As the proud owner of 44-022, I am stoked to see Rowlie get some air time! He is probably the last 44 from either the RNLI or USCG to have a fully functional "Factory stock" 44. The fact that he is using Kahmi for it's intended purpose is just icing on the cake! Keep up the great work, Rowlie, and thank you Stu for putting this together! Oh, My wife and I gave Rowlie the Hula doll!.......She is solar powered! Also, My Waveney came with enough plans and parts lists to get a quote to build one.....Probably be breathtakingly expensive!
Hi Tom, I've just aquired the 44-014 and am about to embark on a restoration and have it back in the water as a personal pleasure craft.. Would love to make contact and see what you've done with yours.. I've seen some very nice words about what you've done, and it looks great from the outside.. Be very interested to talk to you..
Any fellow like that should never have to buy his own beer at the pub if there are any mariners around. Everyone who spends time on the water should be grateful for guys like him.
I could listen to this old salt talk about his boat all day long. What a wealth of knowledge. Hope he gets to stay at sea until his last breath. Good going mate!
He's basically made himself a job that want there. Who'd have thought that sea fairing communities value life boats to the point that this guy exists in as a private enterprise.
What massive memories. I started my lifeboat life training with Len Patton on Newhaven Lifeboat ( I'm sure it was 44- 019) Provided by Round Table. In preparation for the re-opening of Brighton Lifeboat Station in 1978. God speed and safe passage to all sea fairer's
There's a maritime museum in Astoria Oregon with a similar boat sitting outside. Then photos and video inside showing that boat being tossed about like a toy. I'm glad there are people that like that type of work. I hope I never need their services, but its nice to know they're there.
Great to watch this 44MLB video. I spent some time on USCG 44364 out of Neah Bay, Washington in the late 60's/early 70's during my time in the U.S. Coast Guard. They are an amazing boat. I have been in 40 foot seas and felt perfectly safe. Have rolled 90+ degrees and still felt totally safe. They are slow but steady and can always get you there and get you back. Thank you gentleman for sharing this video and giving such a great tour of such a great boat. Regards, Randy Wiley in Arizona, USA
Together with other members of Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol Botany Bay I worked on 44-003 from 1998 - 2011 when she lay in Botany Bay. I was also a coxswain for about 10 years. We replaced the genset which was originally a Petter Diesel. All the seats were replaced, we replaced over 200 deck rivets. The engine room was repainted with 5 coats of POR 15 rust proof paint. When we bought her from RNLI it was shipped to Australia by P&O Nedlloyd and was renamed Stratheden. I replaced the head (which was originally a bucket) with an electric toilet. I hope the holding is not still leaking! The widows were originally perspex and were replaced with glass and there were many other improvements made over the years including the electronics. I remember Bob B recalibrated the dip sticks from gallons to liters. The oil pressure was originally capillaries which were converted to VDO electric due to many oil leaks we used to have. I remember spending many hour polishing and lacquering the brass and copper in the engine room. Brings back very fond memories. I used to spend hours polishing the fairleads and we prouding attended the Sydney International Boat show for many years were many boating enthusiasts showed great interest in her. I have hundreds of photos of her.
Many people here in the Blighty question why the RNLI isn’t funded by the government, but by being a charity allows them to procure the best of everything available, to aide and protect the volunteer crew members on a shout and those in need of rescue. If it was funded by the government corners would be cut to save costs and inevitably the effectiveness of the service will be compromised. As is and has always been, the current Shannon, Tamar and Severn class all weather lifeboats are state of the art available at build and all communities that house an RNLI station(including mine)are very proud of them. It’s very reassuring to know when at sea, that they’re there, poised, ready and willing to help no matter what the weather. It’s lovely to see this old girl being cared for by an enthusiast and that she’s still doing what she was built for, saving lives at sea.😁👍
You are spot on Bernie, if the RNLI was Government funded it would be in a constant need of equipment and repairs. Thankfully the fundraisers do an amazing job and our lifeboats were always in tip top order. Ex Lymington Lifeboat.
Hi Bernie, yes I ran a series of charter boats called Sundance out of Lymington, now we are happily retired and living on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia. Still fishing 😀👍
That boat was amazing and then he showed us the engine room, Unreal. Enough fuel to go to Bermagui and tow back, again Unreal. Thanks Stu, this was a great show.
One of my favourite parts of your videos is watching the captions try to make sense of “hey there Dangar Stu here”. It’s never correct, and it’s fantastic! Thank you for your videos!
The American lifeboats had a orbititral hydraulic unit under the dash for hydraulic steering. It’s amazing how similar that boat looks like the U.S. Coast Guard MLB’s. I took care of 44364 and 44387.
Obviously being built in 1967, which was an amazing yr for anything really, shows just how good the architecture of this boat is. Great vlog Stu, really informative and interesting, I could have stayed on this boat all day. So cool u know what questions to ask as well. Thanks mate🇦🇺😁⚓🌈👍hope chooks are well.
I was shown around a current RNLI Severn class boat in Dover a few years ago. Incredible piece of kit. Two Caterpillar 1,200 hp turbo diesels, adjustable trim, 25kn+ and over 120 survivors capacity. Everything was absolutely spotless. A very tightly run ship. They've been very busy recently, with all the refugees crossing the channel in small boats. Saving lives, no questions asked. No bills.
That’s such an awesome boat - they really were built for purpose. Seeing it chugging towards you must be the best sight in the world when you’re the one being rescued. Thanks for sharing your tour.
A true rescue boat not only has the ability to rescue other boats, they are also designed to rescue themselves. Thanks for tour. We carried the rescue "throw bags" in our ranger vehicles and patrol boat. We practiced throwing them slightly upwind and beyond the victim. Throws too short waste time and victim may submerge before you could make a second throw. Chickens doing better then their owner. Get well soon, Stu..
