Federal regulations are for small boats and other small boats

This is a typical summer scene in Vineyard Bay, Massachusetts. Two anglers were fishing on the 25-foot-long center console on a relatively choppy day in a heavily trafficked area. This semi-custom ship was built in 2019 and has been performing well. One angler caught a fish, so the second angler went to the control device to make sure they stay away from traffic and reduce any rebound.

The ship's operator slid the throttle to neutral, and while staring at her passengers, another ship suddenly set off a wake, rammed her into the rudder station and put the throttle into gear. The ship leaned forward. Fortunately, the guy holding the rod in the stern fell slightly, and everyone quickly recovered. No harm. The fish came ashore.

The controls on that ship did not have a neutral locking mechanism. Is this ship built in accordance with federal regulations? Yes. But is it built according to the best standards?

For the uninitiated, browsing laws, regulations, and standards regarding ship construction and maintenance can be daunting. First, we need to understand the difference between them.

Laws are regulated by the government, such as the United States Code promulgated by Congress. Regulations are rules passed by administrative agencies responsible for enforcing laws, such as federal regulations. Standards are defined as the specifications of components or systems to ensure their safe and effective installation and use, such as ABYC standards and small process technical information reports.

The Code of Federal Regulations is a 200-volume publication covering everything from finance and education to patents and navigation. It simply cannot solve the real-time technology, materials and design advancements specific to the marine industry. The code was first published in 1938 and updated in 1971 under the Federal Ship Safety Act. It was originally written for small ships. These regulations are limited, and most apply to ships with a total length of less than 20 feet, as well as ships with inboard gasoline engines—not the multiple outboard, complicated controls and various fuels we see today. , Electrical and plumbing systems.

For more than 60 years, ABYC has been committed to solving the gap between regulations and the ever-changing boating environment, and established the first safety standard as early as 1955. The first official ABYC small craft standard and technical information report published in 1967 was a booklet assembled by a committee composed of industry professionals, government officials, and representatives of the boating public. Today, the framework and the requirements for standards have not changed much, but the project technical committee is composed of about 400 volunteers, and the latest standard update exceeds 1,200 pages. In 2021, approximately 90% of all ships manufactured in the United States will be built in accordance with ABYC standards.

ABYC tests various models.

The ABYC standard is an important supplement to regulations. For example: From August 1, 2022, ABYC's P-28: Electric/electronic control systems for propulsion and steering will need to be neutral to certain top-mounted controls. For decades, ABYC has been required to maintain neutrality for side-mounted controllers, but the standards for top-mounted controllers need to be resolved and updated to prevent anglers from overturning the ship into rough water because the ship operator is hit by the rudder .

"Some people think that ABYC employees write standards alone in an ivory tower," said Brian Goodwin, ABYC's technical director. "This is not the case. Our process is open and consensus-based. We rely on the expertise of relevant personnel, and it is vital that we have a wide range of people participating in the project technical committee, from surveyors to shipyards."

The technical department of ABYC meets with the project technical committee throughout the year to re-examine, revise, review and update small-scale process standards and technical information reports. If there are no regulations or insufficient regulations, there is likely to be an ABYC standard to provide basic requirements for safety, testing, and operation.

For example, when formulating federal regulations, even when implementing the Federal Ship Safety Act, people did not pay too much attention to the impact of high speeds and harsh conditions on recreational vessels. The boats in our daily lives are not so fast. Runabouts do not have an upper deck (H-5: ship capacity, 7/21). The children scrambled to climb over the outboard motor and the boat leaned forward at the dock. These are the lessons we have summed up. Now, ABYC H-41 covers these potential safety issues: re-boarding devices, ladders, handrails, rails and lifelines, as well as the aforementioned P-28.

Many of us may have grown up without a swimming ladder. Some of us have been taught to use the underboard overboard as a step to lift ourselves to the beam, mainly on ski boats and engines built in the 1960s. Due to the aforementioned re-boarding devices, ladders, handrails, railings and lifelines, which were first released in the form of A-18 (now H-41) in 1973, swimming ladders became more and more common-no longer accessories, It's a necessity.

But even with swimming ladders, people still tend to step on the stern drive. H-41 has been revised several times and recently includes "The top surface of the lowest step of the re-boarding ladder...should be at least 22 inches below the waterline when the vessel is in a static floating position." Why? Because humans are not born contortionists, and many of us do not have the core strength to improve ourselves with such a short lead. ABYC conducted a study on how people re-board the ship, and many people instinctively stabilize themselves by stepping on the stern drive. When the ladder extends from the original ABYC standard 12 inches to 22 inches below the waterline, the chance of people coming into contact with the propeller is greatly reduced.

Read any boating community forum, you may stumble upon discussions about seat bases. "Why are there no regulations?" People asked. These discussions stemmed from events in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the pedestal seats on old ships did fall over. Once the plywood deck gets wet and begins to rot, the screws will be pulled out due to the force generated by the boat's vigorous movement.

This year, it is estimated that 90% of American-made ships are manufactured in accordance with ABYC standards. 

To this end, ABYC and the hull and deck structure PTC developed and released H-31: seat structure in 1994. The standard provides guidance on details such as seat design, deck materials, test conditions, and warning labels. Since its initial establishment, H-31 has been revised five times-most recently in 2020-to adapt to changes in the marine environment and advances in shipbuilding and maintenance.

These standards are not created in a vacuum. ABYC's technical team relies heavily on the input of builders, surveyors, legal professionals, maritime technicians and manufacturers. In other words, people who live and breathe in the reality of boating. In the second week of January, ABYC’s Project Technical Committee will meet at Standards Week in Charleston, South Carolina to revise existing standards or consider warning labels, power supply, capacity, power conversion, lithium batteries, fuel and ventilation Related new standards, control systems and ship maneuvering skills.

Read more about it at abycstandardsweek.com, and if you are not already involved, please join the conversation. 

Sarah Devlin (Sarah Devlin) is the content director of the American Ship and Yacht Commission.

This article was originally published in the December 2021 issue.

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