Ribcraft - Challenge the Elements

The South West Wales Ferryside lifeboat crew will had plenty to celebrate at the PSP Southampton Boat Show when British UK manufacturer Ribcraft performed the official handover of its brand new lifeboat

Ferryside chose Ribcraft to design and build its new lifeboat because they wanted a company capable of providing a strong, durable craft of the highest quality that would offer a bespoke service that meant they could place all instruments exactly where they wanted them.

Anthony Rees, one of the coxwains at Ferryside, says, “Ribcraft was the obvious choice as not only do we already have one of their boats, but also we value their input and expertise as design consultants.  For example the design of the hull was particularly important and Ribcraft built an excellent offshore rib hull with upgraded 1500 gsm Orca 866 Hypalon tubing.”

The boat operates in and around Carmarthan Bay and has to cope with a large tidal range which means it has to float in shallow water as well as using its twin engine 90 hp motors to reach an incident as fast as possible.

Another important feature is the addition of Raymarine’s revolutionary e7 multifunctional display (MFD) with built-in WiFi connectivity so that the crew can access the e7 screen display from anywhere on-board via mobile iOS devices. This is particularly useful as Anthony Rees explains, “Being able to access the display from a variety of positions is ideal when training as it means that I can be situated in the navigational position but also see exactly what is happening at the helm. However the biggest advantage is the built in redundancy so if we lose one, there is a fully functional spare.”

Dorian Martin, Ribcraft Project Manager said, “We chose Raymarine’s new e7 because much of what was required in the spec from the client, including dual displays, connectivity, BLUETOOTH connection to the onboard mobile phone is in fact packaged in the system from Raymarine and Neptune.

“We are delighted that Raymarine has worked tirelessly to bring the products together for the fitment to the boat for the boat show.”

Ferryside Inshore Rescue, the marine division of St John Ambulance Cymru, is one of more than fifty independent lifeboats stationed around the British Isles that operate independently of the RNLI. They provide the same role as the RNLI and are, alongside the RNLI, the only “declared facilities” within HM Coastguard’s search and rescue organisation in the UK. As a declared facility Ferryside Lifeboat is launched by HM Coastguard in response to ’999′ calls and distress calls on VHF CH16.

Ferryside is particularly grateful to Masonic grand officer of West Wales Bob Darkin who, along with a number of other key people, secured more than £46K donation from the organisation. Also, a donation of £2,500 was received from the Ray Gravell and Friends Charitable Trust.

Ferryside lifeboat is available 24 hours a day throughout the year and is staffed entirely by local volunteers. A smaller second lifeboat is also available at any state of the tide for mud and sandbank rescues