Appledore looks forward to new lifeboats as RNLI announces major fleet shake up

Appledore RNLI has welcomed a shake-up of the RNLI’s North Devon coast fleet, with the station set to receive two new lifeboats during the next two years.

The RNLI has announced it is restructuring some of its cover for the Bristol Channel due to what it says is a change in the type of shouts its volunteer crews are called out to.

This means Appledore will bid goodbye to its Tamar class all-weather lifeboat (ALB) but will instead receive the more modern, faster and more manoeuvrable Shannon class all-weather.

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The station’s Atlantic 85 inshore RiB (rigid inflatable bot) lifeboat will be replaced with a smaller and shallower draught D class inflatable lifeboat the RNLI says will be more suitable for inshore and estuary operations.

Ilfracombe however is losing its Shannon ALB, which will be replaced with an Atlantic 85. The RNLI says this will be more suitable for the majority of inshore shouts the Ilfracombe crew receive, with support available from Appledore if an all-weather boat is needed.

In a statement on social media, Appledore RNLI said the new Shannon would mean it could get out over the notorious Bideford Bar more easily and safely at low tides, with considerably less tidal restrictions.

It added: “Appledore has also been using its boarding boat for the increasing number of estuary based shouts due to its shallower draft than the station’s Atlantic 85. However the boarding boat is not a fully equipped D class lifeboat.”

It said before the new lifeboats arrived on station, a major retraining program for all crew would commence, with the existing lifeboats remaining operational until the retraining was complete.

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Bob Meller, Appledore’s lifeboat operations manager, said: “Our Tamar and Atlantic class lifeboats have served us very well over the years, and we will be sad to see them leave, however we understand and support the changes that will be coming along in 2026 and look forward in continuing to save lives at sea.”

The RNLI has argued the location of an all-weather lifeboat at Appledore would provide suitable cover to its ‘flanking’ inshore lifeboat stations at Minehead, Ilfracombe, Clovelly and Bude, saying it could incidents on the North Devon coast and provide cover up to 75 nautical miles into the Bristol Channel.