USCG Raises Assumed Average Weight per Person:
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Mathematically, that works out to 3-1/3 men for every woman on a boat loaded to the new standard. I guess they expect more men than women to sail on a given excursion.
I'm afraid I've got the average male's weight beat by better than 35 lb, much to my family's dismay. And I don't even look big.
I'm afraid I've got the average male's weight beat by better than 35 lb, much to my family's dismay. And I don't even look big.
This is sad and "LoL" at the same time. . .
I work with designers who engineer commercial buildings. I've joked about people getting heavier before, and when the building code will change to reflect this. . .but if you break down the loading it isn't as funny. . .
Floor load per square foot is calculated from Dead Load (weight of structure) + Live Load (people, things, extra) and as people are getting heavier the "extra" part of the equation is getting smaller Not enough to go screaming from the hills, but it is there.
Funny story (well, not really I guess), one of the jobs we had involved a renovated second floor that was turned into a cardio studio for overweight people. We got the job to fix it when part of the floor collapsed No one was hurt.
I work with designers who engineer commercial buildings. I've joked about people getting heavier before, and when the building code will change to reflect this. . .but if you break down the loading it isn't as funny. . .
Floor load per square foot is calculated from Dead Load (weight of structure) + Live Load (people, things, extra) and as people are getting heavier the "extra" part of the equation is getting smaller
Not enough to go screaming from the hills, but it is there.Funny story (well, not really I guess), one of the jobs we had involved a renovated second floor that was turned into a cardio studio for overweight people. We got the job to fix it when part of the floor collapsed
No one was hurt.
Be careful law enforcement will follow the new guidelines as far as how many people rather than the actual weight of the people aboard. Does it make sense? You may put in a lot of weight in boating and convenience accessories but only so many persons. Legislating common sense is a profitable undertaking.
Makes no Difference for Enforcement
The capacity plate reads persons or equipment and gives a weight. If you exceed that limit in either persons or equipment you may be cited. In other words, your plate reads 3 persons or 900 pounds you put 3 300 pound persons on board you are fully loaded and if one of those guys brings a cooler you can be cited. Conversely if you put 4 people on board who weigh a total of 600 pounds and a 20 pound cooler you may still be cited as you exceeded the 3 Persons.
Will make no difference for most of us here anyway as sailboats are not required to display a capacity plate. A few do and I suspect that the way the regulations are written if there is a plate you must abide by that capacity.
The capacity plate reads persons or equipment and gives a weight. If you exceed that limit in either persons or equipment you may be cited. In other words, your plate reads 3 persons or 900 pounds you put 3 300 pound persons on board you are fully loaded and if one of those guys brings a cooler you can be cited. Conversely if you put 4 people on board who weigh a total of 600 pounds and a 20 pound cooler you may still be cited as you exceeded the 3 Persons.
Will make no difference for most of us here anyway as sailboats are not required to display a capacity plate. A few do and I suspect that the way the regulations are written if there is a plate you must abide by that capacity.
it will effect new boat owners as they did not change the density of water. so a boat that previously held 4 people might now only legally hold 3. course you would probably know that before you bought the thing but it would figure into the decision to buy.
I love how the gooberment keeps telling people to stay away from meats and eat more 'whole grain' foods. Then a gooberment agency talks about how they have to adapt to people getting fatter.
But they forget to mention that eating any plant matter even 'whole grain' still raises your glucose levels and insulin response causing your body to store more fat than it would if you ate more red and lean meats.
Hypocritical lies.
But they forget to mention that eating any plant matter even 'whole grain' still raises your glucose levels and insulin response causing your body to store more fat than it would if you ate more red and lean meats.
Hypocritical lies.
As I see it, it is a safety issue. An overloaded boat for what ever reason is unstable and unsafe. Thank God the Coast Guard is being sensible about safety. Just look around at how many FAT people there are.
Begs the question ...
are manufacturers going to change their plates and advertising? For instance, MacGregor has a safety decal on their 26' boat that limits capacity to 6 people / 960 lbs. or 4 people / 640 lbs. without water ballast. (They advertise berths for 6 people). With these new regulations, will they now reduce their stated capacity to 5 people / 960 lbs or continue to pretend the boat is stable for 6 people?
are manufacturers going to change their plates and advertising? For instance, MacGregor has a safety decal on their 26' boat that limits capacity to 6 people / 960 lbs. or 4 people / 640 lbs. without water ballast. (They advertise berths for 6 people). With these new regulations, will they now reduce their stated capacity to 5 people / 960 lbs or continue to pretend the boat is stable for 6 people?
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A few years ago a tour boat on Lk George in NY capsized and twenty people drowned primarily because the boat was loaded based on the old standard. The boat was turning and was hit by a wake, and that was all she wrote.
The water taxi capsize near Baltimore's Inner Harbor that killed 5 people back in 2004 was determined by the NTSB to be partly caused by the out-of-date average passenger weight standard.
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