Saturday 3 September 2011

Lucky escape!

A great day back on the ship today.  Dave had delivered the anodes and nice and shiny they were too.  Thanks Dave.  Note that Dave is no longer 'Dave the welder' and all references to this steel miracle worker as such have been removed from my blog (not Dave, just 'the welder').  We had a laugh today and he (jokingly explained) that someone had wondered why I had got away with calling him Dave the welder without finding my landrover welded upside down to the side of my boat one day.  (and if anyone could achieve that, Dave could).  I had an education on the proper hierarchy of steel working and Dave is actually (official title) Dave the Fabricator.  It does not have the same ring to it but it does better represent the skills of an engineer who can weld rather than a welder.

Dave, consider myself educated! Lol.  And please don't weld my car to my boat when I am not looking.

Anyway, joking aside, I did do some light work today as I had friends and their parents (other keen blog followers) over to give the tour.

I am now getting close to having all the walls of all the rooms cleared of bits and bobs that prevent the insulation going on.  I need to clear all the rooms of stuff so that Dave (no longer the welder, now the fabricator :->  he is going to kill me..) will be able to remove the various brackets from around the ship in one go.

I managed to removed the various signs, the engine room vent fans, 2 bells, 4 fire alarm buttons, the control panels and lights by the back door and a few other bits like the wiring.  Its fiddly work that takes time but does not look like one has done much when one has finished.

The various FM200 (previously Halon) gas fire suppression tanks could be triggered by these buttons.  I have removed them for now as I need to sort the walls out and then decide whether to refit or modernise.


The engine rooms have some major fans and air ducts running down there.  Not sure if they suck or blow.  But the control panels are on an external wall of the ship and if I leave them on in this position then the insulation will be impossible to fit.  Most of this kit will need to be rehoused (if needed at all) in the old battery room.



Next to the door was the original manual/automatic switch panel for the halon tanks and controls.  Sensible as I would assume the idea was to be able to switch to manual when on board and automatic when off thus reducing the risk of being in a room when one goes off (and killing you).  Not needed anymore as although I may have the bottles in the engine room stay in place I would want the controls modernised and probably manual only.  As I will only ever run the generators when I am on board it seems pointless to worry about the automatic sensors.


A few notice boards gone (in the store now).  Not that interesting a photo I have to say!



It is coming to the point where I will have to start fitting alternative lights (temp) while I strip out all the old electrics.  That will be fun :->