Tasmania urges skippers to check older boats
Tasmania’s water safety watchdog wants owners to regularly inspect boats for hull integrityTasmania’s marine safety watchdog has contacted owners whose boats are more than 15 years old urging them to check their vessels are still sound.
Marine and Safety Tasmania is urging owners to inspect their older boats’ hulls to ensure they are still sound, looking for the common problems with hull integrity that arise as the fleet of boats plying the waters of the state age.
“If you are in any doubt about the integrity of the hull, we suggest you seek professional advice,” MAST said.
“Even if your boat is only a few years old, it wouldn’t hurt to go through this checklist.”
MAST has also warned that boats built before 2006, when Australian Builders Plates became compulsory, may also fail basic flotation standards and “may not have sufficient buoyancy in the event of a capsize or swamping”.
It lists the most common types of problems in older aluminium and fibreglass boats.
Aluminium boats
- Look for electrolysis and fractured welds. Electrolysis will cause the aluminium to corrode and is caused by dissimilar metals and debris being in contact. Keep a regular check on the hull. It is especially important to maintain a clean bilge as corrosion will lead to holes in the aluminium.
- Hard points where seats, the frame or the ribs connect to side and bottom plating will often cause the plate to fatigue and crack.
Fibreglass boats
- Two problems are common to older fibreglass boats. These are delamination, which can lead to rotting of the timber core material, and cracks in the glass laminate.
- Transom cores should be looked at especially if the boat’s outboard engine has been changed or removed sometime during the boat’s life. The engine mounting bolts should be removed and the timber inside the fibreglass inspected to ensure it is not wet. Water trapped inside the transom can cause the timber to rot and reduce the structural integrity of the hull.
- Remove transom-mounted bilge drain plugs and the floor, and inspect for delamination and rotting.
- Fibreglass stress fractures can occur where point loads exist, such as bulkheads, so inspect these areas for cracks and movement.
A Tasmanian coroner recently urged boat owners to have secondhand boats professionally inspected after four men drowned after it was believed a rotten transom broke away from the boat they were on.
The coroner’s investigation revealed the 50-year-old boat had been repowered with a 150hp outboard engine despite a maximum 115hp rating assigned to the boat when new.
Given the age of the boat, it was not fitted with an Australian Builders Plate which would have clearly stated the maximum outboard engine weight and power rating it was built to handle.
The boat was also equipped with insufficient lifejackets.
The Tasmanian government has also proactively cancelled the registrations of "clearly unsafe" boats, and was looking at changing the rules around selling a boat to force new owners to show evidence that the boat they had bought was structurally sound.
How to check a fibreglass boat’s transom:
- Raise the outboard engine right up and shake it from side to side, and up and down, looking for any telltale signs of flexing in the transom
- Trim the engine up to 45 degrees and push down on the prop. There should be no movement
- Tap the transom lightly with a hammer or the handle of a screwdriver and listen for any hollow spots, identified as a change in the sound that the tapping makes. Hollow spots sound duller than solid spots
- Check for cracks around where the outboard engine mounts onto the transom
- Do your research, visiting sites such as boatsales.com.au and Redbook.com.au to check if a newer-looking outboard engine is rated for the boat you're interested in
- Even if you think the boat is okay, have it professionally inspected
MAST has provided a checklist that owners can work through to ensure every part of their boat is sound.
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