Stu, thanks for the great video. Spring has sprung here in the Pacific Northwest uncovered the boat and getting the spring maintenance done for the start of fishing season. I always enjoy seeing what you are up to in the land down under.
Wonderful to see the old girl still being well maintained and in use, the old crew would be very happy to see that, we get rather attached to our vessels. Cheers Roger, Ex RNLI Lymington Lifeboat.
Great video, New Zealand Coastguard imported 5, 44 footers from the RNLI in the late 90`s and early 2000`s used by various units here. 44-017, 019, 020, 021 and 022. Thanks for your great videos, Ray.
Great video Stu, the exhaust system mentioned that is a pipe going across the boat that's open at each side has more to it than just getting the fumes downwind. Both engines exhaust into the pipe and the idea is that the way boats roll it's very unlikely both outlets will be underwater at the same time so back pressure on the engines is decreased, and any water that washes in one side can go straight through and out the other side with little or no chance of it making it's way into the engines. It's a very simple and reliable system.
I've had Covid myself the last week or two. (for the second time) And yeah, it sux, but ain't the end of the world...... ;-( What a wonderful boat, and a wonderful gentleman/sailor/savior/angel!!! It would be an HONOR volunteer in his vessel!!! Thank you SO much for shooting this video, one of your very best!!! TEN thumbs up! :-D
Thanks for another great video Stu. Rowlie is an utter legend. Here in the UK we have something called the RNLI, I can't understand why every maritime nation doesn't have the same.
That lifeboat looks very much like the older USCG 44 foot surf boats. It wouldn't surprise me if the hulls were the same. I was a little surprised to see the 3208 Cats and not the 6-71 Detroits that many of the USCG 44 footers had installed originally. Thanks for taking us on the tour with you Stu. That was enjoyable to watch.
The hulls are indeed the same. The RNLI acquired 44-001 from the USCG in the early 60's and liked the design so much, they got the plans, and built 21 more. After trying out several different engines, the RNLI settled on 3208 Cats, and updated all of their boats. The final 5 built had 3208T engines.
The only one matching up comming to my mind are the German DGzRS "Seenotrettungskreuzer". Even bigger boats and self rightening as well. They have videos out there somewhere of a test, in real life the situation must feel like taking a tour in a washing mashine at high speed.
Living in UK, it's nice to see old RNLI crafts living and been this in service and also used for intended perpuse. I helped build and maintain a 14mtr dive vessel used in river Humber in UK, our skipper was a old school chap........ You just can't beat hands on experience and knowledge, rather than class room qualify skippers!
best vid yet .the tassie sailors and everyone else around there are very lucky to have a guy like him to call on .for you guys not in aus tassie is very cold and sometimes crazy seas and not for the faint hearted
Somehow I missed the connection with you being sick I hope that it hasn't been terrific and hopefully it wasn't that crazy Covid thing? Hopefully your on the mend!! And get well soon!! All the best from Surrey BC Canada 🇨🇦
The RNLI 44 is a British built copy of the USCG 44. Curtis bay built the original 44's and are to this day considered one of the most advanced designs in maritime rescue, although the 47 class has a much better survivability and comfort rating for the crew in event of capsizing the basic elements of the 44 remain
Hope u feel better brother ! Had covid back last November, it messed up my smell, like Gasoline ... and the fact that my boats are all 2 stroke and I use to be able to judge how well they ran off of smell, sadly I can not tell anymore . ,,, I use to love the smell of two stoke motors on the water .
Blokes in his 70 and has 140 years of knowledge, it's gonna suck and be hard to make shit work when we loose people like him and the newer generation has I.T degrees or something we will all wish we took up a trade or learnt/listened to great minds like this. wish i could spend a year or two just learning from him as he does maintenance to his boat.
We have four RNLI stations between Gorleston and Aldeburgh to the south, which is probably about a 50 mile stretch along the coastline. Until it merged with its neighbour, Suffolk Coastal, the District Council here was Waveney. Brooke Marine in Lowestoft, alas now closed and built over, was a builder of lifeboats and other vessels, especially fishing.
Yes, the early boats, including this one, were built by Brooke Marine in Lowestoft. I believe that during the war they also built the fast rescue boats for the navy. It's sad that Brooke Marine and most of the fishing industry in Lowestoft have gone, it was a hive of industry when I was a young boy.
Really interesting video.. my rescue unit used to own 44-014, which was sold 5 years before I joined, so it was fascinating to see the class of vessel that my colleagues used to operate
Many years ago , we had a 44 as a relief boat for our 52 Arun class lifeboat. I see that one had 3208 Cats, but our relief boat had 120 fords. Anyway the Cat engineers used to do a full ahead to full astern test without touching the throttles and the Cats could take it. My mate was driving the 44 and someone said do an emergency stop, so he did the same. There was a horrible scream from the engine room, and that was the end of the Fords. I was told the RNLI engineers had to gas axe the flywheels off because they were friction welded to the Crank. O Dear, we diddnt like the thing any way. Send us a proper one. Happy days.
Pity you didn't get to look on the old maritime ship moored out there near middle Island. It think its supposed to be a sister ship to the former royal yacht......and having seen it from the outside so much it would be cool to see inside.
I remember our old waveney class lifeboat from one of the local towns which was pulled through the towns harbour with an old bulldozer as the slipway was 1/4 mile from the boat house Stu do you know where this boat was stationed originally?
Rippa bloke that. Unused to Tassie Speak, had to figure out, "used it in anger" . Thankyou Moty Python for Spam, Spam, Spam Song. Theres not enough of these dedicated blokes Downunda or anywhere. Nice 1 m8, thanks for that. You and yours stay safe an well say G'day to Daffy, Eddy and the crew!
