Coast Guard ship Ann Harvey sidelined until at least 2017

Repairs are underway on the damaged Canadian Coast Guard vessel Ann Harvey, but the boat won't sail again until at least 2017.

That's because it's also now undergoing a refit as part of the federal government's Vessel Life Extension (VLE) program.

The Coast Guard said it decided to make the best of a bad situation and move ahead with the planned modernization of the icebreaker now since it was already sidelined from running aground last year.

The upgrades will focus on the ship's propulsion system, including ongoing work to the motors, main engines, and the electrical control system.

Salt water in motors = bad

The Ann Harvey has been docked in St. John's since it was towed into port in April 2015. The icebreaker ran aground approximately five nautical miles southwest of Burgeo.

• Coast guard vessel Ann Harvey hits sea bottom

When the boat hit bottom, it caused a breach in the hull. Water flooded into the motor room, almost all the way to the ceiling. Salt water in the motors is not good, and even worse, it leaked through the ship's wiring into the drive control area.

Underwater welders carried out temporary patching, and once in drydock in St. John's, the Ann Harvey's hull was repaired more permanently.

It was then that decisions about the boat's damaged propulsion system had to be made.

Hole inside vessel

The Ann Harvey's two large motors had to be removed and shipped to Burlington, ON for repair, a jobeasier said than done.There were only two ways the giant blocks could come outdown through the bottom or up through the top.

From the bottom that meant cutting through the hull; from the top meant destroying the crew lounge, engineers' offices and helicopter track and hoisting the motors out.

Because the helicopter track was already due for replacement as part of the VLE, the Coast Guard decided the lounge and offices had to go.Now there's a gaping hole inside the vessel, from the ship's bottom all the way to the re-covered top.

Boat's presence is missed

According to the Coast Guard, the work is"more or less" on schedule but that doesn't mean the ship isn't being missed.

The Ann Harvey was a workhorse, and rarely resting in port. Besides icebreaking, it handled everything from tending buoys to search and rescue.

• Report raises alarm over Canada's aging coast guard fleet

Now, with the vessel out of commission, there's increased strain on a fleet that a recent TransportCanada report called, "one of the oldest in the world" and urgently in need of renewal.

That's not likely to happen anytime soon as the report also said the current national shipbuilding and procurement strategy"can only replace one ship a year, at most."