Tutorials are supplied by ICOMIA & IMCI as an aid to users and do not constitute part of the software

Developed by the Faculty of Maritime & Technology

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 TUTORIAL No.1- LEARNING THE BASICS
APPLICABLE TO MODULE: ALL
USER PROFILE: First time users who have reviewed ISO-12215-5
PREREQUISTES: - Any of the 6 modules
- PC running Excel 2007 or Excel 2010
- Possession of a legal copy of ISO-12215-5

This symbol and text means this is an action (e.g. click with mouse) that you should
do. If you do not see this symbol then it is a note for you to read.

STEP 1
You need to have downloaded the Module of your choice (as indicated by the large red number)
from the ISO website.

Go to the directory where you have stored your module and double click on the icon
with your mouse

The program will start with a declaration that you have read and agree to the terms of the
SOFTWARE USER LICENCE AGREEMENT which you must accept in order for the program to load
up. This will only happen when you run the program for the first time

You will then see a ‘splash-screen’. This will appear every time you run the
program and will disappear after a few seconds

STEP 2
You will then see this screen. Your screen will look similar but may not be exactly the same.

Exactly view depends on

Module selected

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This is the screen you will see every time you start up the program. It’s where
you enter the CRAFT PRINCIPAL DATA,ATA, for example, Hull length, speed, design
category etc.

Move the mouse over the button ‘Click here if you are a new user’ as
indicated. You may see the mouse cursor change to a hand or other
symbol which indicates an active button

Click the left button on the mouse

STEP 3

Having arrived at this screen you now need to follow the seven steps indicated.

Follow the 7 steps on NEW USER-

USER BASIC OPERATION not forgetting to do
view the ‘Map’ and returning to Principal Dimensions to review ALL the
Help sheets. If you don’t do this NOW it will cost you time later on
on.

End of Tutorial 1

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 TUTORIAL No.2- Exploring the limits
APPLICABLE TO MODULE: ALL
USER PROFILE: First time users who have reviewed ISO-12215-5
PREREQUISTES: - Any of the 6 modules
- PC running Excel 2007 or Excel 2010
- Possession of a legal copy of ISO-12215-5
- COMPLETION OF TUTORIAL No.1

This symbol and text means this is an action (e.g. click with mouse) that you should
do. If you do not see this symbol then it is a note for you to read.

STEP 1

Launch the module of your choice (SEE Tutorial No.1)

Notice that you are faced with a empty sheet, i.e. no boat has been defined. There is also a warning
message ‘The HULL LENGTH is below the ISO-12215 lower limit of 2.5 metres’.

No surprise there – no boat is defined so the program thinks the hull length is 0 metres.

STEP 2

Set the Design category to A or B or C and then enter 16m in the Hull Length white box
(remember you can use the TAB key on very left of keyboard to move around the white data
entry cells).

Note the message which appears just above the 16m.

Now go to the bottom and change the design category to D

The message has disappeared!

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STEP 3

Change the design category to A and the hull length to 12.00

There is no warning now.

STEP 4

Change the hull length to 24.01

Now not only is there a warning but most of the data input boxes have disappeared again.

THIS ALL MEANS:

ISO-12215 is not valid for hull lengths of greater than 24m. The program should not be used.

For design category A, B and C self-certification normally applies only up to 12m hull length

For design category D self-certification normally applies up to 24m hull length

HOWEVER with the exception of the 24m hull length limit you can ignore these warning messages
and the program will still give answers, but IF you do you are straying off scope of ISO-12215-5.

SELF-CERTIFIER-12215-5 is intended as an aid to builders wishing to self-certify existing craft, i.e.

without the assistance of a notified body or perhaps even a qualified structural engineer.

This is fine provided you observe some golden rules:

1. Do not ignore the limits even if these are only advisory

2. Do not try to use the program to design down to compliance factors of 1 (see Tutorial No.1
and help topics for an explanation of compliance factors)

STEP 5

Find the scroll bars. Use these to see the full display (only necessary if you are working with a
screen which is not set up to show the whole display)

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 Scroll bars

STEP 6

Find the grey button with ‘Populate’ on it. It’s on the far right hand side (use Populate
the scroll bars if necessary).

There will be more discussion on this in tutorial 5. Just click on it for now and notice that the
principal dimensions are populated. We are going to now try some of the further limits.

