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Islander

From what I now understand, even if you are coded through the MCA and hold a commercially endorsed qualification, you still need a local boatmans licence to operate in the Solent and Southampton Waters if you are commericially chartering your vessel.

I'm pretty certain that you need one or the other but not both.

Can anyone confirm either way?

John

[tim griffin]

it's either or
Solent classed as c/d waters so long as you stay in the Solent no problems
if you want to do round the Island or out past Needles or Nab then you must be MCA coded , for charter operators outside of the Solent they must be MCA coded bit tough on them, but its the way they classify the Solent
regards tim
www.griffmarineservices.co.uk

[scm]

My take on things, as someone who has been trying to sort this out for a while are:

1. Within the Solent you are within Cat C and D water as categorised by the MCA Inland waterways category. This is due to the Solent not being at sea.
2. To go down the coding route you must be commercially endorsed as part of your RYA qualifications.
3. If you only want to work in the Solent you can be licensed by the local council, those on the list now include mine, the New forest.
4. To be licensed you need the boatman’s license and your boat needs to be inspected. As an YM, Adv PBI, Dinghy Si with commercial endorsement this should!! Entitle me to an exemption (up to assuror)

The main point as far as I am concerned is the lack of needing a Liferaft, (having just bought one!!) because according to the council the boat could be used itself. This to me does make sense.

I believe if you want to go down the MCA inland waterways route you can and you would not need to license via the council. However, if you want to get the council to license you then you can and would need to get both the boat and yourself licensed.

I have found that it will be cheaper to go down the council route and as such will be following that route.

If anyone is interested further please drop me a line.

Regards
Stuart

[tim griffin]

most of the charter boats on the island are local authority licensed, reason being all of the charter work is Solent based ie Cowes week and other sailing/powerboating events, their is a huge market at these peak times and everyone is pretty fair in not poaching undercutting, most of the islanders stick together and put work each others way, with the exception of one, the MCA rib is around during these events and do check on you stopped twice last year, keeps the cowboy,s away which is good . i feel for the guys who are based outside of the Solent as they must be MCA coded to operate if you are around this summer give me a call never know may be some work around and i need a database of licensed/coded ribs as not got enough boats sometimes but not worth the expense of having a fleet for 10 weeks average charter work
regards
tim
www.griffmarineservices.co.uk

[David B]

You do require the license according to the coastguard in area
see advice on code compliance at

www.sheernesslifeboat.co.uk

http://www.seamanship.co.uk/login/statdefault.htm
Its useful stuff

David

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by David B

You do require the license according to the coastguard in area

Which licence?

I had my RIB licensed by Portsmouth City Council under the Public Health Acts (ie a local authority licence) a few years ago. Things may possibly have changed since, but at the time I didn't need a boatman's licence and the only requirement for the skipper was RYA level II.

For the record it was a 7.5m RIB, licensed for 12 pasengers and only required a crew of 1 (ie the skipper). The boat and my paperwork were inspected by the issuing officer, but no survey was required and no liferaft.

John

[tim griffin]

John is right
for a boatmans license you need pb2 for day work and advanced for night work for a boat license the boat is inspected and if aok license issued via the local authority for a max of 12 passengers you are getting confused with MCA yellow code
regards tim
www.griffmarineservices.co.uk

[mike]

I operate in cat D waters on the North Kent Coast.
There is a voluntary code which applies to these waters as until 4/2004 nothing other than local rules applied.
The code is the Inland Waters Small Passenger Boat Code.
This applies for commercial charter users in Cat a/b/c and d.

Be careful re assuming no liferaft required as in the event of a fire most boats may have to revert to plan B ie their raft. You will if the authority involved is switched on also be advised that in 4/2006 or during that year the "reccomendations" of the code will cease to be optional.

At present the code stresses the need for a risk assessment and unless you know for sure that your rib cannot have a serious fire you may find it difficult to justify not having one. This is a debatable point if you work in pairs.
Remember on those sunny days when it all goes well normally no worries emerge but if you find yourself involved in an incident the mere existance of an industry sourced mca code means that opt outs may have to be defended, in particular if clients were hurt etc.

One last thing , in 2006 or whenever the qualification to have will be boatmasters and at that time any diabetics be warned!! (but that is another story).

[Rogue Wave]

There re several places you can get a local license( Hamble, Portsmouth, Lymington). We run two coded boats and three on local tickets.

The liferaft rule seems to be that if your rib has Grab rails then it doesn't need a liferaft. I got my tickets from Portsmouth harbour master (pilots) do the inspections and are very thorough. Costs 80 quid and is good for a year. Overall I think coding is about 40 % dearer over 5 years but think coding is a better ticket for commercial use