boats & equipment

Pioner-Multi Powerboat

This powerboat is fitted with a 50hp four stroke engine and drop down bow door, allowing mixed ability crews to manage race and rescue duties. Supplied by Caley Marina.

Sometime in 2003 we decided that a powerboat would be the next stage of our development and inclusion. We looked at several options but decided that the Pioner-Multi would serve our purposes best of all for a number of reasons.

First of all it has a ‘drop-down’ bow door making recovery of anyone in the water so much easier than hauling them over the sponson of a RIB or the high freeboard of a dory or whaler.

An added bonus with the bow door being, if we need to transport anyone in a wheelchair, this can be done easily from our stable concrete pontoon. This also allows wheelchair users to transfer to the driving position to become proficient in powerboat driving up to Powerboat II Certification.

The boat is powered by a 50hp outboard motor allowing it to get to an emergency situation quickly. The triple hull configuration makes the boat very stable and highly manoeuvrable.

The funds for this craft were raised over some nine months; the major source being obtained from the ‘Awards for All Scheme’ operated by the National Lottery and is specifically aimed at organisations with an annual turnover of less than £15,000. Contributions form Severn Trent Water (£1,500) and a local engineering company Clee Hill Plant Ltd (£1,000) enabled us to claim matching sponsorship from Sportsmatch adding a further £2,500. RYA Sailability contributed £2,000 enabling purchase to go ahead.

The boat was featured at the London Boat Show in January 2004 at a ceremony attended by our Patron at the time the late Duke of Devonshire. The purchase of safety rails, toolbox/seating and ‘A’ Frame was from our general funds and were fitted by our team of willing volunteers.

One of our members Alan Braban, was instrumental in raising the Clee Hill element of our funding, which was the final push needed to complete the project. Unfortunately Alan died from cancer before he saw the boat commissioned and it in memory of him that the craft is named ‘Spirit of Alan’.