In the appropriate box change the length on waterline to be greater than the hull length and the
waterline beam to be greater than the maximum beam. Make the depth less than the draft. This
is stupid, right!

Notice what happens. Absolutely nothing!

SELF-CERTIFIER-12215-5 does not do your thinking for you. Although it does take some of the pain
out of the calculations, it has limited checks on inappropriate data.

You might want to select ‘yes’ if not already selected on the see typicals’ dropdown white cell. This
should prevent data entry error but remember it is only intended to be guidance.

STEP 7

Make deadrise 40 degrees and the speed 60 knots (motor only) and enter the displacement in
tonnes, say 12.

Notice what happens. This time you get a warning!

While every effort has been made to validate the software, YOU are responsible for ensuring that
the program is fit for purpose. SELF-CERTIFIER-12215-5 is totally transparent in that it shows all the
intermediate calculations. You cannot turn these off, although they do not usually appear in the

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hard copy of any scantling report you may wish to create. You should review these from time to
time against the formulae given in the ISO standard.

SUMMARY OF LIMITATIONS

The purpose of Tutorial No. 2 was to indicate the kinds of limitations which are associated with using
SELF-CERTIFIER-12215-5. There are three types:

1. ‘No-go’ limitations (i.e. outside scope of ISO-12215-5) – don’t use SELF-CERTIFIER-12215-5

for hull lengths greater than 24m or speeds greater than 50 knots for motor.

2. Advisory limitations – used within the advisory limits for checking of craft which have proven
to be satisfactory in service, SELF-CERTIFIER-12215-5 can be used with confidence. Anything
remotely unconventional will require the services of a qualified structural engineer. This is
an assessment tool for practical people who are expected to marry their extensive
experience with what the computer is telling them. It should NOT be used by people with
very limited experience of the type of craft being assessed

3. QUALITY INPUT IS EVERYTHING – the biggest bug in any computer program can be the
person sitting in front of the screen. Rubbish data in = rubbish answers out. So take your
time. Read the help sheets (see Tutorial No.1 ) get your plans together and make sure you
are happy with the basic concepts (again see help sheets). If you get stuck while there is no
formal technical support contact ICOMIA – they may be able to help

End of Tutorial No.2

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 TUTORIAL No.3 – METAL CRAFT
APPLICABLE TO MODULE: Module 3-6 only
USER PROFILE: First time users who have reviewed ISO-12215-5
PREREQUISTES: - Module 3-6
- PC running Excel 2007 or Excel 2010
- Possession of a legal copy of ISO-12215-5
- COMPLETION OF TUTORIALS 1 & 2

STEP 1

Double click on the icon with your mouse to launch the module of choice,
e.g. module 3

STEP 2

You could enter a hull length and this will reveal the other boxes. This is what you WILL do once
you are familiar with the program. For now we will use the ‘factory-set’ boat which varies with
the module you are using. So click the Populate button you used in Tutorial 1.

Your display will

depend on the module
you are using

We now have a boat and are ready to go. Incidentally, you can override any of these values if you
are not happy. The idea of the factory boat is to give you an indication of typical values – it’s for
guidance only while you are learning SELF-cERTIFIER-12215-5. Click on Populate again to reset.

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STEP 3

Go to MATERIALS

Click on Go to MATERIALS or ctrl _ m and then on the Populate button you’ll find
at the right hand side of this sheet.

Initially blank. ‘Populate’

adds typical small boat
stiffeners.

Click on the first Stiffener type cell (not the four pictures in the top right) (it is light orange). This
reveals a colour coded drop down which matches the figures in the top right hand part above
the stiffener geometry table. Try each option in turn, note the colour change and the
appearance of data entry boxes

There is nothing to stop you entering any data you like in any order but a systematic approach is
always the best one to go for, hence you’ll see flat bars, equal angles, unequal angles and finally
fabricated tee sections. Recommended approach – populate and overwrite as necessary.

You will also want to enter sections which represent your normal build/supplier. The section
properties are calculated internally so you don’t need to worry about this. Just enter the dimensions
in the normal way.

Click on the first cell again and change the type back to flat bar. Now make the thickness
2mm.

Look at the far right column. The tWEB MIN value has gone from black text on grey to red text on pink.
This is because you have specified a web thickness which is too low. Change it back to 4mm.

