Facing a Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) inspection can always fill you with trepidation. This is particularly true when modifications have been made to the installations such as gas, electricity or fuel lines all of which have been modified on White Lady since her last inspection.

The main changes I had made were to fit a combination spin-on fuel filter and water separator which I was careful to mount outside of the engine compartment in the locker space encompassing the fuel tank. I also replaced ageing copper fuel lines to a single flexible fuel hose run from the filter to the engine fuel pump made up with the correct grade of fuel hose (clearly marked) with swaged end fittings which was frequently supported with the appropriate P-clips within the engine compartment. This arrangement struck me as being safer than using multiple compression fittings and stress failure of the pipework due to vibration.

I replaced the gas piping run from the gas locker to my new cooker with the final terminations made by a Gas Safe boat qualified gas engineer who also thoroughly tested the system and provided me with a report. With Calor Gas messing around deciding whether they were going to continue with the supply of their smallest gas bottles, I changed to Flo Gas. The bottles are very slightly higher leading to concerns the Freeman gas locker wouldn’t be high enough to comply with BSS. Fortunately mine just about was. What may have helped was that I fitted a proper marine regulator which has a small pressure relief pipe which I have expelling to the bottom of the gas locker near the drain fitting. These regulators are much more expensive than the ‘camping’ ones, but they’re the right thing for the job.

My final point of concern were the electrics as I had completely replaced the old wiring on the boat and used new blade fuse holders whilst fitting a Lithium Iron Phospate domestic battery with a smart battery monitor, VSR, new alternator and retaining a AGM battery for engine starting. Whilst this was all correctly fitted with cabling properly supported, there does seem to be a grey area of mis-understanding with regard ‘Lithium’ batteries which I was keen to not fall foul of.

There seem to be various types of inspector from those who clearly want to cover themselves at any expense, to those who have a practical understanding of safety and it’s application through regulations. I was clearly fortunate to enjoy the services of the latter and now have a clean bill of health till late 2029.