Report #003 - 10 February 2022

With workers arriving back from the Festive break, there has been good progress achieved in all areas of the vessel project.

One of the last remaining large pieces of equipment, that is to be upgrade, is the Main Switchboard that has now been removed from the space along with the previous generator cables. This has allowed for the engineers to develop the new switchboard to be installed once the drawings have been appraised by RINA Classification Society.

The best Engine Room layout has been achieved to maximise the available space without overly crowding components but still leaving space FWD in the Engine Room for future development of a Switchboard Control Room. This now allows for engineering drawings to be completed for the allocation of pipe runs for salt water and freshwater cooling to all the various machinery.

The Asbestos that was found inside the Engine Room spaces has been encapsulated and the required air test report after the works has come back, allowing for works to now progress inside the engine room. This will start with the cleaning of the bilge spaces for the new Urea tank and structural frame work for the new propulsion system to be welded into place.

New plates of steel have been welded to the underside of the hull at specified weak areas recognised by the Classification Society RINA. These new plates have been inspected and passed by RINA.

The damaged rivets on the hull side have been welded securely along with the weeping rivets that were around the diesel fuel tank area. These are still to be inspected by RINA at their next visit.

The Upper Deck teak has all been removed back to bare plate steel. Grinding and media blasting has taken place cleaning away all loose scale rust leaving good steel remaining. The Ultrasonic Thickness testing has been undertaken and the results are showing good steel remaining. There are only some minor areas around the Funnel casing that require plate patches to be welded.  The Exposed steal will now undergo a further final clean before being coated with primer paint to seal the exposed metal in readiness for the new deck layers to be added in the coming months.

The Crew have continued to work on the removal of the last valves and cleaning these from years of paint which now enables them to be serviced internally.

The internal bilges were in a poor condition, and we have a team of day workers who have been working well removing the heavy lead bars aside to get right to the bottom of the keel to clear away the loose rust back to good steel. This now enables us to rust convert, prime and then recoat with technical bilge paint to ensure a good layer of protection on the inside of the bilge space for the lead bars to be returned in position.

Varnish work onboard the vessel has been sanded back to bare teak and any repairs made. The first 50/50 absorbtion coat of varnish has been applied and allowed to soak into the wood. A further 2 coats have also been applied to some areas around the Bridge. The team will leave these areas for now so the paint team can move into the area, meanwhile the varnish team will move to the dock floor and work on the loose handrails already removed and set aside.

The exterior paint team are making progress from the Mast down, through every deck. Chipping away at blistered bubbling area and coating with a new primer layer in readiness for fairing compound. Sanding of all the areas is also underway to provide a good mechanical key for the new paint to bind with.