News from On Board

We enter Year 55 of the Kerne Preservation project, pretty much as we left the 54th year with the annual task of cleaning out the boiler for the Boiler Inspector. Our new Numatic super-dooper industrial vacuum cleaner has been a real hit – with brush attachment on the end of its nice long suction hose it was possible to reach all areas of the furnaces, tubeplates and combustion chambers. Whilst the job still necessitates the wearing of disposable boiler suits and respirators, the amount of dust and soot in the atmosphere is markedly reduced. The vacuum unit itself is equipped with disposable bags with dust-tight seals, so not only is it less unpleasant whilst doing the deed, but disposal of the soot and ash is a fairly clean operation. That said, we still don’t have volunteers lining up to do the job!! Staying on the subject of the boiler, several valves have been removed from the boiler shell as part of our rolling program of valve refurbishment. Each body of the valve is stripped dow...

Winterisation jobs aboard the good ship Kerne continued. Armed with our recent purchase – a Numatic Twin Motor vacuum cleaner we pressed on with the boiler clean-out, both on the fire and water sides. One of the dirtiest jobs is tube cleaning and soot disposal. The traditional way is to push a wire brush on the end of a metal rod through the tubes, which pushes the soot and light char into the combustion chambers. Once the dust has settled a ‘willing’ volunteer clad in double layer hooded boiler suits and breathing mask, crawls up the furnace and into the combustion chamber, literally kneeling in the large heap of soot which is then shovelled into buckets. These arm dragged out into the stokehold, the soot then being transferred into sacks and taken ashore for environmental disposal. With the increased vacuum and capacity of our new machine a streamlined system of tube sweeping has been adopted. To the end of the vacuum cleaner suction pipe, we have attached a metal cylinder (much like...

October was something of a hiatus for the volunteers of the good ship Kerne. The disappointment of our cancelled September and October sailings prompted several of us to book last-minute holidays, but not before essential ‘wintering’ jobs were carried out – particularly, the fitting of the funnel-top cover and draining of the boiler. In reflective mood, whilst there were no trips out in the river or up the MSC and Weaver, a lot has been achieved evidenced by two successful in-dock trials which puts us in a good position for hopefully early steamings in 2026. In the meantime, it is on with the usual tasks for the winter lay-up and preparations for the Boiler Inspector’s dry examination. So, it is off with the top and bottom boiler doors to ventilate and dry the water side of the boiler, and the removal of the 100+ firebars requiring a chain of 6 volunteers to stack these, in order, out of the way behind the funnel with the heavy side bars (designed to fit the corrugations of the furnace...

For the Kerne volunteers the words of the Scottish bard, Rabbie Burns - ‘The best laid plans of mice and men….’ could not have been more appropriate to the events of September and the plans for October. We started the month with work on the crosshead condenser pumps at an advanced stage, so much so that a steaming was pencilled in for the last week of September with high hopes that this would allow the successful navigation of the River Weaver to the Leigh Arms Steam Party at the beginning of October. Regular followers will be aware of previous repairs necessitated by numerous groundings in the Weaver over the years. Mud and silt get into the condenser and associated pumps due to the siting of the saltwater suction by the keel. The answer was to install a secondary high-level suction and pipework but the prohibitive cost of dry-docking and installation put this on hold. However, due to a generous bequest from our late Chairman George Coles, we now had the funds to have the work carried...

Work on the crosshead pumps was the focus of our engineer’s attention following the live steam test, the four valves being cleaned and re-assembled. Unfortunately, despite thorough de-rusting, scaping of the valve chest cover and the making and fitting of new thick rubber jointing the cover did not want to seat adequately to be pressure tight. This is partly due to the inevitable pitting of a steel plate of 100+ years of age, but also due to some historic repairs and stud replacements. Just another small issue to resolve! In the meantime, two new bleed valves were fitted to the valve chest cover. It was also decided to replace the aged lignum vitae piston rings. PTFE was the chosen replacement material which was expertly machined by one of our members from a solid lump - a not inconsiderable achievement and a perfect fit. The dry weather has seen a flourish of paint brushes, the standing joke being that if you had nothing to do and stood still long enough you would be painted along wit...

Following the dry visual inspection by the Boiler Inspector, our 1935 Admiralty-built boiler was passed fit for service subject to a successful steam test. The only matter for attention was to the Boiler Room pressure gauge, which when separately tested appeared a little ‘slow’. This was packed off to Messrs Instruments and Gauges of Banks, Southport, who had recently overhauled our set of Engine Room gauges, for overhaul and re-calibration. This was returned suitably certificated and duly refitted. The boiler was filled; the top and bottom access doors refitted with new joints and various covers and the funnel cap removed for steaming. This took place during the week commencing Monday 21 July, small fires being lit over successive days with steam being raised for the Boiler Inspector’s Thursday inspection. With dampers wide open and large fires in both furnaces in order to produce maximum steam generation, the safety valves lifted at 180psi with their usual ‘bang’, the pressure being ...

The welcome appearance of summer sunshine produced the usual dash for paintbrushes. The pressing issue was the condition of the funnel as large areas of paint had delaminated allowing moisture (and a far amount of rain) to get behind the paint and create some fairly large areas of rust. Several theories as to the cause were proffered, but on inspection of the funnel and a section on the delaminated paint, it appeared that detachment had occurred between the funnel and the rust cure layer. We came to the conclusion that the Granville rust cure we had used took exception to the heat of the funnel when in steam causing it to break away from the steel surface. The decision was to go for two coats of Hemperdur Primer and one of Hemperdur top coat. We will see how this reacts over the coming months. Also on deck, after draining and drying the aft peak tank it awas discovered that the internal pipe supplying sea water to the stern gland had corroded to the point of becoming porous, so this wa...