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Three months old and our narrowboat needs a full boat survey, by Marc Lovett

   In July 2005 I ordered a sailaway narrowboat. 
 During build an auxiliary pipe was fitted to the integral fuel tank. The cooling system for the engine is a built in skin tank.
 Once I had fitted the boat out on land the boat was launched into the water (At this stage no heating system had been installed).
 I filled the integral diesel tank with fuel and 43 gallons was emptied into the integral tank. Unbeknown to me the boat builder had not capped the auxiliary pipe, which would have been needed to be fitted prior to pressure testing. (A plate welded to the stern states that pressure testing had been done).  
 

Consequently the fuel poured into my boat as it was being put in, causing massive damage and oil aroma to newly fitted boat. The skin tank also leaked severely from inadequate welds, but this was not all, the welds along fuel tank also leaked.
  I contacted the boat builder and had a reply back stating they they were not responsible, saying that the capps were removed once the pressure testing had been completed. 3 weeks after delivery of the boat it was noticed that the spray foam, which was applied by the boat builder, had severely shrunk over the whole boat. I informed the boat builder of this whom reluctantly came to the boat and re spray foamed it. The spray foam that they used, I was informed, was the type that  is used to insulate buildings .

 

During the build of my boat several mistakes were made by the boat builder, and attempted rectifications made. Unfortunately the attempts left the boat with a number of fabrication flaws which are visible on the roof  and also the sides. 

 

The Vetus engineer who installed the engine at the boat fitters had to be called out to rectify a water leak from the stern tube and also to reimburse me for a new starter battery, which had been caught on the battery tray and punctured it causing the acid to drain out during the boats 3 months on dry standing whilst I fitted out the boat, and would not start when it came into the water on launch.

The boat building company, which states that welding and pressure testing issued me with a certificate of conformity, and that the build had been carried out correctly. However, the reg. number for the boat,which I have since found out,is a number of letters and digits,beginning GB.  However the number which I have on the certificate is not as such,and is considered to be a made up number. 
The reg number of a boat must be stamped on the vessel in 2 places but as you may be able to guess, this has not been done to my boat.
  I believe it is highly unlikely that pressure testing had been carried out on the integral diesel tank, and also the skin tank. 

 

Trading Standards were notified immediately on discovery of faults, and assured me that they would be looking into prosecution based on breach of goods act. I received no further communications from them. 

The gas locker in the bow end has 2 breather holes in the hull sides. 
The ones made by the boat builder are incorrectly placed, and are 4" above the correct place.  On further inspection and other faults, with no response from the boat building company to offer to rectify problems, I employed a boat surveyor to carry out a full survey. Eddie Freeman completed this on 14th December 2005.

More will be posted soon including details from the boat survey.

Please note that due to legal reasons we can't name the boat building company in question and we are not prepared to do so. The above article has been sent to JustCanals by Marc Lovett and is purely on his facts. 

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