Recreational Craft Directive

[steven prince]

Hi there,

I'm in the process of designing my own boat and after talking with a professional desgner i was wondering if anyone would have a copy of the RCD that I could use till the stage that I will get my design approved by the RCD a will purchase the proper set. Any help would be appreciated.

I'm currently designing a 55ft catamaran although this may get cmaller depending on the regulations.

The boat will be for my own use but it would be nice to know that the design could be sold for other boats to be constructed.

[whoosh]

At that length you will want class A which is unrestricted ocean
the regs are long and somewhat involved
If your design stacks up structure wise, then the main things are window size, and the sill height from cockpit in
If you eMAIL me through my website, I,ll send the detail of the man I am using in UK
CHEERS

[Ad Hoc]

Length has nothing to do with the "Design Category" definition in the Code.
It is wind force and significant wave height the vessel is design to encounter during its 'normal' life.

The reasons are given in the code:
"Notes on boat design categories
The main purpose for having boat design categories is to differentiate between the various levels of risks related to the construction of boats and to choose from among the various conformity assessment modules the adequate modules for each design category, also taking into account the hull length. The ‘significant wave height’ is considered to be the primary factor and other parameters (e.g. meteorological) are descriptions of when these wave heights may be expected to occur..."

and goes on

".....The design category parameters are intended to define the physical conditions that might arise in any category for design evaluation, and should not be used to limit the geographical areas of operation due to the variety of physical conditions likely to be met in different geographical areas."

If you're serious about doing this yourself, you should contact the MCA and get the latest copy of the code.

[TeddyDiver]

Directive
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31994L0025:EN:HTML
It's useless without standards which you got to buy.. cheapest place:
http://www.evs.ee/Tootedjateenused/Standardidjapublikatsioonid/Kataloog/tabid/103/Default.aspx

[Crag Cay.]

Steve, Once you have a copy of the Directive, you can look at the relevant the standards in your local city reference library. They will have a licence to view them on line and you are allowed to print off a few pages each visit of the bits that are of interest.