I'm a volunteer on one of the crews on the Thames. Quite a different setup from most of the coastal stations though. No pagers, instead you stay on station for 12 hour shifts. Also we use the E Class. Love the atlantic 85s, but not suitable for the work we do.
What is the appeal of the Atlantic 85? The E Class looks impressive!
@morphio - I thought that the Thames and Humber stations were crewed by full time employees?
How on earth do you manage 12 hour shifts alongside your "day job"?
Atlantic 85s are awesome boats and great fun to be bouncing around on, still use them when I'm lucky enough to do training down at Poole.
The E Class (We're on the Mk2 now, much faster and more powerful: https://rnli.org/what-we-do/lifeboats-and-stations/our-lifeboat-fleet/e-class-lifeboat) is more suitable for the Thames. Much more maneauverable in and around bridges with the jets, safer around people and I've often had to go places with less than a foot of water to spare below me.
Wouldn't be much use on the coast though, while it slams less than the Mk1 when we tested it, at the speed it goes for it's length it's easy to get the jets out of the water when hammering across waves which can get very brutal. And we don't have self righting gear on the Mk2 to save weight.
There's a mix. We have a few paid full timers that work 4 on, 4 off.
Always 3-4 people on shift. Typically 1 or 2 are full timers, the rest volunteer. Sometimes the crew is all volunteer, but not most shifts.
The nice thing about shifts is you can plan them in. 2 a month is the requirement to stay current. Typically I'll book a couple of night shifts or a day shift and a night shift a long way out in the calendar (7 to 7) and then closer in people fill in for the spaces left. 1 night shift after work is generally fine. I try to avoid 2 in the same week these days.
What is the appeal of the Atlantic 85? The E Class looks impressive!
A lot easier to unbolt outboard engines to swap them over if there is a problem than switch inbuilt jet dives. Jets are good around people, shallow water, ropes etc so make a lot of sense for the thames. But run a jet up a shingle beach and you'll have a very grumpy mechanic, but can probably polish out the scratches on an Atlantic 85. The hull forms are probably different for the different size of waves they are likely to encounter too. The e-class doesn't have traditional inflatable tubes which might mean its a bit rougher on the sides of anything it comes alongside probably less of an issue on the thames where those boats are used to coming alongside dock walls etc, and soft tubes would take quite a battering from those things themselves.
@morphio – I thought that the Thames and Humber stations were crewed by full time employees?
How on earth do you manage 12 hour shifts alongside your “day job”?
For some people a highly predictable 2x 12 hrs a month might be far better than a pager going off at random times. Its not like routine lifeboat call outs have no disruption to job/family life. I think Humber are all paid crew but Thames are mix of vounteers and paid?
For some people a highly predictable 2x 12 hrs a month might be far better than a pager going off at random times. Its not like routine lifeboat call outs have no disruption to job/family life. I think Humber are all paid crew but Thames are mix of vounteers and paid?
Exactly. We've already blown past 333 callouts so far this year. That's never going work with pagers. And our target is kitted up and boat moving within 90 seconds of the Coastguard phone call. That's not going to happen even if everyone lived next to the station.
