Vessel gets green light for sea duties

Redbill II was welcomed back to Broome last Thursday as it returned to Broome Volunteer Sea Rescue duties with new equipment and a complete refit.

The race car-like craft and its fellow vessel SeaLegs were on display at BVSR headquarters to mark the completion of the $107,000 overhaul which included a new trailer.

BVSR representative Mike Burbidge said the Kirby Marine-made craft, which was one of the first Naiad class rescue boats in WA, was capable of around 100km an hour on the water and was in excellent condition.

“It’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services policy that we get a refit every five years, at this stage we have another five years with it until we would look at upgrading to a new vessel,” he said

“There are new collars or inflatable sides, the electronics were completely rewired because there were some issues with corrosion — all of our navigation gear has been upgraded to the latest Simrad gear which would probably make us one of the most sophisticated rescue boats in WA at the moment.”

The vessel has been with BVSR for 10 years and will be used for vehicle towing, EPIRB investigations, rescues, medical transfers, body recovery and community support for events such as the dragon boats and fishing competitions.

BVSR will be aided in these tasks with new equipment such as navigation GPS, radar, an infrared camera which outlines heat signatures, depth sounders and a new 3D structure scanner for seeing the layout of creeks at night.