Hello All, I just wanted to point out a few things about the Royal Iris and why the costs of refurbishment are so high. Those who know me will know I have a keen interest in them and am fortunate to be involved in the running of the Ferries Heritage Group and have a collection of memorabilia including telegraphs, compasses and lots more. The Royal Iris was sold in 1991 by Mersey Ferries as it was estimated the cost of keeping her in service would be around £4 million pound. In today’s money with inflation this is more like £8 million. Back then the vessel was still a going concern and its last journey under its own power was under the command of Captain Paj Jones when she left Duke St in Wallasey and moved over to Stanley dock. I want to express how much work it would take to get it into any operational state. The following works would need to be completed on her before she could be returned to service: 1. Replacement of the majority of the superstructure. This would need to be done. The decks from main upwards are all made of wood with no steel underside. This is not compliant with current MCA regulations due to risk of fire and safety so they would need to be fully replaced. 2. The curved deck head above the bridge is constructed from both mild steel and asbestos and would need to be replaced. 3. There would need to be a full asbestos removal programme for the vessel as she is laden with it. 4. The hull was in a poor state in 1991 and after 23 years without care will need to be largely replaced. It would also require cathode protection from corrosion. 5. The propeller shafts would need to be removed and replaced due to corroding from water ingress. 6. The steering gear will need to be replaced due to corrosion from water ingress. 7. The engines, auxiliaries, sanitation, water supply, cooling systems, domestic heating, catering facilities, wiring and engine control with the bridge would need to be replaced in its entirety; this would also include brand new ventilation for the vessel. 8. The vessels ballast tanks would need to be fully serviced, potentially with the re-fitting of cross levelling valves and other associated items. 9. The windows would need to be replaced. 10. The internal fixtures and fittings would need to be replaced as most of the original interior has been destroyed. 11. The bridge would need to be fully re-fitted. 12. The vessel would need to be re-wired throughout. 13. Extensive sand blasting of the exterior would be required and replacement of large perished sections of the bulwarks. 14. Provision would need to be made for the vessel to comply with current SOLAS regulations, including spacing for ORLs and the reinstatement of a powered rescue boat. 15. The anchors, chains, chain locker, windlass and bollards would all need servicing with replacement of the motors for the windless and anchor haul. 16. The vessel would require new lighting throughout, including navigation lights. 17. New catering and entertainment provision would be provided. There are countless points I have missed, but just to make you aware of the HUGE amount of work it would take the get the Iris into an operational state again. You can clearly see what the owner is up against here, I dont know what his finances are but he would need lots of money to fund this, the cost would be drastic (a marine engineer associated with the ferries told me in excess of £20 million would be optimistic) It would actually be cheaper to build a replica of the vessel!
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 18:30:31 +0000
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