Lifeboat Boarding-boat (RNLI code D-717)

Our boarding boat, as the name suggests, is used to accesss the All-Weather lifeboat moored off-shore. However, it has also proved invaluable in many other areas including searching, helping moor large boats that have been towed in by the  lifeboat, taking persons out of the water, fast access to shallow or close-inshore waters near the station, also in the upper reaches of the Rivers Taw & Torridge where the Atlantic 85 Cannot go and more. In fact it is probably used as much as the other lifeboats at the station.

   Pictured above one can see the Boarding Boat (Not Present Boat) on its own special launching trailer with a small Ford tractor to bring it to and from the slip. The trailer is not as rugged as the DoDo (Drive-on Drive-off) trailer used by the Atlantic-85 class inshore lifeboat but then it is not launched in the same severe conditions as the Atlantic-85. D-717 Arrived on station Dec  2020.