We have a cabin cruiser on the Kowie river witch w

[Mouldz]

Fanie wrote:

coke bottols do not make the grade

I think they do !

Coke bottles are made of a plastic named PET and it stands for polyethylene terephthalate.

PET can be semi-rigid to rigid, depending on its thickness, and it is very lightweight. It makes a good gas and fair moisture barrier, as well as a good barrier to alcohol (requires additional "barrier" treatment) and solvents. It is strong and impact-resistant. It is naturally colorless with a high transparency.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_terephthalate

I see no reason why samsa would object against the use of these bottles. The only objection may be that they are cheap and readily available.

SAMSA states that bottles can only be used were they can be proven to be of same bouyancy to foam and in special circumstances

 

[alanlloyd]

i got my bottles from Nel plastics in cape town, they are made specifically for boat floatation and have a hexagon shape for air free packing in your hull

 

[alanlloyd]

here

 

[Fanie]

The amount of flotation you can calculate, and the special circumstances are the bottels cannot all be in the same compartment. Pretty useless if the hull gets damaged and the bottels float out of the hull. Same reason inflatables have to have different air compartments.

You're not putting in flotation for samsa, you're doing it for yourself. You have to get into a situation to appreciate the flotation you added, and it's a bit of piece of mind.

Personally I would be more willing to spend the big bucks on protecting my investment than spending on a floor or paint. At least I cannot lose the boat in the water. Even worse if you have people on board - someone will look foreward to suing the crap out of you if you slip up on something like this and their ancles get wet.

 

[Fanie]

Alan, those 'noodle' pieces will work awesome ! You can glue them together with a sealer (silicone like type) and it will also glue very well to the glass.

You can also glue them under your gunnels to fill those gaps.

 

[Mouldz]

Fanie wrote:

Alan, those 'noodle' pieces will work awesome ! You can glue them together with a sealer (silicone like type) and it will also glue very well to the glass.

You can also glue them under your gunnels to fill those gaps.

I think we missing the point,I know our boat is foam filled to factory specs,from when we repaired the deck,the issue is the SAMSA official wont accept our word and wants to cut open the deck,we showed him the foam through the small drain plug at back and even stuck a steel rod up (I would like to stick it up somewere else)and you can feel the foam,only thing left to do is get a "fake" certificate from a boat builder.

 

[Fanie]

Alan, those 'noodle' pieces will work awesome ! You can glue them together with a sealer (silicone like type) and it will also glue very well to the glass.

You can also glue them under your gunnels to fill those gaps

I called them and this is a plastic bottle and not foam.

 

[Fanie]

I think we missing the point,I know our boat is foam filled to factory specs,from when we repaired the deck,the issue is the SAMSA official wont accept our word and wants to cut open the deck,we showed him the foam through the small drain plug at back and even stuck a steel rod up (I would like to stick it up somewere else)and you can feel the foam,only thing left to do is get a "fake" certificate from a boat builder.

Now Mouldie, why didn't you say so in the first place :-(

Go to a police station and make an affidavit that you have so and so much flotation in the boat, it is accepted by samsa as long as the flotation is enough. The volume can be obtained from the guy who put the foam in.

 

[thika]

It is a bigger hassle to get the position and distribution of buoyancy under the deck than it is to simply drill a hole and determine the type of buoyancy, cause you need these diagrams on the certificate

If you can find a registered guy to sign, you take it to a Commissioner of Oaths and swear that to the best of your knowledge the flotation and compartments are as per your detail provided

Thats how it is done in Velddrift anyway, but there are some cowboys here!

This is the case where the original builder's papers are absent

What I STILL cannot get my head around is why only 60 percent of the total boat weight is required as flotation?

i.e: if your boat, motors, euipment and crew weighs 2,0 tons you need only 1,2m3 of flotation to pass the boat

What am I missing? :rasta

 

 

 

[Mouldz]

Fanie wrote:

I think we missing the point,I know our boat is foam filled to factory specs,from when we repaired the deck,the issue is the SAMSA official wont accept our word and wants to cut open the deck,we showed him the foam through the small drain plug at back and even stuck a steel rod up (I would like to stick it up somewere else)and you can feel the foam,only thing left to do is get a "fake" certificate from a boat builder.

Now Mouldie, why didn't you say so in the first place :-(

Go to a police station and make an affidavit that you have so and so much flotation in the boat, it is accepted by samsa as long as the flotation is enough. The volume can be obtained from the guy who put the foam in.

