Safety Certifications & Registrations - Required by law or just good to have?

Dennis, on my surveys I say for a life raft “if the life raft is to be onboard and could be relied upon in an emergency then it must have current certification” this gives the boat onwner the option to remove it from the boat or get it certified. That covers things for most insurance companies. However most people end up keeping the life raft onboard even if they don’t get it certified assuming that it might work if needed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Briankinley2004

I just googled and found this page below which tells the "must haves"

http://www.unitedmarine.net/boating_...equipment.aspx

---

My insurance is through United Marine Underwriters(the people who posted your link). They send me emails every month with this type of information. Its the only Ins Co I've had that does that. Some of them are pretty informative.

Follow up on all this.

EPIRB - Replacement battery is $299. good for 5 years/ EPIRB is 14 years old and a new unit from West Marine can be had for under $500. Should I replace battery or toss the whole thing and get a new EPIRB?

Life Raft - Also 14 years old. Inspect & recert is around $1000. For around $2000 I can get a new 'mid-grade' 6 person raft. Thoughts?

Aircraft have a MEL, minimum equipment list, and everything on that list has to work. Other items on the aircraft can be tagged inop, or fixed.. Boats are not the same. As Sky's link pointed out, USCG has minimum safety equipment lists that you have to comply with, and your Survey for Insurance purposes normally has a list of squawks that must be repaired for the insurance to be in force... And prudence dictates a lot of equipment should work if you might need to rely on it... But not "required".. one area you might need to address is the tank certification on your fire suppression system. I can't point to the reg at this second, but I believe it calls for 10 year recerts.. had mine done, both of them, couple of years back for a few hundred bucks.

The question of recertification of fixed CO2 systems was recently discussed in another post. In researching the the issue on my own, I found it difficult to get a definitive answer. I submitted the question to a friend who forwarded the below.


From: Mxxxxx, Brian K CIV
Sent: Thursday, February 8, 2018 1:28 PM
To: Dxxxxxxx, Mxxxxxxxx C CDR <xxxxx@uscg.mil>
Subject: RE: [Non-DoD Source] FW: A question for Mxxx



Good Afternoon CDR,

In accordance with 46 CFR 25.30-15, all fixed fire extinguishing systems installed on recreational vessels must be Coast Guard Approved. In order to maintain Coast Guard Approval, fixed firefighting systems must be inspected annually by a qualified servicing organization.

vr,
Brian
--
Brian Mxxxx, CG Sector Mobile
Marine Inspector Training Officer


The general consensus of the earlier thread was 5-10 years. I thought it would be useful to pass this along. Insurance requirements may be different, but I suspect they would default to the reg's if they had to pay.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Passages

Follow up on all this.

EPIRB - Replacement battery is $299. good for 5 years/ EPIRB is 14 years old and a new unit from West Marine can be had for under $500. Should I replace battery or toss the whole thing and get a new EPIRB?

Life Raft - Also 14 years old. Inspect & recert is around $1000. For around $2000 I can get a new 'mid-grade' 6 person raft. Thoughts?

---

I'd replace the battery in the epirb. The raft is a tougher one...the material ages and eventually may not hold air. If the new one had similar equipment it may be time. Oldest raft I ve had inspected was about 13 years. The cost of the certification is mostly about replacing the emergency stuff. Batteries, rations, water.

46 CR 142.240 says fixed systems must comply with NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) which in sec 1-9.5.1 calls for a maximum of 12 years between hydro testing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dottieshusband

46 CR 142.240 says fixed systems must comply with NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) which in sec 1-9.5.1 calls for a maximum of 12 years between hydro testing.

---

Hydro testing is one thing. Annual inspections, meaning inspection, weighing and recharging if required, etc., are another.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/46/142.240 is the text.

It is truly a lawyer's dream. Keeping the point of the thread in mind, you have to ask yourself a question: If I had a fire on my boat and the CO2 system failed or failed to completely extinguish the fire, what regulation would my insurance company cite to reduce or eliminate their liability? I'm just guessing here, but I'm thinking they'll want to see that invoice for the annual inspection.

If the fire doesn't get extinguished and the boat burns out, chances are the tags and the records went up in smoke!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Passages

Follow up on all this......

---

New Epirb, and toss the old one.

New liferaft, and keep the old one as a backup.