Upper Deck Capacity?

captrigney said:

Here is an example of what can go terribly wrong when too many people are loaded too high on a ship.

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Or more recently the whale watching boat "Leviathan II" off Tofino. Preliminary findings released by Transportation Safety Board of Canada implied the loading of people on the top deck caused the boat to roll over.

"Marc-Andre Poisson, the director of marine investigations with the Transportation Safety Board, released preliminary results of Sunday's accident that claimed five lives. One passenger is still missing.
"We know that most passengers and crew were on the top deck on the port side ... this would have raised the centre of gravity, affecting the vessel's stability," he said during a news conference.
"We also know that the sea conditions were such that the wave approached the vessel from the starboard quarter," he said. "We know the vessel broached and then capsized."

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/centre...ave-hit-b-c-whale-watching-boat-tsb-1.2629258

The investigation continues:

http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/enquetes-investigations/marine/2015/m15p0347/m15p0347.asp


Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

Thanks, JDCAVE. It is always good learn from other's experiences both good and bad.

Interesting and tragic story about the Eastland. I had not heard of that before.

According to the formula posted from AUS and Queensland, my boat would have a capacity of 16 folks, which would make only 4 on the flybridge. I have factory seating for 8 on the flybridge itself.

I have had 5 large adults on the fly bridge while under way and didn't think about it. I think I will think about it more now.

Does this formula only apply to our Australian brothers and sisters because they're almost upside down there anyway?

Far be it from me to argue with an equation, but I still don't see how this could be valid if it doesn't take into consideration hull shape, draft, ballast, height of the flybridge above the water line, whether a vessel has stabilizers and what else is carried aloft. There are probably other factors I'm omitting that an NA could address.

Tad, ol' buddy . . .?

I agree with you Angus99 except one point. Don't think stabilizers are allowed to enter into the equation as they merely attenuate motion and do not impart "stability". They can also either fail or fail to be used.

angus99 said:

Does this formula only apply to our Australian brothers and sisters because they're almost upside down there anyway?

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Too easy. Swap draft and height, you`ve nailed it.
We display a decal near the helm stating max pax. Strictly DIY, Maritime send you a blank label and a bunch of number stickers.

BruceK said:

Too easy. Swap draft and height, you`ve nailed it.
We display a decal near the helm stating max pax. Strictly DIY, Maritime send you a blank label and a bunch of number stickers.

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Nothing on mine and nothing mentioned when swapping reg and jumping through the 15m+ hoops.

Simi 60 said:

Nothing on mine and nothing mentioned when swapping reg and jumping through the 15m+ hoops.

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Could be NSW specific.

BruceK said:

Could be NSW specific.

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No, I got a similar label with numbers to stick in the wee circles when I renewed a registration one time, I think.

Curiosity got the better of me so I contacted Ross and asked about his carrying capacity. To recap, Blue Eyes II is in survey for commercial operations in enclosed water in NSW, and is an Ocean Alexander Mk1, 50'3" LOA and 15'6" beam, approx. 60,000# half fluid load. Same as my boat and that of the OP.

Ross said that now commercial vessels are now certified under AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) throughout Australia. It was originally certified by NSW marine surveyors 18 years ago. As far as he is aware the carrying capacity and limit for people on the top deck was established during an on-water stability test. It is certified to carry 32 people (including crew) with a limit on the upper deck of 16. That is a huge difference to the SA and Qld state rules, 20 and 5 respectively, and properly determined as opposed to calculated by a generic equation.

My boat has Australian registration with AMSA (a once-only fee) but is also required to have Qld state registration, an annual fee. This is just revenue raising as Qld state govt. provides no services to boaters to speak of. Any facilities are provided by local govt. So, it seems I could ignore the mandatory capacity label limiting me to 5 up top, and put 16 there if I wanted to. They would fit OK without the 14' RIB up there. Don't you just love bureaucrats and their desktop formulas?

Of course I'm not going anywhere near the 32/16 limit - it would feel like being in a peak-hour suburban train!