On Feb 5, 5:51*pm, "nom=de=plume" wrote:
"Tim" wrote in message

...
On Feb 5, 5:02 pm, "nom=de=plume" wrote:



"Tim" wrote in message

...
On Feb 5, 3:54 pm, "nom=de=plume" wrote:

I was looking at a friend's magazine called Marine News (Jan/2010). It
has
an interesting article about seaworthiness.

I couldn't find it on the website marinelink.com... guess it's too new.
But,
if you get the magazine, it might be worth reading if you employ others
on
your boat.

Basically, it discusses a vessel owner's responsibilities for
seaworthiness...

Duty of Vessel Owner to Furnish a Seaworthy Vessel
Under the general maritime law, a vessel owner has a duty to furnish a
seaworthy vessel. A seaworthy vessel is one which is reasonably fit to
carry
the cargo it has undertaken to transport. While this duty is absolute,
'the
standard is not perfection, but reasonable fitness; not a ship that will
weather every conceivable storm or withstand every imaginable peril of
the
sea, but a vessel reasonably suitable for her intended service.'

--
Nom=de=Plume
That's a good reminder on using common sense. Ive seen people out on
my favorite lakes that will have a 24' pontoon boat with about 25
people on it. it's so bad the the pontoons are about under water. or
an 18' open bow runabout with a load capacity of 7at 150lb. ea. and
there will be 10 adults plus gear hanging all over it.

Sooner or later, sumpin's gotta give.

Courts have found ships unseaworthy for a variety of reasons, from what
I've
read on the subject, which makes sense. They include lack of bilge pump or
tools or similar, or items in disrepair, etc.

--
Nom=de=Plume

I know you were talking about vessels as if in commercial cargo types,
and it's bad that a lot of safety features are neglected or are sent
out with the threat of horrible weather approaching *and having broken
or missing safety devices.

But I see this kind of thing happen on the lakes and rivers quite
frequently with personal craft *too. Just because ones boat is in
order, doesn't mean they have to push it with stupidity.

Reply: I have no doubt.

--
Nom=de=Plume

It's amazing what you can see at a lake on a holiday weekend.

But on the lighter side, I always get a chuckle out of threads like
this one:

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/009598.html