A weekend in the yard

Half past seven now on a Sunday evening and the weekend is drawing to a close with me not having taken advantage of it one bit. Sure they’re must be a thousand places to visit and things to do, I could have borrowed my mates bike or kayak for two, it might have helped me shift this ‘beer belly’ I’ve acquired. Almost twelve months of hotel/ship food and a distinct lack of exercise have seen my waistline expand in true ‘middle aged spread’ style. Still, that will come off once I get back into the swing of things at home, last weeks rock shifting doing me a power of good, as did the many wanderings about the hill with the Dude.

However this weekend I did nothing apart from gaze out of my mates flat window, listen to Radio 4, surf the internet, play CD books and of course work. Though my work has been more of the observe, take notes and generally be a nuisance variety as the hoards of contractors and workers put the finishing touches to our new ship. Finishing touches probably being somewhat of an understatement as fitting all the extra insulation, that was not originally envisaged is a major task indeed. It had to be done at the behest of the MCA http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/ who deemed the aluminium superstructure unsafe in the event of a major fire. Well they do have a point but I’m thinking anywhere on the ship would be unsafe in the event of a major fire and there are plenty of ships made of the stuff sailing the ‘seven seas’ without 70mm of external fire retardant cladding. Still, it sure is going to be a quiet and cosy little ship when it’s finished, though at the moment much of it looks like a spaceship

 

That’s one of the battery rooms on the right complete with 108 LiFePO4 12v batteries, two parallel banks of 54 in series giving a nominal voltage on the DC bus of around 700v.

Whilst it is quite busy on ship itself there aren’t half as many people milling about as during the week so a lot more preparation and painting got done.

 

The weather being absolutely perfect for it

the forward ramp getting done

as well as some work on the ‘monkey island’

and ‘cutting in’ around decks four and five.

Actually, I think that appeared on Friday

Ferguson’s 31.5 ton tower crane.

 

Parts for yard number 726 the MV Lochinvar, UPS battery stand for the transitional lighting, a propulsion room vent and in the background on the right a clever device for jettisoning jerry cans into the sea in the event of a fire. The image on the right is one of the three removable deck sections that allow access so the main generator sets can be lifted through the car deck.

Looking ‘doon the water’ on a bank holiday Sunday, OK, I know it’s not a bank holiday in Scotland

Ocean terminal Greenock, the berth for many a visiting cruise ship.

Of course no bank holiday Sunday at the seaside would be complete without a Jet ski

Ode To A Jet-Ski Person

Jet-ski person, selfish fink,

May your silly jet-ski sink,

May you hit a pile of rocks,

Oh Hoonish, summer, coastal pox.

Noisy, smoking, dickhead fool

On your loathsome leisure tool,

Give us all a jolly lark

And sink beside a hungry shark.

Scream as in its fangs you go,

Your last attention-seeking show,

While on the beach we all join in

With ‘Three cheers for the dorsal fin!’

– Michael Leunig –

Obviously Australian poet Michael Leunig doesn’t like them  

That was it really, I spent my weekend beavering away below deck making notes and trying to get to grips with network of servers and local processing units on board.

 

I watched some ‘ships go by’

 

the dredger Admiral Day for one

a Svitzer tug for another

 

and then the sun went down