Lifeboat refit
The UK’s South Boats IOW Ltd. has announced that its latest Severn Class Lifeboat refit has been completed, trialled and successfully accepted back into service for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
The Eric & Susan Hiscock (Wanderer), one of forty six Severn Class Lifeboat’s in service with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was built on the Isle of Wight by FBM Marine Ltd. back in 2001 and the vessel has been stationed at Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight ever since. Refitting the vessel at South Boats IOW is particularly poignant as the vessel returns to the site where she was originally built and with the refit work carried out in part by some of the personnel that were originally involved with the construction.
Late in 2015, within South Boats IOW’s framework agreement, the RNLI awarded a full condition based maintenance refit of the Severn Class Lifeboat to South Boats IOW. Work scope has included full external preparation and repaint of hull, decks, superstructure, fittings and components as well as a full internal refit with refurbishment of components. In line with the development of the fleet, the vessel has also had a full repower with MTU 10V-2000 main engines.
The vessel is named after Eric and Susan Hiscock who were early pioneers of small boat sailing, wrote numerous sailing books and circumnavigated the world three times on their various Wanderer yachts many years before such adventures became commonplace,
By Jake Frith
