Hythe Engineering serves the marine industry with anything from fast-response one-off projects to long-term customers. One example of the latter is with Tall Ships Youth Trust. Over the past eight years that we’ve worked with them, we’ve built a great relationship.

In this case study, we share some of the great work done by Tall Ships Youth Trust and take you through how we collaborated with the charity to solve a recent problem.

Who are Tall Ships Youth Trust?

Tall Ships Youth Trust is the UK’s oldest and largest youth development sail training charity. With a particular focus on working with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, they’ve been providing young people aged 12-25, with life-changing experiences at sea for 65 years.

During this time, more than 120,000 young people have experienced a transformational adventure, sailing over two million nautical miles with the charity – equivalent to sailing around the world 92 times! They currently operate five vessels, four 72ft Challenger yachts and a 55ft ketch.

The Challenger yachts undergo surveys to keep them maintained, which on a recent occasion alerted them to an issue. A repair was required, so the team reached out to Hythe Engineering to complete the work.

What did the Project Involve?

Throughout our time working with Tall Ships Youth Trust, they have primarily engaged our team to replace sections of the steel hulls on their Challenger yachts as needed. Most recently this has been on Challenger 1 and Challenger 2. During their five-year coding renewal surveys, they found steel corrosion below the minimum allowed.

Speaking on the work completed, John Farndell, Operations and Maintenance Manager at Tall Ships Youth Trust, said:

“We have always found Hythe Engineering responsive and ready to assist. We work together to come up with the most efficient and effective method for repairs, which sometimes needs a little creativity.

After the first completed works, our surveyors were happy with the standard of work delivered. The knowledge that HMS is doing the work also makes the sign-off process simple and quick, especially with the comprehensive reports they provide.

He added: “Safety is critical to the work we do and I know that when hull sections are replaced, the young people we take to sea and develop are safer than they were before.”

John also commented on how our ability to provide in-house non-destructive testing sped up the process and added an extra layer of quality assurance.

“It’s great that HMS can now do the required non-destructive testing (NDT) of the welding work themselves, which saves time and allows us to start painting sooner without compromising quality.”

Our engineers work with you to solve your problems by creating a bespoke turnkey solution. Get in touch to collaborate on your next project.