August 2019

By
Once again in this glorious summer, the rain is battering the windows as I pen this episode, and this seems to have been the theme aboard Kerne throughout August just at a time when we want to apply paint to the decks and superstructure before the onset of winter. We have had a few gaps in the clouds which have enabled some painting to be done and progress made on the wheelhouse. The six Beclawat windows have now been installed – a bit of a fiddly job fitting the runners and guides before inserting the glass from below the runners and compressing the spring mechanisms in order to mount these on their retaining battens. After a fair amount of trial and error on the first window we formulated a method of assembly which considerably speeded up the process on the other five. A slight problem was encountered when we came to install the clips which hold the windows in the closed position, as the new trims were not deep enough to accommodate the clips. As the trims had been manufactured in accordance with the drawings we couldn’t quite see how the situation had arisen. We then realise that the drawings were taken from the 1950’s wheelhouse with the sliding windows raised and lowered with a leather straps (as in old railway carriages) which did not require clips to hold them in the closed position. An order for modified trims has been placed with Moorside Joinery who manufactured the new structure. We had also toyed with the question of how to seal the sliding windows to prevent water ingress and finally decided to take a leaf out of the automotive industry’s book and mount rubber seals of the type seen on most car windows on strip aluminium which could then be screwed to the base of each window frame. This seems to work a treat, but we also intend to manufacture narrow ‘gutters’ to fit beneath each mechanism to catch any water that penetrates the seals. Also within the wheelhouse, the wooden base which supports the telegraph has been refurbished and bolted back in place using stainless steel nuts and bolts. This was not a simple task as it required someone to squeeze into the narrow gap between boiler and casing in order to screw the nuts onto the bolts. Fortunately we do have at least one contortionist amongst our volunteers! 

Down below, the boiler re-tube continues. Following the re-treading of the tube holes, the new mandrels, (the treads to which match the threads of the tubes) are screwed into each tube hole in turn. The purpose of this exercise is to ensure that the tubes will screw easily onto the threads in the tubeplates, and that any slight imperfections we find in the threads can be dealt with before we try to screw the tubes in.  

As we had identified thin areas in the base of the smokebox, as these were cut out the decision to replace the base in its entirety was taken. The scrap sections have now been removed and the manufacture of a new base frame commenced. This has been made from heavy gauge steel angle, fabricated in sections and welded together. There has been a trial fitting enabling marking out to be performed to match up with studs on the boiler itself. 

Finally in the last working party in August, the sun shone and buff paint was hastily applied to the Boiler Room casing and red paint to de-rusted areas of deck, so at least some pre-winter painting has been possible which also smartens up the vessel.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

September/October 2024

By
It was an early start on the first morning of September with steam raising for our trip across the Mersey to Birkenhead which had been our home for several years in the 1970’s. We bade farewell to our berth by the Pumphouse pub in Canning Dock on the Monday morning at high tide to clear the gate from Canning out into the river on what was a somewhat warm but damp and dismal day. The crew and Society Friends wasted little time in getting into the tea and biscuits, with the trip to the Galley being was met with the enticing aroma of a large pan of Scouse bubbling gently on the range, gratefully provided by Matthew’s partner Christine. When Kerne left Vittoria Wharf, East Float for Liverpool over 40 years ago, Birkenhead was a thriving port, with many vessels on show and plenty of movements to keep observers interested. Sadly, most of the infrastructure has gone to be replaced by modern office developments and high-rise dwellings - in fact, on arrival, we were the only operational vessel...
Read more

April 2025

By
Following discussions with Cammell Laird, a window of opportunity appeared that would allow us to dry dock the vessel. As the yard wanted to get us in before the end of the month, time was tight. A work specification was drawn up by Chris our Chief Engineer, which included the routine work of hull cleaning and painting, anode replacement and NDT checking of hull thickness, but also the installation of a high-level condenser suction. As regular followers will recall, the existing suction is adjacent to the keel, so in shallow waters (eg River Weaver) silt is sucked up into the condenser which overheated with resultant leaking tubes and sea water getting into the boiler. This required a condenser strip-down to repair and a boiler clean. By installing the high-level suction, we have the opportunity to switch from the keel suction to the higher level to avoid the silting problem. As we are dealing with a 112-year-old vessel, we will not be too surprised if the dry-docking throws up other i...
Read more

August 2024

By
Kerne spent the month on display in Canning Dock berthed alongside the Pumphouse Pub, thereby ensuring a large public audience was able to view the vessel whilst enjoying a beer on the quayside. Despite the obvious attraction of our location, the volunteer crew were not distracted from the ‘Outstanding Jobs’ list and continued with the boiler re-lagging. Whilst only partially completed, the benefits became obvious during our period in steam for the boiler inspection, and our short cruise to Canning. In the absence of lagging, the boiler pressure drops away markedly once firing ceases, but with lagging the day following sees pressure still registering. Also it is now possible to leisurely lean against the boiler casing for long periods without getting you backside cooked! Better weather also allowed deck painting to continue and a start was made in the long overdue repainting of the Engine Room. Not all news is good however as after twelve months of successful and trouble-free operatio...
Read more