June 2022

Following our successful sea trials on 26 May it was back to the ‘Day Job’ of maintenance and repair. The 1st job was to continue with the cutting away of the corroded bunker cross deck. This has proved to be quite a labour intensive job due to the various layers of steel and concrete that was applied over her many years of commercial service. As followers of Kerne will be aware, we strive to keep the vessel to as near her final Liverpool Lighterage condition and appearance as possible. In practise this means carrying out sympathetic repairs whilst ensuring the safety and integrity of the vessel. To take this current job as an example – originally, this deck was of riveted construction, so ideally we would cut the corroded steelwork away within the riveted areas to maintain the appearance of the original. Unfortunately the corrosion was pretty severe, so we had to cut back beyond the rivets to find decent steel to weld to. That has now been achieved and we are now waiting for the welder to return to install the new deck section. In the meantime we have a rather fetching timber deck covering the large hole where the steel deck used to be! On the issue of welding, some repair work has been carried out to the timberheads that have also been de-scaled and painted. As mentioned in last month’s report, during our trials we had experienced a slight problem with the starboard feed check valve which allows water from the aft peak tank to be pumped into the boiler via the general service pumps. During her Admiralty life a live steam injector had been added to the boiler feed system. Injectors are used extensively on railway locomotives and traction engines, but rarely to marine boilers such as ours. Injectors can provide a much increased water flow than conventional pumps, but they can be temperamental, and during the trials ours was! Due to the increase in water flow, the non-return part of the feed check has to have greater ‘lift’ to allow for the greater flow to stop the water blowing back via the overflow as ours was. The valve in question is the original (evidenced by the stamping on the valve) and it seems surprising that a larger capacity valve was not fitted by the Admiralty at the time the injector was installed. We did some work on the valve over the winter as part of our continuous overhaul program, and we think this may have reduced the ‘lift’ and/or slightly restricted the flow. Unfortunately, to remove the value, we have had to drop the water level in the boiler along with the expensive water treatment in it. The valve is now receiving attention. The other piece of not-so-good news is that after 32 years of valiant service, our Aerogen wind generator has thrown in the towel. Unfortunately time and the harsh environment have taken its toll; the wiring sheaths having become brittle leading to shorting. Despite best efforts to replace the defective wiring, the genny could not be repaired and has been declared ‘life-expired’. We just now have to find the £1000 or so needed to replace it, as in the windy location we occupy in Liverpool, a wind generator is ideal and essential to maintain our battery bank when we are out of steam. The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee brings back fond memories of Her Majesty’s Silver Jubilee when the city of Liverpool played a major part in the celebrations, hosting the Review of the British Merchant Fleet, when we were honoured to represent our class in the review. I am obviously biased, but on that famous day Kerne was an absolute picture, with her open wheelhouse (we had just removed the old timber structure for repair/rebuilding) fresh paintwork and bunting. Even back in 1977, we were the oldest vessel taking part and I very much doubt that there are many of the vessels on proud view that day that are still afloat and operational today. We probably boasted the youngest crew as well; most of us that were aboard that day still being part of the crew today and hopefully will remain so for some time yet!