Page 47: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2019)

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TECHNOLOGY: RIBS & PATROL CRAFT

Naval architect Peter Eyre with his model of the Shannon lifeboat’s hull.

Photo: RNLI/Nigel Millard ing with the RNLI 45 years ago, we had ing and maintaining lifeboats; a com- training ? eet; of? ce facilities; tools and receive Shannon class lifeboats: the new a Watson class lifeboat that had a top ponent manufacturing area; a launch, equipment storage facilities; and a visi- class is now gradually being introduced speed of around 7 knots and no radar. recovery and boat storage area; a paint tors’ viewing area. across the UK and Ireland: at present,

This boat is more than three times as fast preparation area with built-in extraction The UK stations of Dungeness in ten RNLI stations have a Shannon class but still feels incredibly smooth in the system and heat curing facility; a work- south-east England and Exmouth in the lifeboat and there are four Shannon class water, even at top speed.” shop for supporting the RNLI’s inshore south-west of the country were the ? rst to boats in the organization’s relief ? eet.

All-weather Lifeboat Center

The ? rst Shannon class lifeboat was named Jock and Annie Slater, after a former RNLI Chairman, Sir Jock Slater, and his wife, Lady Annie Slater, and entered service at Dungeness Lifeboat

Station in the south-east of England in 2013. The Jock and Annie Slater was the ? rst lifeboat to be built at the RNLI’s

All-weather Lifeboat Centre in Poole,

Dorset, UK, which opened in 2015. The

Center carries out the whole boatbuild- ing process under one roof and aims to build at least six Shannon class lifeboats per year to produce a ? eet of at least 50 such vessels.

The RNLI said its All-weather Life- boat Center allows the organization to govern its own destiny and that because in the future there will be fewer special- ist suppliers that will be able to meet its particular needs, the Centre will mitigate the risks to its lifeboat-building supply chain, give it greater control over qual- ity, and make cost reductions of at least $4 million per year.

Facilities at the Center include two boat halls with ? exible bays for manufactur- www.marinelink.com 47

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