CE design category

What it means

Recreational craft sold in the European Economic Area are assigned a design category describing the conditions they are built to withstand. Category A is ocean, B offshore, C inshore — coastal waters, large bays and lakes — and D sheltered waters. The categories are defined by wind force and significant wave height in the Recreational Craft Directive and the ISO standards beneath it.

What the category does and does not promise

It describes the boat as designed and built, not the passage you should attempt. A category B boat is not a guarantee of safety offshore; it is a statement about the hull, the openings and the stability, assessed under stated assumptions about load and crew. Weather, equipment and the people aboard remain entirely outside it.

Why so few figures appear here

Most builders in this catalogue do not publish a category, and we leave the field empty rather than infer one from a boat's size or its intended use. If the boat's permitted waters matter to you, ask the builder for the category and the maximum load it was assessed at.