Cable assemblies supplied by Kent-based Convert Ltd are being used to help power engines on life-support vessels in the waters surrounding the UK and Ireland.

Over the past 18 months, the company has delivered a total of 15 port and starboard cable assemblies to Marine and Industrial Transmissions Ltd (MIT), a supplier of marine transmissions and driveline systems with world-class engine manufacturers among its customers.

Dave Lord, Convert’s managing director (www.convertltd.co.uk), said: “A number of us at Convert are keen dinghy sailors. Like every person using the water, you never know when you might need the help of a life-support vessel, so to be able to work on this project was fantastic.

"We worked closely with MIT to reverse-engineer the assemblies from samples. It wasn’t straightforward, as each life-support vessel has two engines — one port and one starboard — and the cable assembly for the port engine is slightly different to that for the starboard. This meant that each had to be treated as a separate part.”

About 75m of cable was used for the port engine loom, making 32 connections in the main loom, which itself was over 2m long.

The starboard engine used around 70m of cable, with 30 connections, and both had further connections on the fuse board.

The total length of cabling amounted to 147m, which is almost the length of three Olympic-sized swimming pools.