I’m considering importing a 1988 F33 from UK to France but I would need to have it RCD / CE certified.
Here is what the CE proof company requires:
For a cat. A calc. we need GZ curves for a light and a heavy load case of the boat and also the information how it was calculated (e.g. based on weight calculation or inclining test; are the curves calc. > for a boat with the same rig and keel configuration> …) for a cat B we can apply service history and this makes the process much easier and cheaper. […] If you want to reach a cat. A and there is not the documentation available I listed above we need the boat in the water to proceed an inclining test and additional if there is no lines drawing of the hull available, we need to measure the hull and for this we need it also onshore.
If I can’t provide the GZ curves or hull schematics, a naval engineer would have to come from Hamburg to measure the hull and perform tests. This would double the cost in addition to replacing the venerable Yanmar 3GM30F engine with a RCD compliant one.
So here is my question: do you have hull schematics of the F32 and F33 UK or category A certification documents of a F33 with alloy spar?
The cost might exceed the current boat value which is a shame. You really need to love your classic plastic to import it to the EU!
I found the original documentation aboard Soarsa.
On the Yannmar 3GM30F manual is handwritten " F33 010". So I presume this is hull nb 10!
The F33 UK catsloop manual is the same as the F32 US posted in this forum with additional pages specific to the F33 signed by Gary Hoyt.
On the mast, Hoyt states:
Although at first it may appear to be alarming, remember that the mast has been designed for the top to go to leeward ten feet from the straight and only if it exceeds 13 feet is it getting to the limit of its elasticity and thirteen feet from the centre of the boat is way out, a boats width to leeward!
The main differences with the F32 are:
The wheel pedestal is a Whitlock Cobra 4 with steel rod connexion.
None of the UK built Freedom yachts will be CE marked, since that requirement post-dated the model being discontinued. It might be possible to have Category A recognised on the basis of the performance of other, identical boats; for instance, the previous owner of ‘Castaway’ raced it to the Caribbean several times, as well as to the Azores and back. It is a standard F35 with centreboard, the only change being aft-opening hatches in the coach roof to meet ocean racing rules. Castaway also survived a well documented knock down in the Atlantic with no significant damage, and continued to Falmouth unhindered. We don’t have any insurance restrictions on sailing offshore.
Whilst we are not interested in ocean crossings, we have crossed the northern North Sea several times without concern, the crew a couple in their sixties – though we are a little more circumspect now, a decade later. The boat would be fine.
I know that the ‘past performance’ route has been used to bring boats back to the UK following Brexit, since we now have our own Recreational Craft Directive; it may be worth spending the time to enquire about this possibility, if you can find the owner of a similar boat with offshore sailing experience.
‘Castaway’ has been in the EU for a number of years, and, when we sell it, we don’t expect to have any problems about certification, and it also has VAT-paid status both at home and in the EU, so I have not made any personal enquiry about the RCD.