The amended version revokes all previous RCDs and offers us all one set of regulations that will be implemented on January 1, 2005. There will then be a 12 month transition period for non-powered craft and diesel and 4-stroke engine craft, plus a 24 month transition period for 2-stroke engines.

According to the British Marine Federation (BMF), from January 1, 2006, all elements of the new regulations will be mandatory for the main part of the recreational marine industry.

The BMF's recent technical report on the RCD says the changes cover sound emission limits, exhaust emission limits, changes to some design category definition, changes to the identification number system, new definitions fo5r craft and engine conversion and for post construction assessment.

The new regulations will also bring personal watercraft (PWC) under the RCD for the first time: they will have to comply with both existing and amended RCD.

Nik Parker, the BMF's technical director, says the new regulations will be launched to the industry at a technical update at the Southampton International Boat Show this September.

One of the key elements of the amended RCD is sound compliance. Displacement craft seem to have no problems working with the Froude number/displacement ratio calculation.

But it's a different story for semi-displacement and planing craft.

The Reference Boat system - ISO 14509-2 - was proposed by the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) on Tim Donkin's watch a few years ago. Put simply, it needs boatbuilders to run by-pass sound tests (at £3,000+ a time) [and that's if the weather's right on the day] on their craft to ensure compliance, then offer the boat's lines/ configurations they spent many thousands of pounds developing to be lodged in a central database.

A builder intending to produce a boat can then access the database to see if there's a configuration he can use that will offer instant compliance.

According to Nigel Saw, technical manager at the BMF, the builders are being slow to respond?.

Another option - and by far the best bet - is the SoundBoat project. This project began in February 2003 with the aid of EC grants, input from the marine industry associations (MIAs) in France, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom, plus support from industrial partners Halyard in the United Kingdom, Nanni Diesel in France and Volvo Penta in Sweden.

The objective was to run pass-by sounds tests on 80 boats and analyse the data to see if compliance can be assessed from the data generated, rather than from comparisons to particular craft.

Some 88 craft have been tested to date and the analysis of data is progressing well.

"Hopefully we'll have some data we can present to the marine industry around September this year, " Saw told BB.

SoundBoat has been able to pinpoint various sound sources and confirm that exhaust noise - unsurprisingly - plays the largest part.

This, in itself, causes a problem for boatbuilders.

Because engine manufacturers like to change their products.

So each time a new engine comes on the market, the builder has to run new sound tests to prove compliance. At £3k+ per boat.

Unless, of course, ICOMIA can persuade the Braithwaites, Kings, Carters and Wainwrights of this world to donate their lines so Joe Boatbuilder can ensure he "designs" a compliant boat without all the irritating little things like expensive pass-by tests??.