Boat Licensing

Like anything that seems straight forward, licensing a new boat has turned out to be a bit more complicated than we had hoped.

New boats are licensed based on the issue of RCD documentation (Recreational Craft Directive) which asserts that the boat is built in accordance with all appropriate regulations. Used boats require, after a given period, a BSS (Boat Safety Scheme) certificate which has to be renewed every few years. (As an aside, it seems that there are sometimes subtle differences between RCD and BSS rules, just to catch the unwary!)

In our case, Phil contracts this out to a qualified surveyor, just to be doubly sure that everything is correct. His intention is that this should be completed at the last minute so that the issue date will be 31 March, the date set for handover.

By that date, all work has to be done, including the paintwork. The sign writing, as we have already noted in an earlier blog, is done by a specialist and will include the registration number. Whilst boats have to have a name, and some systems require it, the real identification, so far as licensing is concerned, is the registration number.

So why the long story? Well, CaRT offer two ways to obtain the registration number. Either it can be done at the time that the first licence application is made or it can be applied for separately, but at an additional cost of £20. Being natural skinflints, we had not wanted to incur the extra expense and so planned to do the two together.

We already knew that insurance was a pre-requisite for the licence and so we set that up earlier this week. However, when we came to fill in the online application details (having previously checked that we had the right info for the pre-registration) we found that the full licence application page (which is subtly different) would not accept 31st March as the date for the RCD, saying that it was a date in the future. We checked by phone with the CaRT licensing department and they confirmed this to be the case! They also indicated that we should do the initial licence application on the handover day, although they are relaxed that we will not have an actual paper licence to display until it arrives in the post (when we will be away!)

So, we dug deep into the coffers and opted to pre-register in order that we can give the sign writer a number before the boat is launched! It arrived today, quicker than indicated, so the boat is now officially:

     Alchemy 524670

(Just kidding . . .)