T&T: ABYC standards

[Steve Sipe]

Truelove39 at aol.com wrote:
> Hi Gil -
>  
> Peter Kennedy, who seems to have a great reputation in  the Annapolis area, 
> claims on his Web site that he  "...is an ABYC certified marine electrician..." 
> So, evidently ABYC does more  than write standards, although this is the 
> first I've seen of this  certification. Anyone know anything about it?
>  
>  
> Regards,
>  
> John
> "Seahorse" 
>
>   
Yes, ABYC lists courses with testing for certification of skills. An 
ABYC-certified technician has either completed the related course or has 
"tested out" by taking the test to certify skills that he may already 
have and can pass the test without the exercise of taking the course. 
Their courses cover most of the areas addressed by the standards, so it 
imparts some confidence that the certified technician who is working on 
your boat has a working knowledge of those standards.

And, FWIW, you can obtain an individual membership that enables you to 
take the courses and/or tests, plus obtain a complete standard in a 
binder or in pdf form. The membership with standard was $334 when I 
signed up the best I can recall, the re-up is about a hundred bucks 
annually, with that you receive the latest updates to the standard.

There will always be the naysayers who say it's overkill, the standards 
are more than what's really needed, and on & on, but ABYC is comprised 
of industry professionals who IMHO are genuinely interested in improving 
the safety, reliability, and quality of their industry. The training of 
technicians is an extension of that philosophy, and certainly helps to 
improve the level of quality in the service end of the boating industry.

Steve Sipe
Solo 4303 "Maerin"
Upper Chesapeake