Boat safety certificate
Every four years, boats on the UK canal and waterways require a safety examination called a Boat Safety certificate, or BSS.
Most of the stuff they’re looking at is to do with your fuel and energy supply and isolation. That means the batteries, the gas and the diesel.
There’s a set of guidelines published in the Boat Safety Scheme, and compliance is dependent on one of their certified inspectors visiting your boat and ensuring it meets the required standards.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the inspector Mark Paris, based in Thrupp, (just down the road) come and do an inspection. It failed due to a leaky regulator.
The pressure in the gas system to the stove had dropped off, and it’s something I had noticed by a slightly less aggressive flame.
I was going to check on this device because of that fact.
It’s called the regulator.
This is a new regulator with has a pressure gauge on it. This can be used to a)see how much gas is in the can. b)see if it is leaking.
The gas bottle is full. And since replacing the regulator, my system is gas tight. No problems.
There were an number of other lesser things which were also been brought to my attention. These include fitting fuses to the battery side of two of my solar panels.
Additional solar
When I fitted the additional panel, I bought a battery side fuse to fit. This sits between the battery and the charge controller, (which controls the solar panel output). If there’s a short circuit on the battery>controller side, the fuse will trip preventing stopping the batteries from blowing up or the wires melting, or something nasty like that.
My existing sets of panels fitted had already been wired with fuses when I put them in. This last one I hadn’t got around to. So, that was a job I had to do.
As you can see, the fuse was able to go into the existing fusebox alongside the existing fuses. All I had to do was run the MC4 cable to the back, insert the fuse I bought from Bimble Solar, connect it up press it in and put the box back in place.
Took about 40 mins? Not too bad. Had to isolate the battery and remove the stairs to get at the fuse-box but otherwise straightforward.
12v/240v Inverter
I have one of these on the boat taking the batteries up to a 230v a/c current when switched on.
The inverter only uses a little energy, and from April to October, the boat basically runs on 240v.
The boat safety examiner said he wanted a fuse on the battery side of this.
I got a 175amp fuse and some 25mm cable some lugs and a crimper. I needed to create a very short piece of cable to run from the fuse to the busbar, then onto the existing cable.
This is a picture of the in-line fuse. It now protects main battery>inverter.
Bought this Chinese crimper from ebay. Cost £20.
It applies pressure to the terminal lugs to crimp them securely onto the battery cable.
This one is rated at 16 Tonnes.
Boat safety certificate jobs
✅The gas regulator
✅The fusing of the solar panels
✅Diesel fuel lines
These jobs have been done, and I’ll be getting the BSS examiner to make a second visit, which will cost me an additional £40.
Fingers crossed it will get a pass and my boat will be that little bit more safe and secure. Especially the gas regulator leaking. Although it’s not much of a hazard as it’s leaking out into the fresh air, it is a waste of gas and it will only get worse over time.
My new regulator has a pressure gauge on it, which is new technology, I’ll no longer have to guess how much gas there is in the bottle, the gauge will tell me!
Bitcoin halving
I know not everyone is into Crypto and Trading, as I am, but Bitcoin Halving is happening very soon!
This is a reduction in the amount of bitcoin that can be produced for the same amount of cost. It will in effect reduce the amount of new bitcoin produced, which is why they call it ‘the halving’.
Here’s a table of Bitcoin Halving Dates
| Halving count | Date | Block height at halving | Block reward before halving(bitcoin per block) | Block reward after halving(bitcoin per block) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2012-11-27 | 210,000 | 50 | 25 |
| 2 | 2016-07-09 | 420,000 | 25 | 12.5 |
| 3 | 2020-05-11 | 630,000 | 12.5 | 6.25 |
| 4 | 2024-04-20 | 840,000 | 6.25 | 3.125 |
| 5 | 2028 | 1,050,000 | 3.125 | 1.5625 |
| 6 | 2032 | 1,260,000 | 1.5625 | 0.78125 |
| 7 | 2036 | 1,470,000 | 0.78125 | 0.396025 |
Historical Price Impacts
- 2012 Halving: Bitcoin’s price surged approximately 9308% in 13 months.
- 2016 Halving: Saw a 2861% increase over 17 months.
- 2020 Halving: Resulted in a 620% increase in 11 months.
To celebrate, I created this button and banner.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
If you want to read more about bitcoin halving, check these articles:
Bitpay – The 2024 Bitcoin Halving: Analyzing Past Trends to Predict the Next Big Crypto Surge
Morningstar – The Next Bitcoin Halving: What it Means for Investors
If you want to use the images, feel free to do so.
If you want to buy some Bitcoin or any other currency, use Kraken. They won’t lock you out of your account when the price goes up like some other providers!
Live long and prosper, to all my readers.
2 thoughts on “Boat safety certificate”
All the best for the BSS….it should pass now. Love the posters.
An impressive array of tasks undertaken. Well done indeed.
Whoever would have predicted that living on a boat would
turn you into a marine engineer
On the other issue, is it the time to leave one’s money with Bitty, or jump ship ?