The Jersey Lifeboat Association is appealing for up to £50,000 to upgrade one of its rescue boats ahead of new UK maritime safety rules – and avoid taking it out of service again next year.
Nearly four-decade-old Sir Max Aitken III, which is already in the process of being upgraded with new engines, electrics and other modifications, will be subject to impending changes to regulation covering all rescue and commercial vessels.
It would be quite silly of us to put her back in the water… then have to pull her out to upgrade the coding in six months’ time
With this in mind, the charity has identified that various elements of work can be undertaken on the Tyne-class steel lifeboat during its current engine replacement and refurbishment programme.
JLA chairman Paul Richardson told Express: “We’re looking at doing as many of those [upgrades] as we can now, while the boat is still being worked on, rather than having to bring her out again for an extended period next year.
“It would be quite silly of us to put her back in the water, get the commissioning done and then have to pull her out to upgrade the coding in six months’ time.”
Asked what this would entail, Mr Richardson continued: “The primary one is obviously the engines. The [new] engines gives us sustainability, environmental impact is massively reduced – but there are other elements that need to be done within the electronics and the safety equipment that’s on the boat, which need to be upgraded.
“We can obviously only do what we can afford to do with the funds that we’ve got, which is not enough – hence the request for a bit of more support.”
He noted that “between £40,000 and £50,000” would address “the quantum of the work”, but added that “it’s quite difficult to ascertain exactly what we need to do yet because the coding isn’t officially out”.
The JLA also operates a high-speed inshore RIB, Albert Pinel, but Mr Richardson explained that the regulatory changes would not be “nearly as impacting” on the newer vessel as they will be on the 38-year-old Sir Max Aitken III.
“That’s just the nature of age.”
2025 was a busy year for the JLA with 31 callouts, as well as 97 exercises being completed by its crew.
So far this year the charity has been called out ten times and completed 38 crew exercises.
