diff --git a/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/BinaryMesageEncoder.java b/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/BinaryMesageEncoder.java
index 0774bec8..bed18590 100644
--- a/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/BinaryMesageEncoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/BinaryMesageEncoder.java
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ public class BinaryMesageEncoder {
     private int headerSourceID;
     private short headerMessageLength;
 
-    public BinaryMesageEncoder(byte headerMessageType, long headerTimeStamp, int headerSourceID, short headerMessageLength, byte[] message){
+    public BinaryMesageEncoder(MessageType headerMessageType, long headerTimeStamp, int headerSourceID, short headerMessageLength, byte[] message){
         //set the header
-        this.headerMessageType = headerMessageType;
+        this.headerMessageType = headerMessageType.getValue();
         this.headerTimeStamp = headerTimeStamp;
         this.headerSourceID = headerSourceID;
         this.headerMessageLength = headerMessageLength;
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public class BinaryMesageEncoder {
         tempHeaderByteBuffer.put(this.headerSync2);
         tempHeaderByteBuffer.put(this.headerMessageType);
         tempHeaderByteBuffer.put(longToSixBytes(this.headerTimeStamp));
-        tempHeaderByteBuffer.put(intToBytes(this.headerSourceID));
+        tempHeaderByteBuffer.putInt(this.headerSourceID);
         tempHeaderByteBuffer.put(shortToBytes(this.headerMessageLength));
 
 
@@ -53,15 +53,6 @@ public class BinaryMesageEncoder {
 
     }
 
-    private short bytesToShort(byte[] bytesShort){
-        ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(2);
-        byteBuffer.order(ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN);
-        byteBuffer.put(bytesShort[0]);
-        byteBuffer.put(bytesShort[1]);
-        short shortVal = byteBuffer.getShort(0);
-        return shortVal;
-    }
-
     private byte[] longToSixBytes(long x) {
         ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(Long.BYTES);
         buffer.putLong(x);
diff --git a/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/BinaryMessageDecoder.java b/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/BinaryMessageDecoder.java
index 8d76d1ef..d99bf0b9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/BinaryMessageDecoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/BinaryMessageDecoder.java
@@ -43,36 +43,30 @@ public class BinaryMessageDecoder {
         this.crc = Arrays.copyOfRange(this.fullMessage, this.fullMessage.length - 4, fullMessage.length);
 
         //run through the checks
-        if (this.message.length != bytesToInt(this.headerMessageLength)){
+        if (this.message.length != bytesToShort(this.headerMessageLength)){
             System.err.println("message length in header does not equal the message length");
             System.err.println("message length in header: " + bytesToInt(this.headerMessageLength));
             System.err.println("message length: " + this.message.length);
         }else if(this.headerSync1 != 0x47){
             System.err.println("Sync byte 1 is wrong");
-        }else if(this.headerSync2 != 0x83){
+        }else if(this.headerSync2 !=(byte) 0x83){
             System.err.println("Sync byte 2 is wrong");
         }else if(false){
             //todo check crc
         }
     }
 
+
     private short bytesToShort(byte[] bytesShort){
-        ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(2);
-        byteBuffer.order(ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN);
-        byteBuffer.put(bytesShort[0]);
-        byteBuffer.put(bytesShort[1]);
-        short shortVal = byteBuffer.getShort(0);
-        return shortVal;
+        ByteBuffer wrapped = ByteBuffer.wrap(bytesShort);
+        short num = wrapped.getShort();
+        return num;
     }
 
     private int bytesToInt(byte[] bytesInt){
-        ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(4);
-        byteBuffer.order(ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN);
-        for(int i= 0; i<bytesInt.length;i++){
-            byteBuffer.put(bytesInt[i]);
-        }
-        int intVal = byteBuffer.getShort(0);
-        return intVal;
+        ByteBuffer wrapped = ByteBuffer.wrap(bytesInt);
+        int num = wrapped.getInt();
+        return num;
     }
 
     private long bytesToLong(byte[] bytesLong){
@@ -90,4 +84,24 @@ public class BinaryMessageDecoder {
         return longVal;
     }
 
+    public long getTimeStamp() {
+        return bytesToLong(this.headerTimeStamp);
+    }
+
+    public int getSourceID() {
+        return bytesToInt(this.headerSourceID);
+    }
+
+    public short getMessageLength() {
+        return bytesToShort(this.headerMessageLength);
+    }
+
+    public int getMessageType(){
+        return (int) this.headerMessageType;
+    }
+
+    public byte[] getMessage() {
+        return message;
+    }
 }
+
diff --git a/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/MessageType.java b/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/MessageType.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..18d1746f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/seng302/Networking/MessageType.java
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+package seng302.Networking;
+
+/**
+ * Created by hba56 on 21/04/17.
+ */
+public enum MessageType {
+    HEARTBEAT(1), RACESTATUS(12), DISPLAYTEXTMESSAGE(20),
+    XMLMESSAGE(26), RACESTARTSTATUS(27), YACHTEVENTCODE(29), YACHTACTIONCODE(31),
+    CHATTERTEXT(36), BOATLOCATION(37), MARKROUNDING(38), COURSEWIND(44), AVGWIND(47);
+
+    private byte value;
+
+    private MessageType(int value) { this.value = (byte)value; }
+
+    public byte getValue() {
+        return value;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/BinaryMessageDecoderTest.java b/src/test/java/BinaryMessageDecoderTest.java
index ad7e33cd..2c497677 100644
--- a/src/test/java/BinaryMessageDecoderTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/BinaryMessageDecoderTest.java
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
-import seng302.Networking.BinaryMesageEncoder;
-import seng302.Networking.BinaryMessageDecoder;
-import seng302.Networking.XMLMessageDecoder;
-import seng302.Networking.XMLMessageEncoder;
+import seng302.Networking.*;
 
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -29,11 +26,32 @@ public class BinaryMessageDecoderTest {
 
             byte[] encodedMessage = testEncoder.encode();
 
-            BinaryMesageEncoder testMessage = new BinaryMesageEncoder((byte)26, time, 1, (short)encodedMessage.length, encodedMessage);
+            BinaryMesageEncoder testMessage = new BinaryMesageEncoder(MessageType.XMLMESSAGE, time, 1, (short)encodedMessage.length, encodedMessage);
 
             BinaryMessageDecoder testDecoder = new BinaryMessageDecoder(testMessage.getFullMessage());
             testDecoder.decode();
 
+            //message length
+            Assert.assertEquals((short) encodedMessage.length,testDecoder.getMessageLength());
+            //time stamp
+            Assert.assertEquals(time,testDecoder.getTimeStamp());
+            //source ID
+            Assert.assertEquals((short) 1, testDecoder.getSourceID());
+            //message type
+            Assert.assertEquals(26, testDecoder.getMessageType());
+
+            XMLMessageDecoder decoderXML = new XMLMessageDecoder(testDecoder.getMessage());
+            decoderXML.decode();
+
+            //tests from XMLMessageDecoderTest to make sure the file is still good
+            Assert.assertEquals((byte)1, decoderXML.getMessageVersionNumber());
+            Assert.assertEquals((short)1, decoderXML.getAckNumber());
+            Assert.assertEquals(time, decoderXML.getTimeStamp());
+            Assert.assertEquals((byte)7, decoderXML.getXmlMsgSubType());
+            Assert.assertEquals((short)1, decoderXML.getSequenceNumber());
+            Assert.assertEquals((short)xmlString.length(), decoderXML.getXmlMsgLength());
+            Assert.assertEquals(xmlString.toString(), decoderXML.getXmlMessage());
+
         }catch (IOException e){
             System.out.println(e);
         }