MGB56

Hm....yes perhaps albiet they raised the Mary Rose after a few years! newsletter from MTB 102 on the news page, reminds us as ever we have vessels up and about to think about of course,

Agree that the working boats need looking after but think many more could be saved without having to fill in a dozen health & safety forms first. By the time you've met criteria and paid consultants ect, you could have another on the slipway being put back together.
Most of coastal forces were lads ready to bend the rules when needed to get the job done. Timber,storage and fixings are expensive but these were built by housewives under supervision of shipwrights, many of which were illiterate but smart enough to rivet some wood together. Salvage & restoration is a lot harder when you count the hours but if you control the kerf and take a risk like the lads who crewed these boats then whats to lose? Unlike the kriegsmarine, the health & safety executive wont be firing live ammo at a salvage crew. Morning wings is a shining example of what you can do if you follow the laws of physics instead of h&s legislation.
We all admire the can do attitude of the coastal forces lads. Dunno about you guys but i plan to overcome fear and oppression and put my best into saving one of these old beasties for both personal pride and a lasting memory to the naval and raf boats.
We are a nation of engineers, inventors and craftsmen. If we ever forget that then we spit on the memory of Britain from agincourt to the present

Cheers Andy & may call on you if all goes well with a project in the pipeline. Reckon if we could sort materials & storage for one of these beasties at a good price then those of us inclined to do so could rebuild a hull in very good time & concentrate on finding machinery to do her justice. Now we do that with another boat after, then another until everybody's got one who puts the sweat in(no i'm not a communist). Talked to the maritime museum a while back about getting a yard that would be a historic boat haven but economics stuffed the plan. The plan is sound though if anybody knows to a bit of riverbank to put a bunch of ml's mtb's ect. Only prob i see is bigger boats mean more work but as the fleet grows who wouldn't put spare time into a dogboat.
Anyway its a nice pipe dream and only got storage for a 72footer or smaller. As coastal forces is disbanded, could we pick an unused flotilla number and go to town as civvies? Confederate air force did ok with that way of thinking