For the foreseeable future, the volunteers of Squamish’s Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue crew are out of a boat.In the first week of May, volunteers were on a training mission when they saw smoke. After shutting down, Scott Shaw-MacLaren of Station 4 Squamish said they found evidence of a big failure in the engine.
After limping it home on one of the two engines, the vessel has been sent to Galleon Marine in Vancouver for repairs.
“They got us in on priority to check things out, just because we’re a SAR unit," Shaw-MacLaren said.
The vessel will likely take two to three weeks to fix, Shaw-MacLaren estimated. A marine surveyor is checking what they believe to be a point source corrosion on both engines, which will need to be replaced. It could cost around $33,000.
Unless the costs are covered by warranty or insurance, the funds will come from the unit’s cash reserves.
“We’ve done a lot of fundraising for the upcoming refit of the vessel, the total overhaul of the vessel, which is quite expensive. We may have to dip into that fund to get us operational again,” he said, adding they may have to forgo other equipment purchases and do more fundraising.
In the meantime, the Squamish RCM SAR is unable to respond to boaters. although they were able to respond to a call at the dock on May 12. That incident was unique, Shaw-MacLaren said since it wasn’t out in the marina. The Squamish vessel’s may cause long waits for response, but the Coast Guard base in Kitsilano and RCM SAR units in Horseshoe Bay and Gibsons are still responding to the Howe Sound area. They can be contacted by VHF channel 16 or by cell phone #727 or *16
“We’re always concerned when we’re down an asset. It just adds more SAR workload to the entire capacity,” Shaw-MacLaren said. “It wouldn’t be seen as a very high risk, otherwise, rescue centre would try to reallocate assets to the area.”
To donate go to canadahelps.org and search “Howe Sound Marine Rescue Society (RCM-SAR04)” or email [email protected] for more information. A GoFundMe page for the vessel's repairs has also been started.
“Anything anyone can do to help is great,” Shaw-MacLaren said.
