Ordering Australian Builders Plates (ABP) and samples
Ordering plates
Builders, dealers and importers might arrange for a signage manufacturer to make the blank ABPs for them, or they can order blank plates via the Australian Marine Industries Federation (external site).
The ABP Standard stipulates the minimum letter sizes for plates. The shape of, or material from which the plate is made, is not important as long as it is visible from the helm and is as robust as the information on the plate has to be (generally as robust as the boat material itself). Example plates appear on the NMSC (external site) and are reproduced from version 3 of the ABP Standard.
For more information and for a copy of the latest edition (Edition 3) of the ABP Standard. Note: some parts of the ABP Standard are modified slightly by regulations (Fair Trading (Product Information Standard) Regulations 2005), such as to which vessels the ABP applies. These changes are made to ensure that the ABP Standard is applied in WA in the way intended by the NMSC. Interested people can visit the NMSC (external site) and follow the links to the ABP page.
Sample plates
The ABP lists the following information:
- Boat Builder (or Importer, or other person approving the information) and Year of build (or Hull Identification Number - HIN)
- Maximum outboard engine power
- Maximum outboard engine weight
- Maximum number and weight of persons
- Maximum load (Maximum Load includes, for vessels fitted with outboard motors, the weight of the outboard. This is because for any specific vessel, the outboard can be exchanged for a different one (subject to the maxima on the ABP), which changes the other loads that can be carried within the vessel.)
- Buoyancy performance (required only on vessels less than 6 metres in length)
- Compulsory warning statement
- Optional warning statements
- Name of the Standard used in determining the above information
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