Wight Shipyard Co. has showcased its maintenance and repair capabilities to the highest standards during a refit for Wightlink, with hopes of East Cowes playing host to such refits in 2021.
Wightlink’s Wight Ryder 1 this year underwent its annual refit at the Trafalgar Shipyard in Portsmouth in mid-November in a fast and efficient turnaround taking under 3 weeks.
However, it is hoped that from next year a new Wise boat lift will be installed at Venture Quays in East Cowes, with the capacity to lift a max weight 260-tons, length 55m and beam 13.5m. This represents an increase of up to 190-tons and allows much larger FastCats and similar craft to be lifted out for repair.
Jo Daly, Chief Operating Officer at Wight Shipyard, says:
“This is another example of how British engineering is winning through, even in these challenging times. Our team undertook the work with the professional approach that people expect from the WSC, the project was delivered to the highest of standards both within the timeframe and to budget.”
The recent refit focused on the replacement of the starboard stern tube, skeg and liners. In addition, there was maintenance on the anchoring assembly and bow thruster with upgrades including modifications to the hydraulic piping system, improving access and traceability for future maintenance tasks. There were also repairs to the exhaust spray heads, NDT and repairs on sea water inlets, works on the propeller watertight seals and rudders and replacing approx. 6m2 of hull plating due to degrading over the years.
Wightlink’s Fleet Technician Team Leader Chris Ancrum said:
“We were impressed with the professionalism and attention to detail from the team from WSC. Their engineers completed a variety of complex tasks with skill and finished the job on time and on budget. We are pleased to work with an Island company to keep our FastCats in good condition.”
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Good to see local work being carried out by a local firm to excellent standards. We have always had great shipbuilding on the island that has been overlooked in the past. Great for the island the there will be upgrades to facilities to lift our own cats out the water here. Congratulations to all involved.
Shame the council didn’t approach them for the design and build of the floating bridge.
The problem is, the floating bridge issue has now, for years tarnished unfairly ship work when thinking about the Island thanks to an incompetent council.