Mersey offshore Lifeboat “Lil Cunningham”
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- Showing propellers in tunnels,with rudders.Also showing trim tabs outside of tunnels,to improve boat’s attitude to the seas,keeping the bow up or down as necessary.
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- The Upper Steering position,rear of wheelhouse.Extra VHF radio to right-hand side of throttles.Door goes down to wheelhouse.
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- Inside wheelhouse,steering position.Door open to engine room.This is kept locked at sea,to preserve the boat’s self-righting capability.Above the helmsman’s position is the VHF direction-finding receiver and depth indicator.
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- Radar and navigation positions. Radar behind upright post; GPS laser plotter to right above chart table; Yeoman plotter on chart table; GPS and Decca below plotter,
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- Communications radios, GPS, etc. Above chart table are mechanic’s controls; GPS; Decca. To right of these is the green VHF radio. To right of this is the long-range MF radio and GMDSS selective calling sets for both VHF and MF
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- Engine room from wheelhouse.2 x Caterpillar 3208T turbo charged Diesel engines.
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- The colour depth sounder
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- The new compound, completed on 24/5/2002, to house the Mersey recovery trailer and gear, any other sundry items. The original place for this was between the ILB and Mersey inside the boathouse, but with the addition of the Landrover , there is no room in the main boathouse.
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- The Global Positioning System plotter screen, showing track of lifeboat over chart of local area.
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- The radar. The solid line is the lifeboat’s course. The dotted line is a relative bearing line. The dotted circle is a variable range marker. The large dot to the top left is the ferry approaching Mostyn off Rhyl.
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- The main radio stack. Top left is the VHF (Very high frequency) digital calling unit, top right the MF (Medium frequency) digital calling unit. The large set in the middle is the MF transmitter, and the bottom one is the MF receiver (also receives radio 1 and radio 5 live, so we don’t miss the football results!)
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- This is the VHF direction finder. When a boat transmits on a VHF channel, the circle to the left lights up in whatever direction the signal is coming from. If the light is at 12 o’clock, then the target is straight ahead.
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- The VHF radio and intercom position
