It would appear that Qualified 'Masters' feel the same as you Taximan as they are having difficulty recruiting one on a permanent basis, the Dutch are very keen on 'Spuds', you can have telescopic ones fitted to your steel Motor Yacht if you wish, they don't appear above Deck level like these do.
I would suggest that now she no longer dumps the spoil into another Barge making the decision to take what was a flat bottomed Barge originally to Sea bearing in mind the pressure on the 'Master' to get the job done along with the difficulty of getting into Whitby Harbour a lot rests on his shoulders.
Taximan, she looks like one of the ex 'New' Barges built by Smiths for the T.C.C. in the 1950's certainly has the same basic Hull profile, and no I would not go to Sea on it although the outside Enginerooms look interesting especially if you have to do a fix on the outboard side of the outboards
Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 7:20 am