Dunkirk Little Ships Threatened.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/01/chris-grayling-urged-save-dunkirk-little-ships-threatened-new/

Came across this yesterday.

[CambridgeCabby]

Typical health and safety bureaucracy gone mad !!!!!

whats next ? 

steam engines being banned as they have high pressure boilers ?

Varnishing of old masters as they have harmful lead content in the paint ?

hopefully they will see sense and allow these historic heroic and important vessels to remain as they are , so future generations can appreciate the important role in the history of Europe and the entire free World that they played 

[grendel]

I believe it only concerns the ones still in use for passenger operations, though how many would be able to be kept afloat under purely private ownership would be debatable. its bad enough for trusts that look after these boats when something major is required, I believe the Waverley is currently out of action awaiting a complete boiler rebuild. unfortunately the expertise to do steam boilers is now getting to be a rare thing, pushing the prices up, and the quality suffering as it was only about 20 years since the last re-boilering. the cost in 2000 was £220,000 per boiler, they are now going to cost £2Million

then there is the other problem, suppose they do comply with the new regulations and place the passenger decks above the water line, how long will it be after that before it is decided that their stability is now compromised by the extra weight topsides, these vessels were designed to perform their passenger duties with a proportion of the passengers as ballast below the water line.