A BROKEN Caledonian MacBrayne ferry which has caused services on the already cancellation-plagued Gourock-Dunoon route to be further decimated since April is STILL laid up without a working propeller.

Repairs on MV Argyll Flyer had been projected to be completed by last week but they have now been pushed back to October 25 — 'at the earliest'.

But CalMac bosses — who admitted to being beset with with major issues regarding the Flyer's propulsion system — insist that 'there is no reason to suspect she won't sail again'.

Meanwhile, Scotland's national ferries operator continues to limp on with an hourly service on the lifeline commuter route after the company abandoned efforts to charter a replacement vessel.

CalMac's tiny 78 gross tonnage boat MV Ali Cat — which can only sail in clear, calm conditions and in a sea state which causes only moderate rolling and/or pitching — now plies the run solo.

The Scottish Government-owned company's area operations manager for the Clyde, Tommy Gore, apologised to users of the service who have endured around 13,000 cancelled sailings since 2011.

Mr Gore said: "This [propeller] project has taken much longer than originally expected and I am sorry for the disruption it has caused.

"Clearly, customers using this route have been affected and I apologise for this."

The fact that the Flyer — along with the Ali Cat — were bought second-hand, and are not purpose-built for CalMac's requirements on the route, is proving to be a major obstacle.

Mr Gore explained: "Before a new propeller can be built, there is a significant amount of design work that needs to be undertaken to ensure that it will correctly support vessel drive and manoeuvrability.

"As this vessel wasn't designed and built in the UK, we have limited details of the original plans, so it has taken more time than expected to collate all the information needed.

"In addition, there wasn't enough detail available on the current propellers, so we have had to commission a specialist company to 3D scan them to feed this information into the new design.

"This has all taken longer than originally estimated, but has now been completed and the manufacture is now underway.

"We are making sure that the design process is robust in order to minimise the risk of the new propellers not working as expected when fitted."

The Flyer — which is laid up at Dales Marine in Greenock — has been out of action since April 6.

CalMac say they stopped trying to charter a replacement for her because 'the Ali Cat is coping well with demand'.

But the lightweight vessel has had to cancel sailings on a number of occasions since April due to being unable to cope with certain weather conditions — leaving passengers to extended journey times through a replacement bus service and use of Western Ferries.

Ali Cat is due to go off service for two weeks later this year for her annual maintenance overhaul.

CalMac managing director Robbie Drummond has previously apologised to customers 'for any disruption that the temporary loss of the Argyll Flyer is causing'.