Tasmania’s used boat seaworthy scheme ‘working well’

Maritime and Safety Tasmania (MAST) revealed yesterday that almost six months after the introduction of the new rules requiring recreational boat sellers and buyers to declare if a boat being sold is safe enough to go out on the water, they were starting to have an effect – and working better than it had anticipated.

However, the roll-out of the new system has not been without its hiccups, largely because of the availability of old transfer forms left over from the previous year’s registration mail-outs that had been sent out to boaters.

“We think a lot of these issues will be resolved after December 31 this year when the 2024 registration renewals commence,” a spokesperson for MAST told boatsales.

“The new rego papers [that require a signed notice of disposal of a recreational boat from both the buyer and seller saying the boat is either safe or unsafe] have just been sent out.”

The updated registration papers coincide with the launch of a new Tasmanian Government portal for boaters that should help make the process easier for anyone buying or selling a boat in the state.

One of the surprises of the new rules, though, is that a number of boaters have decided that it is not worth keeping an older boat registered.

“Several older fibreglass runabout registrations have been cancelled voluntarily by owners, so that’s encouraging that some are seeing the issues of unsafe boats and doing the honourable thing and not trying to resell,” the spokesperson said.

“Even if this new legislation is responsible for saving one life, then MAST considers it worthwhile. 

“It is getting the boating population down here talking ‘safe’ boats, which is great.”

According to the spokesperson, “the majority [of the state’s recreational boaters]have embraced what we are trying to do”.

Tasmania is the only Australian state or territory that requires recreational boat sellers and buyers to declare that what is being sold is in a seaworthy state.

Under the rules, if either the buyer or seller ticks the box stating the boat is unsafe, its registration will automatically be cancelled once the registration transfer is sent in.

It will be then up to the new owner to get the boat up to a seaworthy condition before applying to have the boat re-registered.

Tasmania’s hard line on recreational boat safety is in direct response to a coronial inquest in 2019 that found that four men in the south-east of the state likely died on a fishing trip because the 50-year-old used boat they had recently bought was overpowered and likely had severe structural issues due to its age.

The boat also appeared to have too few life jackets onboard.

Recreational boat safety was in the spotlight again this month after a NSW coroner found a line of Halvorsen Coastal Cruiser motor yachts contained a dangerous design flaw that made them unstable in certain conditions.

The coroner has warned that Australia’s system of rating the safety and stability of larger motor yachts does not meet international benchmarks, which allowed the Halvorsen boats to be sold here despite falling short of globally acceptable stability standards.