On the evening of 28th July 2016, the whole village turned out to welcome the arrival of the new St Abbs lifeboat.
The lifeboat had made its way to St Abbs by road trailer from the builders, Marine Specialized Technology of Liverpool. After being unwrapped, she was eased down the slipway and in to the water with the whole village cheering her on.
A crew of Paul Crowe, David Wilson, Graeme Crowe and Keith Hood then took her out for a very quick run around the bay.
Prior to that date, a lot of hard work had gone into preparing our lifeboat house to accommodate the new lifeboat. As she was both longer and wider than the previous boat, modifications to the cradle had to be completed.
Numerous measurements had to be taken, as well as a full template of the hull profile made, to ensure the boat and cradle matched up perfectly. It was a nervous wait to see if she would fit.
Did she fit ? YES !! We were both pleased and relieved to see that the hard work had paid off and she fitted perfectly.
Over the next few months our crew were trained on how to operate and handle our impressive new lifeboat and all the new equipment.
Our lifeboat was built to satisfy the “Rescue Boat Code” standard, and our crew and committee continue to liaise closely with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to satisfy their criteria in maintaining Declared Facility Status.
Our new lifeboat was officially named the “Thomas Tunnock” by our major donor Sir Boyd Tunnock on September 17th 2016 in a traditional lifeboat naming ceremony. Thousands of people were able to join us to celebrate and it was a particularly memorable occasion.
Technical details of our lifeboat:
- Name: Thomas Tunnock
Manufacturer: Marine Specialised Technology- Model: 900W
- Crew: 4
- Length LOA: 9 metres
- Beam BOA: 3.05 metres
- Beam internal: 1.95 metres
- Draught: 0.7 metres or 1 metres to base of skegs at 100% fuel and 4 pax
- Displacement approx.: 2600kg
- Maximum speed: 40 kts (to be confirmed)
- Fual capacity: 2 x 150 litres
- Range approx.: 150 nautical miles (173 miles or 278 km)
- Construction: Polyester Glass Reinforced Resin (GPR) construction using GRP protected marine ply under deck structure.
- Engines: Twin OBM Mercury Optimax 200 HP units modified with PIRS (Post Immersion Restart System)
- Survivor capacity: 12
If you would like to make a donation to St Abbs Lifeboat you can do it now on our Just Giving page
