Shipyard blog
This page is designed to share the work in progress on the shipyard. It covers the work that needs doing to restore and convert our lightship. We decided to do some work ourselves, and leave the "heavy work" to the shipyard people who are much more capable than we are with steel work and such. On this page you can follow our progress and frustrations... Do I hear volunteers?!? It might take a bit to load this page: there are loads of pictures and the page just keeps on growing.. Enjoy!
30 July 2008: The rigging of the masts is completed now. Today the aerial wires were installed. They give that finishing touch and look. Another part of the project completed! All we need now is a red "duster"...
23 July 2008: Today we decided to buy our own multi-purpose pump. This pump can be used to transfer all kind of liquids around the ship. What a better way to test it by pumping dry the bilges! Here are two pictures of me working on the engine room bilge.
22 July 2008: THE MASTS ARE BACK ON THE LIGHTSHIP!! Today the two masts were finally back on. A big crane showed-up in the morning taking up the stern mast first. Steve ensured the mast fitted perfectly over the pre-installed sleeve, and Bogdan welded it all together once the final alignment was established.
Once the masts were up, Pete (the rope expert) measured all the wire lengths so they can be fabricated whilst the masts were temporarily shored. Then the ropes, to hoist the areal wired and flags, were lowered and tied-off. Notice the aircraft way up in the sky! The last picture shows the bow mast hoisted into position. It was a perfect day: great teamwork from all involved, and it was good to see the lightship with masts on for the first time!
18 July 2008: The extension was welded onto the existing structure this week. Andy and Bogdan made it all look so simple but trust me: it took a lot of skills and they did a great job! Weather hasn't been great, but here is a picture of a beautiful rainbow above our lightship one day. And then there was Hans, my brother in law... he didn't get the hang of the dust mask it seems, but the REAL reason was far more embarrassing.. we won't go there!
4 July 2008: This week was marked by removing stairs from the lightship. Firstly the steep stairs into the engine room were removed. This is a typical ships staircase with an angle close to 70 degrees; your stairs at home are 40 degrees. Needless to say we cannot have customers using the old one, especially since it goes down quite deep. So a new staircase will be constructed to make it all a bit more comfortable. The old staircase however will be re-used to replace an ugly wooden staircase that was installed on the back to provide access to the roof of the super-structure for tourists. the original stairs however were exactly the same type as the ones that came from the engine room! As you can see, we want to (re-)use as many original materials and structures to re-build the lightship as possible in order to preserve the looks and feel. The shop extension is not yet permanently fixed. There are some alignment issues that need resolving. With the deck gently sloping up-wards to the bow, it is difficult to make it all fit perfectly the first time. But we have confidence it will be resolved soon.
28 June 2008: With the installation of the extension and windlass completed, the Lightship has moved again to the North-West, straight at the quay side. This will allow for the masts to go back on in about 2 weeks time. Parts of the walls in the engine room (the new training and sound healing room) have been high-pressure water washed to remove the tarmac coating in order to paint it as preparation for the installation of the new portholes. Nice picture: the bare steel gets immediately covered in a colourful rusty coating due to the water! The wooden roof in the wheel-house has been removed to assess corrosion damage to the steel roof underneath. This proved to be in good shape, so we might not have to completely rebuild the wheel-house; good news indeed! Bruno did a lot of work on the extension and the living-dining room.
18 June 2008: THE EAGLE HAS LANDED!! The extension has been installed on the ship late afternoon. Weather conditions didn't look good during the morning with high winds and rain lashing down. But the shipyard crew took a weather window to hoist the structure onto the bow section. The air-receiver for the foghorn was relocated on the top of the extension by Ken, Brian and Bruno. Some final adjustments to do tomorrow before the lot is going to be welded onto the ships deck. (Thanks to Steve Brain for the 1'st picture!)
17 June 2008: Today, the new windlass was hoisted onto the lightship. It is good to see major equipment coming back on board!
Next, the extension for the new shop was carefully manoeuvred out of the workshop where it was fabricated. It was then secured for the night awaiting lifting onto the ship tomorrow.
All of these careful movements were made possible by Steve in his crane; he simply loves it and it shows!
16 June 2008: The lightship has been moved today to the North quay-side of the shipyard as preparation for the heavy lifting jobs ahead. Will and his team did a good job juggling the various vessels that were around us in order to make it all happen. The picture below shows the ship being pulled to the new location.