This is not necessarily a disaster (two sections were already ed on pink ( as there is an additional
correction factor introduced at a later stage. This is explained in the standard and will not be gone
into here.

If you can represent all your boats by the 13 stiffeners allowed in the library you will only need to
visit MATERIALS LIST once. You can then go from Principal Dimensions directly to the Zone Central.
If not you will just need to amend your standard library as you need to. For now just leave the
default stiffener database as it is.

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You might also want to explore the aluminium grades available in modules 3 or 4 (only the
three fixed values for steel if you are using modules 5 or 6). Use drop down boxes.
STEP 4
Go To Zone
Central

Click on Go To Zone Central or ctrl _ z and then

Click on Go to BOTTOM zone Go To BOTTOM

Then on Populate for the factory-set boat panels/stiffeners* zone

* Normally this is where you will spend most of your time, picking off panel and stiffener sizes and
locations from your construction drawings

Actually you could have gone directly to the bottom zone from anyway in the program by holding
down the ctrl key and pressing the letter b.

Once you get familiar with the program you may want to use these short cuts but if you only use the
program occasionally the click on buttons is probably best.

Your display will

depend on the module
you are using

This is where you specify the sizes and locations of the critical panels and stiffeners.

The program looks more restrictive than it is. To give form to the assessment, SELF-CERTIFIER-
12215-5 suggests you look at three zones (aft L/3, middle L/3 and forward L/3) looking for the most
critical panel and or up to two stiffeners in each.
Design loads tend to be greater in the forebody but then panel sizes and stiffener spans can be
larger in the after body (to accommodate engine seats for example).

You could have all your critical structure in the forebody and you may wish to put all 9 bottom
components (3 panels, 6 stiffeners) in the forebody zone. However it is recommended that you
don’t do this. It is easy to overlook components. The recommended approach is to find the WORST
(most critical) component in each zone and see how the boat looks. It might be that all components
easily comply (compliance factor say 1.5+). In this case the job is done.

If you do want to consider more components it might be better to just make a second copy of the
file. For small boats with fairly uniform scantlings you probably won’t need to do this.

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Warning – you need to be REALLY careful when entering in curvature values. See Tutorial No.1 help
sheets for guidance here.

Note – You might find it easier to use stiffeners B1, B2 and B3 as stringer, longitudinals or
transverses (secondary members, see ISO-12215-6) and B4-B6 are transverse web frames or girders
or other stiffener members (primary members, see ISO-12215-6). You don’t HAVE to define all 9
components but this is considered to be good practice for a metal boat.

STEP 5 Go To Bottom

Click on Shell and Clear all

Enter a sensible plating thickness, say 4 or 5mm and select a material from your drop down box.

You may select the plate thickness and aluminium or steel type (created in the MATERIALS LIST).

Study the green or red boxes. These are the ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ indicators. If everything is green
try putting in a really low thickness and watch the box ‘go-red’.

STEP 6

Click on or ctrl + b Go To BOTTOM
zone

Go To Bottom

Click on Stiffeners 1-3

Did you notice that there is no underlined letter on this box? There aren’t short-cuts for everything.
This is done deliberately to provide structure to the program. You are forced to keep returning to
the zone you are currently working on.

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As the white boxes should be empty (click on the clear all button in the top left hand side if not) you
can now TAB key through to enter values.

Select from your available

stiffeners and materials. The
program knows the attached
plating from the previous sheet

For information: The #DIV/0! Means the program is trying to divide a number by zero which of course
it can’t do. The solution is pretty simple – you have not defined everything you need to. This
shouldn’t normally be a problem if you use a fixed materials database for most of your projects. You
might also see this type of error if you don’t define all required inputs for all 9 components.

Review the green or red boxes to see the criteria that must be satisfied for stiffeners

1. Section modulus (i.e. is there enough bending strength?)

2. Web area (i.e. is there enough shear strength?)
3. Is the stiffener unlikely to buckle (i.e. is tWEB big enough?)

The box underneath contains some of the ISO calculations you would need if you wanted to check
the program against the standard.

