Glassmen Fly 8,000 Miles For Vessel Repair

Sulivan Shipping Services provides port agency services to all sorts of vessel operators in the southwest Atlantic. Its Aqua-Star 38 John Byron is used to visit vessels at anchor for a multiplicity of purposes. While transferring items between two Spanish fishing vessels, a crane wire snapped and dropped a wire coil weighing 460kg from a height of 6m into the cockpit area, causing substantial damage.

Externally this was confined to the port and starboard scuppers and port side cockpit coaming but internally, damage extended from slightly starboard of the centreline on the transom to about 1.5m forward of the port quarter on the port side. The stainless steel guardrail had been badly distorted along the top of the transom and the port side section was pulled from its fixings.

The transom itself was shattered and torn for its entire length on the port side, with the worst damage to the internal part of the moulding. Laminations had separated, in many parts the glass was exposed, and the gel coat was cracked in addition to many other problems.

A local marine surveyor, Captain Ian Wilkinson, studied the damaged craft and declared it repairable, but the Falklands possessed no glass fibre workshop or GRP specialist capable of undertaking the work. Options of sending the vessel to the UK, Chile or Spain were all considered but Aqua-Star had recommended J S Mouldings’ International of Hamble UK.

Sulivan Shipping MD John Pollard flew J S Moulding’s owner Julian Wilmott to Stanley to assess the job. On the basis of his claim that “you will never see one of our repairs”, Sulivan Shipping awarded him the contract.

Two members of Wilmott’s team subsequently spent 18 days in the Falklands recently, working 14 hours per day to restore the John Byron to good as new condition. The launch crews who use the boat are especially pleased, as the repairs are proving practical and robust and have strengthened the working area.

MJ Information No: 17927