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Using the boat commercially: coding and what changes
Short answer
The moment money changes hands for a voyage, a private boat stops being private. In the United Kingdom that means coding, a survey against a code of practice, endorsed crew and paperwork written for commercial operation.
Hire and reward is the phrase to watch. A boat used for pleasure and a boat used for money are different animals to a regulator, even when the hull, the berth and the owner are the same. In the United Kingdom a vessel under twenty four metres taken out commercially falls under the Maritime and Coastguard Agency codes of practice, and coding is not a form to fill in: it is a survey against a written standard, carried out by an authorised certifying body, renewed on a cycle, and ending in a certificate that states how far from a safe haven the boat may operate.
The operating categories run from the most sheltered water out to unrestricted service, and each one sets its own requirements for stability, liferafts, firefighting, bilge pumping, radio equipment and the number of crew carried. A boat built for family cruising almost always needs work to pass: a second bilge pump, a liferaft of the right pack and service date, a fixed extinguisher in the engine space, different pyrotechnics, sometimes a stability booklet. Budget for the survey and for the list that comes out of it, because the list is the expensive part and it arrives after the first inspection, not before.
The crew side weighs as much as the boat side. A commercially endorsed certificate is a different document from the recreational one behind it; the endorsement is added after a medical, a sea survival course, a first aid course and a professional practices examination, and it runs out. An International Certificate of Competence does not stand in for it. On the paperwork side, an arrangement written for private use is not written for hire and reward, and a paying guest changes both the risk and the duties, so the commercial side has to be settled before the first booking rather than repaired after a claim. Ireland and the Netherlands run their own regimes, so a boat that moves flag or home port starts the question again.
Worth remembering
Pleasure
the boat answers to the recreational rules
Hire and reward
coding, endorsed crew and commercial paperwork
The line is crossed by the first paid booking, and everything behind it has to be in place before that day rather than after it.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
What is coding and who carries it out?
Coding is a survey of the boat against a published code of practice, carried out by an authorised certifying body and renewed on a cycle. The certificate states the operating category, which sets how far from a safe haven the boat may work and how many people it may carry.
Can I charter out on my private paperwork?
No. Paperwork written for private use is not written for hire and reward, and a paying guest changes the risk as well as the duties owed. Settle the commercial side before the first booking, because a retrospective fix after a claim is rarely available.
Does the skipper need a different certificate?
Yes. A commercial endorsement is added to the recreational certificate after a medical, sea survival, first aid and a professional practices examination, and it has to be kept current. An International Certificate of Competence does not replace it.
Does the same apply in Ireland or the Netherlands?
The principle does, the detail does not. Every flag state and every coastal state runs its own commercial regime, and the rules for a boat working out of Dublin or Rotterdam are set there. Ask before the season rather than during it.
Related
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Whether it is “Using the boat commercially: coding and what changes” or another question: send us your residence and the flag your boat flies. You will get a straight answer in one email; including a no, if that is the answer.
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