Iesh ,let me start again,we bought this boat about 5years ago,before river boats were required to have flotation certificates etc,this is a factory built boat ex Rhodesian make,the guy that put the foam in is obviously not around,we know it has foam in because we saw it when we repaired the deck,we have never had problems registring the boat every year,except this year the harbour master asked for our flotation certificate hense the rigmarole with the SAMSA guy not wanting to issue us with one.this is our problemo,Good suggestion maybe get a affidavit from SAPS,a botle of brandy I suppose will smooth the process

 

[Fanie]

You are responsible in any case, so if you are convinced that there is enough flotation (easy to test too, pull plug and launch) then go that route.

 

[Mouldz]

thika wrote:

It is a bigger hassle to get the position and distribution of buoyancy under the deck than it is to simply drill a hole and determine the type of buoyancy, cause you need these diagrams on the certificate

If you can find a registered guy to sign, you take it to a Commissioner of Oaths and swear that to the best of your knowledge the flotation and compartments are as per your detail provided

Thats how it is done in Velddrift anyway, but there are some cowboys here!

This is the case where the original builder's papers are absent

What I STILL cannot get my head around is why only 60 percent of the total boat weight is required as flotation?

i.e: if your boat, motors, euipment and crew weighs 2,0 tons you need only 1,2m3 of flotation to pass the boat

What am I missing? :rasta

 

 

Ja Nee its confusing to me,A kid with no experience can take a boat with no flotation and ride on the river without a skippers liscence as long as the motor does not exceed 15hp,I on the other hand who has been operating boats on the river for 30= years has to fork out long bucks for skippers liscence ,flotation certificates etc.A local house boat rental advertises "skipper your own boat,no experience or skippers liscence neeeded" duh.We frequently have to help these "charlies" over the holidays as they have no idea::jest::jest

 

[Fanie]

Re Allan's bottles - for those interested.

Beste Fanie

Die flotasie bottel se spesifikasies is soos volg:

Volume : 1.2 liter
Lengte : 270 mm
Wydte : 6 x 45 mm

Dit is 'n geseëlde eenheid wat + 75 g weeg en sonder blootstelling aan sonlig ten minste 10 jaar of meer behoort te hou. Sonlig plus chemikalië sal natuurlik hul leeftyd verkort.
Ons eie kragboot s'n hou al 30 jaar onder dek.

Beste groete
L Nel

 

[thika]

This is the form

How is this for a joke!

On the reverse is the declaration and place for the Commissioner to put his stamp

 

 

[Fanie]

Ja Nee its confusing to me,A kid with no experience can take a boat with no flotation and ride on the river without a skippers liscence as long as the motor does not exceed 15hp,I on the other hand who has been operating boats on the river for 30= years has to fork out long bucks for skippers liscence ,flotation certificates etc.A local house boat rental advertises "skipper your own boat,no experience or skippers liscence neeeded" duh.We frequently have to help these "charlies" over the holidays as they have no idea

And that's the short of it. There are some other issues too, but I've made my piece with it and just do my own thing. Get what is legal and apply what actually works.

Unfortunately the samsa thing has become a witch hunt to make money instead of being the boaters friend.

 

[Mouldz]

thika wrote:

This is the form

How is this for a joke!

On the reverse is the declaration and place for the Commissioner to put his stamp

 

Thats the form I need

 

[neilg]

Any registered boat builder (in you area) can check and issue a certificate

 

[thika]

Crazy..this all he wrote!

So I will get a proper form and fill it in correctly and do the calculations myself and guess the compartments as well as I can and make diagrams...then to the cops and then go to the guy that does the COF, who apparently is a laidback local

I however need to know that the B.Cert. will stand up to scrutiny in other harbours and slips

My boat has 2200 750ml bottles and total weight with crew and fuel is about 2400 kg but that is how it was built..I still dont understand how 1650 litres can keep 2400kg afloat!

 

 

[thika]

This what I am going to do:

Another boat but identical to mine, exept I have 2x130 hp motors

And I dont need a boatbuilder to sign

The local oke will

Then to the cops and that's that as far as I am concerned....I attach the oath to the form below.The third page will be the schematic drawing

 

 

 

[Fanie]

Guys, you realise if you lie about the flotation and you get into trouble you are in deep deep sh2t. This isn't the quick and easy around the law.