ISO 13297: Electrical safety in pleasure craft. Is your boat safe?

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Most fires on board are caused by causes related to the ship's electrical system. But beyond a possible fire, electrical failures on board can cause dangerous situations, as they could leave us without communications, without navigation systems, without means of drainage, without detection of fires or gases, without means of ventilation or even without control of the ship's government.

In pleasure boats (not pleasure boats, passenger ships and fishing or merchant vessels) there is no mandatory regulation in Spanish legislation regarding low voltage installations on board. Just as the legislation regulates with the REBT (Low Voltage Electrotechnical Regulation) the suitability of mandatory compliance of electrical installations on land, the REBT does not reach recreational boats (the Complementary Technical Instruction ITC-42 of the REBT only reaches up to the port power supply tower).

We think that this "lack of obligation" and the ignorance of the Shipowners must be the reason why we find ourselves too often in the boats in which we work electrical installations, both 230V and 12V and 24V, outside of all regulations and, in many cases, potentially dangerous

The fact that there is no "mandatory regulation" does not mean that there is no such regulation. ISO 13297, transposed in Spain to the Spanish Standard UNE-EN ISO13297, whose latest edition is dated September 2021, specifies the requirements for direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) installations for pleasure boats. . What's more, currently (and fortunately) there are already several marinas that oblige their moorings to comply with this rule.

Below you can read the full content of the UNE-EN ISO 13297 standard

At Ventus Electrónica Náutica we carry out an analysis of the electrical installation in your boat versus ISO 13297. After the analysis, we issue a report with the proposed improvements. Later we can execute a project to adapt your boat to the standard and give yourself and your boat the confidence of having a safe electrical installation on board.

Accreditations:

• Telecommunications Electronics Engineering

• Authorization for the government of pleasure boats (length less than or equal to 24 meters) and pleasure vessels (length greater than 24 meters) of any motorization and navigation distance, up to 3,000GT.

• Company authorized by the General Directorate of the Merchant Marine to perform installation, repair and maintenance services for all radioelectric equipment, which are installed or are capable of being installed on ships that carry out their navigations in maritime waters of the SOLAS A1 Navigation Areas - A2. Registration number: M220200001 (General Directorate of the Merchant Marine, Ministry of Development).

• Registration number 22952 in the registry of companies authorized for installations of Telecommunications systems: Facilities of Radiocommunication Emitting Centers (General Directorate of Telecommunications, Ministry of Industry).

• Registration number 105000801 in the Register of Industrial Safety Agents of Catalonia - RASIC (valid throughout the Spanish territory) of an installation, maintenance and / or repair company of Low Voltage installations, with Specialist category (IBTE).

• Official Certified Technical Service of B&G, SIMRAD, Raymarine and Mastervolt.

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