The type of speedboats used in Phuket, Pattaya etc are designed for use on lakes with no waves and should never be sailed in the open sea. The only surprise is that is does not go badly more often that it does.

Posted by Sailor on March 6, 2014 18:29

- Sailor

Correct.

These are wooden frame boats with nothing but thin plywood panels and a layer of gelcoat.

They are nowhere near as durable as fiberglass boats but hey, if it looks good, it's good enough. Mai tong kid mak.

Go down to the dockyards to see many of them rotting there and revealing the haphazard construction.

IMO they should all be banned from open sea operations.

Posted by ThaiMike on March 6, 2014 22:34

Can't wait to go to lanta tomorrow, not!

Posted by Mark Steven McKenzie on March 7, 2014 10:13

@sailor and all who know about boats!
I didn't know this, how about letting the authorities know, a printed complaint by a few who want to help stop all these accidents in Phuket and Pattaya that seem to be happening every week lately .

Posted by Elizabeth on March 7, 2014 12:28

- Elizabeth

Surely you are not so naive to think that the authorities do not know how unsafe these boats are ?

Even the operators admit such a boat can only be used for 2 or 3 seasons before it simply disintegrates. Time to sell if off to a foreigner just fresh off the airplane.

As to complaints to authorities, I happen to know from close personal experience that if you go and complain about a company or person who has connections, as virtually all the locals do, the first thing they will do is to tell those individuals or companies who filed the complaint.

What happens next I leave to your imagination.

In short - authorities are not the solution, they are the problem.

Posted by ThaiMike on March 7, 2014 12:45

@Elizabeth, that's a good point, unfortunately there are no laws and regulations concerning how boats are built, what materials used or sea worthiness of the boats. As long as they can float and and there is seating and life wests (please note that none of these carry any approval stamp of any recognized instance) for the no of passengers, then everything is hunky dory and they are ready to go.

Posted by Sailor on March 7, 2014 18:04

Floating tuc tucs ?

Posted by Elizabeth on March 7, 2014 23:53