January 2024

Another year dawns and the volunteers get straight back into the swing of Saturday working aboard with woodworking, welding, painting and electrical work amongst the first jobs of the year. The woodworking relates to the continuing work to construct the walkway down the port side of the boiler, this being a robust structure which can be used to access the boiler shell itself, which will help immeasurably when we install the boiler lagging, and onto which we can store the ash buckets when we are in steam. The welding work was primarily for the continued construction of the crinolines for the boiler lagging which is progressing well. As will be appreciated, in one piece this structure would be too large to fit down any of the skylights or hatches accessing the Engine or Boiler Rooms, so it has to capable of being dismantled into small sections that will fit, and can be bolted together once in position. Whilst involved with steelwork, the opportunity was taken to replace the rather rusted port side access step to the bunker top. This was fashioned from a piece of our in-stock chequer plate which was cut, bent and bolted into place to the bunker casing. Due to a rather convenient window in the otherwise poor weather, paint brushes broke out along with the rather noisy rotary de-scaler and rusting areas to the funnel, handrails and decks were attacked and primer applied. Unfortunately, so thorough was the job that there was barely an area of the vessel that you could walk on, touch or lean against without getting covered with red primer! Also on deck, the starboard steering sheeve that was disturbed when that section of the deck was replated has been resealed to prevent water ingress and the rotting of the hardwood base. Down below, the wiring through the Boiler Room to the Wheelhouse is finally finished and the dehumidifier can now be deployed in that area of the vessel which can get rather damp over the winter period. Following our Weaver trips in the autumn, silt was picked up in the condenser. Partial cleaning out was undertaken on the Sunday afternoon of the Leigh Arms Steam Party, but we have removed both end covers so we can rod the brass tubes through properly. We also need to acquire new end joints before we replace the covers and test for leaks. And leaving the most popular job to the last, the Engine Room bilge has been emptied into our on-shore settling tank for ultimate environmental disposal. This requires the use of a submersible pump to pump out the majority of the oily water, but due to the curved nature of the hull, there is always a fair amount that the pump cannot lift, so this is retrieved with a scoop on the end of a long rod, the contents then being poured into a bucket, carried ashore and poured into the settling tank. Lovely job!