Port St Mary RNLI volunteers have been given command of a relief boat while theirs is away for maintenance.

The Manx boat Gough Ritchie 2 was taken to Conwy in North Wales on Tuesday morning and has since been lifted out of the water, jet washed, and anti-fouled by the volunteers.

A statement by the Port St Mary RNLI said: ’Once there [Conwy] the Trent class lifeboat was lifted out of the water in order to give the bottom of the vessel a clean before applying anti-fouling.

’This is part of a six monthly maintenance programme which all lifeboats undertake to keep them in the excellent condition.’

However, while the crew returned to the island, Gough Ritchie 2 did not in order for some new equipment to be installed, included a new radar and the innovative SIMS Technology (Systems and Information Management System).

Instead they returned with a relief boat called Dora Foster McDougall.

The RNLI asked residents to ’keep an eye out for Dora out exploring the waters around Port St Mary’.