By Isle of Wight Observer
Freshwater Independent Lifeboat’s (FILB) new A85 arrived at the station this week.
Built in 2006, the ‘Lydia MacDonald’ spent 16 years saving lives at sea in Macduff, before being replaced in 2022. The vessel purchase was offered to FILB, as part of the RNLI asset disposal program.
The purchase included a full refit of the vessel, which took place last autumn. The vessel has been given a new lease of life by the RNLI ILC in East Cowes. The full re-spray, re-wire and two new engines will now enable FILB to continue their mission of saving lives at sea for at least the next 10 years.
The new DODO trolley is currently in production at Clayton Engineering in Wales, and will hopefully be with the crew before April. It is hoped the vessel and launch equipment will be in operation by the end of the spring. In the meantime, the crew remains on call using the D-Class vessel.
