News from On Board

With summer allegedly on the way and a hint of improving weather, we pressed on with preparing Kerne for the Sailing Season. Starting with the boiler, following the successful dry inspection by the Boiler Inspector, the bottom access door was replaced, the fire bars moved by human train from the stack behind the funnel down through the Boiler Room skylights to the stokehold. With one of our crew inside each furnace the bars were passed, one by one and placed into position whilst other crew members wrestled with the task of closing the extremely heavy smokebox doors. Unfortunately, our firehoses couldn’t reach the water hydrant, so with all hands on ropes, we hauled the vessel down the quay until the hoses reached. Whilst we were hauling away a tremendous and sudden hail squall set in soaking us all to the skin – not pleasant, but it did mean that lighting the solid fuel stove in the Forward Cabin earlier in the day was a stroke of genius!! Thereafter, we filled the boiler and aft peak ...

Although still in the grip of a cold and wet winter, our efforts very much moved towards preparation for the summer steamings, particularly as last year was rather lacking in that department. The paint job behind the Engine Room pumps was completed and the replacing of the timber walkway started. The problem was that we couldn’t quite remember which bit went where. It was something like a jigsaw puzzle with large pieces. Persistence paid off and the various planks and support timbers are now in position. Also down below, those valves previously removed from the boiler as part of our rolling program received final attention before returning to their rightful positions. It is fair to say that access to some of the valves is somewhat awkward, particularly those located in the valve box just forward of the funnel. Bending over into the valve box with the valves below the level of your feet whilst you bolt up the flanges is much less that comfortable. Moving aft to the galley, the stovepipe...

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...