The record
West Kirby lifeboat station on the Dee estuary launches a D-class inshore lifeboat over a beach that turns to soft sand and mud as the tide runs out, ground that defeats a wheeled tractor or Land Rover. The RNLI's answer was to fit one of its Defender 110 launch vehicles with Mattracks conversion kits — triangular rubber track units that bolt straight onto the hubs in place of the wheels, each with a drive sprocket at the top, two bottom rollers and a rubber belt — turning the standard launch Defender into a low-ground-pressure tractor without changing the vehicle underneath.
The Flickr photograph shows it on the estuary sand: the familiar RNLI navy and white station wagon with the yellow and red stripe, Lifeboats and the RNLI flag on the front doors, LR83 fleet number, www.rnli.org.uk on the stripe, snorkel up the left A-pillar, winch bumper, roof rack and RNLI light bar, on four Mattracks with bright orange frames. The registry model is the RNLI launch Defender with the wheels and roof-rack boat removed and the track units built in their place.