Your display may have

different values

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STEP 7
There is no step 7. Even though in terms of completing the assessment there is a lot more to be
done (i.e. picking off panel/stiffener dimensions, deciding what’s a critical panel) and then….

a) Check bottom stiffeners B2 – B6

b) Go to topside zone, enter the 9 critical component sizes and locations (topsides are bit more
complicated so go to Tutorial No.1 and review the appropriate help sheet before trying this for
real)

c) Check topside 9 components by selecting the ‘as-fitted’ plate thickness and stiffener as defined
in the MATERIAL LIST

d) Go to deck zone, do the same thing

e) Go to deckhouse zone, do the same thing

f) Go to bulkheads and enter the data indicated

g) Write report (try holding down ctrl key and pressing letter ‘r’ to see this – it is intended to be
pretty obvious)

However in terms of what more you need to know to drive the program, we’ve covered everything.
It’s just more of the same. For anything else which is not clear you will need to go back to the ISO
standard).

End of Tutorial No.3

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 TUTORIAL No.4- The Report
APPLICABLE TO MODULE: ALL
USER PROFILE: First time users who have reviewed ISO-12215-5
PREREQUISTES: - Any of 6 modules
- PC running Excel 2007 or Excel 2010
- Possession of a legal copy of ISO-12215-5
- COMPLETION OF TUTORIAL No.1, 2 and 3

This symbol and text means this is an action (e.g. click with mouse) that you should
do. If you do not see this symbol then it is a note for you to read.

STEP 1

Launch the module of your choice (SEE Tutorial No.1) but make sure it’s one with everything
cleared (use Clear all)

STEP 2

This time DON’T Populate but either click on Write Report or ctrl + ‘r’.

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 This is area
to look at

Now do this: ctrl + b and Populate then ctrl + k and Populate and finally ctrl + ‘r’

Provided you started with a completely unpopulated file before you did this last step, you should
see…

The report writing page is telling you that you have only defined data for the bottom shell and the
deckhouse so that’s ALL you need to Copy for pasting into your report.

STEP 3

Do this: ctrl + ‘b’ and delete the data for stiffeners B4, B5 and B6 (leave the plate and stiffeners
B1-B3, i.e. don’t just Clear all.

You should see 4c (Bottom STIFFENERS 4-6) is no longer on the ‘things to copy’ list.

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 It’s gone

Now read the rest of the Write Report sheet – it should be pretty obvious.

End of Tutorial No.4

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 TUTORIAL No.5- Doing your first boat
APPLICABLE TO MODULE: ALL
USER PROFILE: First time users who have reviewed ISO-12215-5
PREREQUISTES: - Any of 6 modules
- PC running Excel 2007 or Excel 2010
- Possession of a legal copy of ISO-12215-5
- COMPLETION OF TUTORIAL No.1, 2, 3 or 4

BEWARE THE .Populate. BOX

All modules contain a quick method for entering DEFAULT (or ‘factory’) DATA. This is done for three
reasons:

1. To avoid a distraction while you were getting to grips with the operation

2. To help the developer with validation (you might have noticed that some of the values were a
little inconsistent – this was done to check various features of the software)

3. To help users unfamiliar with scantling calculations to enter the right data – typical errors are
parameters in the wrong uses such as tonnes rather than kilograms or metres rather than
millimetres. ISO-12215-5, like all boat scantling rules is far from being a pure SI (System
International) with a mix of metric units.

In same cases it might be worth loading the default boat and then editing the data if your boat
happens to be very similar but be really careful here as it’s easy to overlook items and so your RCD
assessment can end up as a mixture of your actual boat and a fictional craft.

RECOMMENDATION 1
Before you do anything else for a real job:

1. Create a directory called ‘ISO MASTER*’ and transfer all your modules to that directory

2. Create a directory for each project, called ‘BOAT #001*’

3. Copy and paste the Module of interest into C:\RCD assessments\BOAT #001 and rename the
module BOAT001.exe

4. Now start entering the data – with this scheme you will never corrupt the master copy. In practice
if the boats in your range are similar you will want to create a sub directory of ISO MASTER called
BASIS BOAT* where you store a module set up with the right material list.

*Suggestion only – anything you like

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RECOMMENDATION 2

1. Make a hard copy of the report – relying on electronic is dangerous. Technical Construction Files
need to be kept for many years after the boat is placed on the market. You might upgrade your
computer and this may mean the program will no longer work

2. Provide a set of annotated drawings using the component notation used in SELF-CERTIFIER-12215-
5 as there is no facility to rename components

D3

S2

B1

Good luck!
End of tutorial 5

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