Ready To Go Range

“Why buy “Ready To Go”?

When considering undertaking a DIY boat project one cloud on the horizon, seldom mentioned by boatbuilders whose main preoccupation is selling you the boat, is your obligations under the Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) and UK law.

The Recreational Craft Directive forms part of the EU and UK consumer protection law and in simple terms sets out minimum standards for any boat built in the European Union.
Legally all EU boatbuilders have to comply with this or face prosecution resulting in fines and/or imprisonment.

The Recreational Craft Directive applies to all boat builders regardless of whether they are professional or amateur DIY. So, when purchasing a DIY project boat you become the boatbuilder and have legal responsibility for the boat you build. (Obviously this bit of news is not conducive to selling DIY boats so most boatbuilders choose not to mention this.)

There is an available exemption to complying with the RCD in that a boat built for your own use can be exempted providing you do not attempt to sell the boat for five years from the date of full completion. Going down this route is not entirely straightforward in itself and at the five or more years from full completion point if you do decide to sell the boat the lack of RCD documentation may have an adverse effect on the boat’s value and prevent future owners securing finance for the boat’s purchase.

If you would like to find out more about the Recreational Craft Directive and your obligations to gain compliance the RYA have a very informative guide HERE.

We have therefore developed our “Ready to go” Range of DIY builds that comply with all essential elements of the RCD and thus mean that we can CE mark the boat and supply all documentation needed. We can also support you in advising how to add to your RCD documentation any work or additions that you do to ensure if you do decide to sell, your paperwork remains correct.

This leaves you free to add the finishing touches to complete your boat.