The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) investigates the cause of accidents on all vessels in UK waters, and UK flagged vessels worldwide
– including the Cheeki Rafiki incident, in which 4 people were lost after the keel detached from a sailboat in the Atlantic just over a year ago. The report is publicly available online. Although structural investigations (and so certainty about the cause) were impossible after the hull sunk, the report contains clearly written research and analysis of modern boat building and what can be done in the way of construction, inspection and training to prevent future keel failures.
The publicity that this event received has raised the MAIB’s profile, and they produce a continuous stream of fascinating and insightful work about commercial, fishing and pleasure craft. Common themes in many accidents are human and/or maintenance errors, resulting in sudden unexpected events or equipment failure. Many of those errors are in turn caused by fatigue. On commercial and leisure vessels alike, captains often feel unable to rest if crew are under-experienced or improperly briefed. Situations like that are often related to incidents that one would assume are unthinkable – most notoriously, groundings on well charted reefs and sandbanks.
The MAIB regularly publishes safety digests, which summarize all recent incidents and their causes. Essential reading for anyone involved with boats, and freely available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/maib-safety-digests
Yes Marine: further developments to keep projects moving fast
Look away now if you don’t fix stuff on boats, or you might get bored.
Do you ever wish that you could visit a chandlery knowing that it was almost certain they’d have the plumbing fittings you need to get your job finished? Not only the right size and thread, but also in the proper marine grade materials that don’t present a lurking flood risk?
That wish was becoming too familiar to Yes Marine’s team during installations and repair of air conditioning, generators, pumps and so on – so they decided to build up a stock that they’d make available to the public. Bronze and 316 stainless steel hosetails, reducers and valves coexist on the shelves with PVC fittings, including the elusive metric-imperial converters. A wide range of hose clamps also in the crucial 316 stainless steel are stocked too.
It can be disconcerting when disassembly reveals pitting corrosion behind a machine or inside a tank. Unfortunately all too common, and discovered too late in the day to get a welding crew in, it is the bane of many aluminium boats. Belzona is increasing adopted as a solution to get you through the season and in some cases – depending on the scale and depth of the problem – can even get you through a Class inspection. (Consult your surveyor). For all these reasons, Yes Marine also stocks Belzona 1111,1211 and 1831 to solve the most common problems.
Yes Marine ar
e always working to develop their ability to keep your jobs going by avoiding the frustrating delays caused by the absence of an obscure part. And of course they have the usual range of hardware available when you need to change your batteries, bow-thruster, generator or chiller. As ever you can visit them in Port Forum or Port Vell, or call them for a delivery to the boat.
