ABS Standards

[Cheetie]

Quick thanks to all the great posts on this board. This is my first post on this board so please excuse me if I mis-step.

I am in the process of developing Requirements and Design specifications for a 45' Cutter Rigged Offshore Cruiser. I would like to be able to reference existing standards wherever possible (example: 'Construction of the Bow area shall be NLT 2.0 ABS Yacht Construction standards).

My question is three-fold:
1. Where could I find an up-to-date electronic copies of the ABS and other standards (weblink, etc.)?

2. What standards might I be interested to use as references?

3. Are there some good examples of technical Requirements and Design specifications that could be used as a template or guideline?

My overall goal is to:
1. Clearly articulate/document my requirements- Clarify my thoughts and allow others to challenge my thinking on things.
2. Provide specific guidance to Brokers and possibly designers/builders if an acceptable existing design is not available.
3. Provide a quantifiable baseline to compare various designs and options.

Thanks for your input!

Kind Regards,

JD

[ErikG]

Hi Cheetie

If it really is mostly for articulating and documenting your requirements, I don't think getting that specific is a good idea.
I'd rather define my design reuirements (excuse my english).
For example, define Offshore Cruiser, what it means how you want it to feel. Safety, handling vs speed and cost. Specific equipment requirements etc.
If you set these issues up first you will have enough to determine whether the yacht you want already exists.
If you find that you want someone to design it for you, leave the design specfics to the designer.

On the other hand, if you want to know about the standard requirements for ABS offshore use (Rated A unlimited offshore use for us Europeans) to be able to compare wether it fulfills those demands, then it's a bit of a different.

I don't know about ABS standards but normally when it comes to standardizing comittees you always have to pay to get the real stuff. This is what makes it possible for the standard comittees to exist i suppose.

Just my thougts

[Guest]

http://www.eagle.org/

[Fred2]

the rules are not for free, only the ones for comercial boats in general workboats, fishing boats etc..but you can look the germanisher lloyd's rules

http://www.gl-group.com/infoServices/rules/pdfs/english/glrp-e.pdf

this ones includes also high speed crafts and yatchs less than 24 meters

good luck