Rescue Cutter for Sale

[Oyvind Snibsoer]

This one sort of got buried in the "Rocknes" thread, and I thought that it deserved some more attention.

http://www.nssr.no/archive/Nyheter/Nyheter%20Oppslagsbilde/america.jpg
The Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue (NSSR) has this old, 1971 rescue cutter for sale. Yeah, it's not wood, but it's been a while since they sold out the last remaining Colin Archer. Still, it would make a great go-anywhere-boat and/or liveaboard. Complete with towing hook and can probably still handle anything Mother Nature can throw at it. Not cheap, but she's got a great name smile.gif

Check out the datasheet (http://www.nssr.no/archive/Dataark/pdf/080%20America.pdf) and sales prospect (http://www.nssr.no/archive/Internett/Diverse/America_takst/am01.html) (pdf version) (http://www.nssr.no/archive/internett/diverse/America_takst/am_takst.pdf).

[ 02-03-2004, 06:05 AM: Message edited by: Oyvind Snibsoer ]

[Paul Scheuer]

OK. So how much is 5 m NOK ?

[Oyvind Snibsoer]

Not cheap, $700 000. She's still in active use as a backup boat, AFAIK. Crew of four live on board.

[ 02-03-2004, 02:25 AM: Message edited by: Oyvind Snibsoer ]

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I I were a millionaire, I would buy her at once; she would make the perfect ultra-seaworthy live aboard motor yacht. I don't understand why people go and order new ugly things with a fraction of the seaworthiness of this little ship, which has been designed built and operated in the light of vast experience.

I should explain to anyone who does not know that these rescue cutters, like the sailing ones built by Colin Archer, stay at sea with the fishing fleet, unlike the type of lifeboat which is launched from a slipway when a casualty occurs.

Incidentally the one that I went on board had a half model of a Colin Archer recue cutter on the bulkhead in the saloon.

[Oyvind Snibsoer]

It's interesting that, in the first decades of the NSSR, back in the days of sailing Colin Archers, all their boats were laid up throughout the summer for repairs and maintenance. The management simply couldn't imagine anyone getting into trouble at sea in the summer.

These days, assistance to the pleasure boat fleet is their biggest "market segment" by far...

[Meerkat]

You have to consider, no matter how good the maintainence (which I would imagine was top notch), if there's any useful life left in the vessel. As economy minded as coast guard and resuce services tend to be, perhaps she has reached the end of her economically maintainable life? Won't the hull plating have gotten pretty thin after 33 years of use? How many hours on her plant since last refit, etc.

[Oyvind Snibsoer]

http://www.nssr.no/archive/dataark/bilder/Skøytebilder%20normal%20400/web061.jpg
The "Haakon VII", built in '58, is still in active service.

There are a few minor items listed in the sales report, but I don't think there's any reason to believe that she wouldn't make a great yacht for some serious cruising.

I'd think the "need for speed", power and smaller crews would be their main reasons for selling, and she's probably being replaced by something like this:

http://www.nssr.no/archive/Dataark/400%20px/RS125DNV.jpg
"Det Norske Veritas" - built 2003, speed 24.9 knots, Bollard pull 18 tons, crew of 3. The "America" has a max speed of 11 knots, Bollard pull 11 tons and crew of 4.

The boats of the NSSR are often named after benefactors, BTW.

[ 02-03-2004, 05:59 AM: Message edited by: Oyvind Snibsoer ]

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Originally posted by Meerkat:
You have to consider, no matter how good the maintainence (which I would imagine was top notch), if there's any useful life left in the vessel. As economy minded as coast guard and resuce services tend to be, perhaps she has reached the end of her economically maintainable life? Won't the hull plating have gotten pretty thin after 33 years of use? How many hours on her plant since last refit, etc.There's a thickness gauging report in the sales documents - all looks fine. And the sister ship that I was aboard in '77 in Lerwick was the only ship I have set foot on where you literally could eat your breakfast off the engine room floorplates; she was spotless from stem to stern.

[Alan D. Hyde]

Unlike Andrew, I've never been there.

But I am reliably told that such vessels there tend to be maintained to a higher standard than is sometimes the case here.

The Norwegian heritage of seamanship is a long and often splendid story.

Alan