However, just like the Beihai, Huangpu, and Yulin class gunboats which had been transferred to law enforcement agencies, these obsolete and aging boats were not satisfactory in their new civilian roles, due largely to their low maximum speed (10 knots), which was not sufficient to catch the smugglers' high-speed motorboats.

Despite the small number of scientific instruments they carried, most of the range support boats in the PLAN also shoulder the responsibility of inshore surveying, regardless of their limitations.

Originally, the majority of the hydrographic surveys had been conducted by civilian fishing vessels which had additional scientific equipment, naval and governmental crews on board.

However, since the Chinese economic reform, and the depletion of the fishery resources, the civilian fishing vessels must venture much further out into open ocean on extended voyages, thus were no longer available for coastal or inland water survey operations.

Contrary to the commonly held, but erroneous belief that the Chinese Navy is following the tradition of maintaining weaponry on many of its auxiliaries (though there is certainly some degree of this), the retention was primarily for economic reasons: to avoid conversion costs, the original armament(s) were retained unless they were no longer serviceable.