A new Sunshine Coast RCMP boatshed in Gibsons Harbour is expected to house a larger, safer vessel sometime next year.
The detachment currently has a seven-metre (22-foot) Zodiac Hurricane that allows safe travel for two passengers and can handle seas with up to two-metre waves, media relations officer Const. Harrison Mohr said last week.
The new boat — which is still contingent on funding approval — will be about two metres longer with a fully enclosed cabin to accommodate more passengers and provide shelter and security to officers and prisoners who are being transported.
“There’s certainly been times when we had to transport violent prisoners on [the current boat] and it’s really not well suited for that because it is so tight and confined,” Mohr said. “So a bigger boat with an enclosed cabin will be more appropriate for those sorts of calls.”
With only the one vessel, the detachment responds to calls across the Sunshine Coast.
“Our detachment area has over 1,000 kilometres of coastline that we patrol and respond to, and that’s the most amount of coastline for any detachment in British Columbia,” Mohr said. “We respond essentially all the way from Squamish up to Sechelt Inlet, Jervis Inlet, Princess Louisa, the islands — Thormanby, Nelson, Gambier, Keats.”
Depending on the urgency of the call and the location, he said, RCMP members might travel directly by water or tow the boat on a trailer and launch it closer to the scene. In cases where members have to respond during harsh weather to more exposed parts of the Coast, “the size and power of this boat is just a little risky,” Mohr said.
“Unfortunately, there’s times when due to either rough conditions or the number of people we have to transport, we have had to hire a water taxi instead. We can’t rely on our community partners for the times when we do have to transport violent prisoners or dangerous items or things like that, so we really need the capacity to be able to do that ourselves.”
About half of the detachment’s approximately 35 members are trained to operate the boat and an effort is made to schedule at least two trained members per shift, Mohr said, “because some of these calls do come in at two in the morning and you have to respond.”
Towed into Gibsons Harbour on March 1 and moored at the end of B dock, the new boatshed was custom-built by Squamish Nation Marine Group at Lynwood Marina in North Vancouver, with the dimensions based on the size of the proposed replacement boat.
At 13 metres long, seven metres wide and about six metres tall, the structure became an instant beacon in the harbour, dwarfing the Coast Guard boatshed moored next to it.
“We’ve heard from some people that they weren’t happy about the size of it,” Mohr acknowledged. “We’ve done our best to alleviate those concerns.”
In fact, after seeing the original plans, the detachment asked the builders to downsize the structure, reducing the size of the walkways and other features.
“It was built for the size of the new boat and it’s also built to be secure,” Mohr said. “We certainly didn’t mean to inconvenience anyone else in the harbour here.”
Harbour manager Bill Oakford said he has personally received one complaint that the boatshed was too high.
“Something new in the harbour, it stands out,” Oakford said.
