GETTING BACK IN TO BOATING UK

[Dave L]

Gent's some advice if you will....

Having previously played about in the past with a couple of small inflatables with outboards I am now seriously giving some thought to buying myself a proper small fishing boat.

I'm looking at something about 5m in length with about 40hp minimum. It would appear to be a bit of a buyers market at the moment and I've seen several boats that take my liking. I'm keen on the Ropaline offerings from triumph marine and also on the Ali boats made by Linder.

I confess to knowing very little about GRP and I'm keen on the low maintenance that both the above materials offer.

My plan is to dry store my boat on the drive way and trail it to the slipway using an annual launching permit. My thought process being I will only be using it about every two weeks and I'd rather have it at home so cleaning and flushing is made easier. There is also the expense of a mooring that I don't think I want to swallow just yet.

I am a little confused at the moment about the courses that the RYA offer. I'm led to believe that I would need at least RYA powerboat 1 in order to launch from some harbours and also to moor and insure my vessel.

I will be taking the RYA VHF radio license however Ill probably leave it until the boat is purchased because as far as I can see there are two types of licence available. Fixed and mobile ? I would prefer a fixed corded radio on my boat as opposed to a handheld VHF. Although I can see a few other benefits to owning and using the handheld. The main one being that I could take it with me on a kayak or divehunter and it would not be registered to a single vessel.

In what order did you guys complete your training ?
how much is your annual boat insurance ?
Fixed or handheld vhf licence ?

All your advice will be greatly received ....
Dave

 

[foxfish]

Rota moulded boats are fantastic, ally boat are good too but I am not so keen having owned one in the past.
I did not like the hull noise or the cold feel in winter & mine rotted after about 5 years.
My present plastic boat is just great for spearfishing & general messing about it even bounces off rocks!
The down side is initial cost & quite heavy but the benefit of zero maintenance & smooth quite ride plus unsinkable security make a rota moulded boat a great choice.

 

[Dave L]

Cheers Foxy, I was really interested in this one but sadly I missed the boat and it sold before I could view/trial it

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221481177096

 

[foxfish]

How much did it sell for?

 

[Dave L]

I'm not sure mate. It was on for almost a month. I'd guess about 2 1/2 maybe 2700
It ticked all the boxes that one

 

[Dave L]

I'm really keen to get one with a honda though. Can't beat honda power

 

[foxfish]

You don't often see rota moulded boats over 4m for sale but there are some nice ones out there...
I have a Honda 50 on mine, they are light for the size but Yamaha are very good too...

 

[Dave L]

Perfect set up ! very very nice

 

[foxfish]

I have been thinking about buying the next model up but it is a £20 k + purchase, certainly not an investment!
I bought the one pictured from new as well, 5k for boat 4.5 for the motor + second auxiliary motor + trailer & electronics = about 12k all in!!
If you can find a second hand one then go for it...

 

[submarine]

VHF licence is a legal requirement, but they won't refuse a rescue if you're not licenced! The RYA licence is personal and allows an individual to use a radio (VHF only) regardless. IIRC boats of this size don't need to register the VHF onboard however it is good practise as the MMSI can then be associated with the vessel (and you can register details with the Coastguard, which may aid in the event of a misshap). Handhelds are cheap enough but lack the power for useful range shouts - enough to get nearby vessels though.
Powerboat L1 is very easy, and personally I would suggest that anyone who has any experience of vessels start off with level 2. This will provide a much broader skillset. However, if you haven't had much experience, start at the start. Legally there are no requirements for training in use of leisure craft, except, as you mention, local byelaws or slipway regs.

 

[submarine]

But to clarify, once you have a VHF licence, you're allowed to use any VHF anywhere. I'm not sure where you saw that they offered 2 seperate courses, but I would like to have a look if you have the link?

 

[Dave L]

http://www.rib.net/forum/f37/hand-held-vhf-radio-licence-25135.html

 

[Dave L]

What do you value yours at Foxy on the second hand market ?

 

[submarine]

'
Marine VHF Licensing is done in two parts:

1. Ships Radio License. This is available free from Ofcom (www.ofcom.org.uk), and covers any R/T Equipment fitted to the vessel, including Handheld VHFs for use on board or in the ships tender, things like Active Radar Target Enhancers (Such as the SeaMe's), EPIRBs and the like.
   
   Any vessel carrying R/T equipment must have this license. It doesn't matter how many VHFs you have on board, you still only need one license per ship.
   
   It can be applied for by anyone, as you could conceivably own a vessel, and pay a Skipper to run it for you. The Ships Radio License would be in your name, but you wouldn't be able to use it without the skipper.
   
   If you buy a portable for use on one ship only, your best bet is to apply for a ships radio license, and only specify the one radio. You will then get a callsign for the ship, but not a T number for the radio.
   1. a) If you have a Portable VHF for use on more than one craft (say you are a delivery skipper for example), then you can apply at Ofcom for a portable license, and this licenses the individual Handheld set. Therefore, if you have more than one handheld set, you must have a portable license for each.
2. Anyone who wishes to use marine VHF must also hold a Certificate of Competence and Authority to Operate from the MCA (note the word License does not actually appear here!). In the UK, both parts can be obtained by attending a one day course run by (usually) an RYA Training Centre. If you are over 16 you will get both parts of the license, if you are under 16 you will only get the Certificate of Competence part.
   Once you have this you can then use, and supervise others to use, Marine VHF radios on suitably licensed vessels. This means you could take a rib out on bareboat charter, and you would still be covered to use the VHF.'

This as quoted on ribnet (where I am also a member) is correct.
1) As you see you as an individual only have to undertake the Short Range Certificate to operate VHF.
2) You would also register fixed VHF on the vessel, but there are no courses etc involved in this. (This is also very difficult to police for leisure craft, so unless insurance insist on a survey, then you probably won't ever run into trouble.) If you happen to need a survey, let me know!

Hope that clarifies

 

[foxfish]

What do you value yours at Foxy on the second hand market ?

Well it 5 years old now so about 4.5k

 

[Dave L]

Excellent ! Cheers chaps. Great advice from both of you. Foxy do you recon if get back over the Channel in your boat ? I'm tempted .....

 

[submarine]

Just to add to this, whatever you end up getting, make sure the anchor is as big as you can manage, with as much chain as you can physically lift from your anchoring depth. You don't want to return up top and see the boat's starting to drift... Probably the most under rated safety kit on a vessel is its anchor.

 

[foxfish]

Ha ha Dave, no she would not be a good choice for crossing the channel but on the trailer on the ferry would work!
As it happens I have two guys over here waiting for me to put her on the market.
There is a similar size plastic boat for sale by my mooring with a yam 40 I can't think of the manufacturers name at the moment but he wants 4k, I don't know if it comes with a trailer though.
I can take a look tomorrow morning and let you know.....

 

[foxfish]

Just to add to this, whatever you end up getting, make sure the anchor is as big as you can manage, with as much chain as you can physically lift from your anchoring depth. You don't want to return up top and see the boat's starting to drift... Probably the most under rated safety kit on a vessel is its anchor.

Quite right, I carry a 3kg grapple with 5 meters of chain and 100 meters or 12mm rope pluss a spare Coil of 8mm as we have both deep water and strong tide around here!

 

[submarine]

Excellent - that's the spirit. So many times I've seen boats drift, often with people onboard, eating their lunch, completely oblivious to their impending doom. Experienced folk too, unfortunately. And me once - won't happen again lol.