Who's Who in Construction Standards

Boat/US Magazine, Sept, 1999 by Caroline Ajootian

The Agencies Behind the Acronyms

New boats and the equipment with which they come equipped swim in a murky alphabet soup of certifications from a number of different standards-writing agencies whose roles and authority most boat owners are totally unaware of.

Arcane as they sound, these standards are credited with saving thousands of lives since the 1970s as boats have been built better and safer.

For those who don't know an NMMA certification from an ABYC recommended practice, or an NFPA standard from a USCG mandatory regulation, this article will slice through the acronyms to serve up a concise guide to the smorgasbord of standards to which boats should be built.

U.S. Coast Guard Standard's

The standards centerpiece -- and the fruit of the earliest lobbying efforts by BOAT/U.S. to protect boaters -- is the Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971, a body of laws that contains, among other things, provisions authorizing the U.S. Coast Guard to develop and enforce safety and manufacturing regulations for recreational vessels and "designated associated equipment," defined as inboard engines, Outboard engines and sterndrive units. The regs apply to gas-powered boats and to boats under 20 feet long, while canoes, kayaks, some inflatables, sailboats without engines, personal watercraft and diesel-powered vessels are exempt.

Unlike standards written by other organizations, Coast Guard standards are the law. Manufacturers must build boats to comply with federal regs or face fines and the expense of recall campaigns to correct defects. Manufacturers are also held responsible for defects which "create a substantial risk of personal injury" for up to five years after a boat is built.

In developing standards in the early 1970s, the Coast Guard looked carefully at boating accident statistics. At the time, thousands of accidents involving property damage, injuries and fatalities occurred each year because of unsafe factory-installed electrical and fuel systems on gasoline-powered boats. Accident statistics also showed that many injuries and fatalities occurred on boats under 20 feet long because the boats were over-powered, overloaded and sank when swamped.

In the process of instituting boat manufacturing and safety standards, the Coast Guard ran the gauntlet of protest and criticism from the marine industry. It claimed that such standards would put them out of business. Nevertheless, boating accidents caused by manufacturing defects decreased dramatically within a few years of the standards' enactment, to the point that today only a small fraction of boating accidents are caused by defects in design or construction -- and the industry is still thriving.

Coast Guard standards require that all boats bear Hull Identification Numbers to aid in identifying lost and stolen vessels and those involved in recall campaigns.

Reflecting the predominance of accident reports involving the swamping, overloading and over-powering of boats under 20 feet, the Coast Guard requires that they must be rated for passenger, gear and maximum horsepower capacity limits. They are also required to have built-in flotation. Boats over 20 feet long are not subject to standards for passenger, gear and maximum horsepower and have no flotation requirements.

Boat manufacturing standards for electrical systems, fuel systems and ventilation of compartments for gas engines and fuel tanks apply across the board to a number of different gas-powered boat designs, regardless of size.

Standards for engines include start-in-gear protection and backfire flame control. The Coast Guard also has onboard carriage requirements for life jackets, visual distress signals, fire extinguishing equipment and ignition protection to prevent marine electrical components from emitting sparks.

Beyond Government

In developing its standards for recreational vessels, the Coast Guard relied heavily on testing and research by a number of non-governmental organizations both from within and outside the marine industry.

While boatbuilders have a modest number of federal requirements to meet, most reputable builders follow thousands of non-mandatory guidelines established by these non-governmental organizations when designing and constructing boat systems not targeted by federal regulations. This is a practical way around reinventing the wheel and avoiding liability exposure.

For example, there are no Coast Guard regs specifying the height of bow rails or lifelines. Such devices prevent unplanned trips overboard, but only if they're installed securely and at the proper height. But how strong do they have to be and how high? Rather than running the ergonomic tests to determine the best way to install rails, boatbuilders can refer to a standard written by the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) that recommends rail heights of 24 inches and installations that will withstand a 400-pound impact at any point.

Besides ABYC, other key players are Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the National Fire Protection Association (NEPA), as well as the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Standards reflecting an individual organization's area of expertise -- for example for fire protection procedures or fuel hoses -- are generally incorporated by the other standards groups.