13 June 2008: This week we uncovered the first set-back that shows the age of the lightship: we discovered that the wheelhouse steel is in really poor state. Due to the construction of the windows, rain water was allowed to flow on the inside of the steel panels, and since the wood panelling covered it up all those years, it allowed the steel plating to rot.. We are looking into solutions to this problem without having to completely rebuild the wheelhouse structure. I suppose we cannot complain: so far this is the only bad area; not bad for an almost 50 year old ship! It will take some extra time to rectify this problem. But as usual, the shipyard (Steve) has come up with some clever proposals that will retain most of the original wooden frameworks for the windows whilst replacing the steelwork.
The Engine room however is almost done! This room went through a true transformation during the past 4 months and will be the new training- and sound-healing room. Bogdan deserves all the credit for this work: he did 90% of it, and it was a lot: the biggest room on the ship!! Here a picture of Steve and Bogdan discussing progress, and a cracking picture of Bogdan in his fabricated emergency escape hatch from the engine room.
10 June 2008: The rigging of the two masts is a major job. There are so many wires running from them: the supporting (16mm thick galvanised steel!!) ones, the various antenna wires, and other ropes for signal flags etc. We have an expert called Pete who is one of those rare, remaining craftsmen who can do proper rope splicing and simply loves ropes and wires on ships... Here you see pictures of him splicing the ropes and putting the blocks onto the masts. Once the masts are on the ship, he will measure the heavy supporting wires and cut them to the exact length. I love people like Pete: there just aren't that many of them left!
31 May 2008: The old engine room is cleared. Bogdan completed the removal of the two side collision tanks so that we can install portholes later on to provide natural light into this room that will be used for training purposes and other events involving a greater amount of people. The room is nice and big, and it's energy (you are below water level here) is awesome.. The shipyard has completed the shop extension and is preparing for the lightship to come into the dock so that we can do some heavy-lifting projects: the extension, the windlass and the masts! She will look like a real ship again, after many years without masts.. should give a totally new look. We started planning the complicated electrical systems on board: 240V-AC shore-power connection and distribution, 24/12V-DC for emergency lighting, bilge pumping system, fire & burglar alarm systems, computer network, etc. We decided to remove the tarmac flooring in the wheelhouse as well to inspect the metal plate work underneath. It involved yet more chiselling, but the steel proved to be in good shape! The new stairs in the bow section was installed as well. They will give access to the treatment rooms from the shop area.
10 May 2008: Just two more picture to share, the cutting of the wing-tanks sections in the engine room, and one from the now almost completed shop extension as constructed in the shipyard's workshop. Note the door with the tiny porthole! In a couple of weeks this extension, the windlass and the masts will be installed by a big crane. We also had a VERY weird proposal today... The famous fashion line Superdry wanted to make a photo-shoot on our ship! See the NEWS page for pictures of the shooting that took place on May-22 ;-)
9 May 2008: It seems like we have skipped Spring this week; it was nice and warm at the shipyard, almost Summer! A perfect opportunity to do some work on the deck, removing old support structures and sanding the (removed) steering wheel. The wheel-house is starting to look great: the nice teak panelling appearing from underneath 3 layers of white paint! I purchased an old style VHF Marine radio (see picture) that blends in well with the original Marconi SSB transceiver in the radio room; boys and their toys.. I knew my Radio Officer's certificate from 24 years ago would come in handy one day! And the shipyard crew did their bit: the shop extension is nearly completed (including a hand-made door) and the living-dining room has been cleared from all walls and flooring, ready for installing floor heating etc. The guys also starting cutting away the wing-tanks in the engine room, and I uncovered the 2 fresh-water tanks that will be converted into a black-water holding tank. I also discovered a secret void way down below the ship... Perfect for hiding.. you never know! ;-)
2 May 2008: Today was a VERY exciting day!! The lightship was robbed from her original windlass whilst she was in Ireland as part of the plan to sell bits and pieces for scrap.. Over the last 3-4 months I have been trying to find a replacement but they proved to be difficult to get. I was tipped-off by somebody that a brand new, ex-MOD windlass was for sale a couple of weeks ago, and was able to buy it for a very good price. And today it arrived... here you see some pictures of the event: first Steve and me un-doing 30-odd bolts from the cradle the windlass was shipped in, Will was helping as well, me standing on the cradle ready to hook-up the crane, and there it was: the HUGE windlass with our lightship in the background. It will be installed on the now cleared bow section within the next week or two.
1 May 2008: Lots of fun this week! The historic ship Balmoral came into dry-dock. This beautiful ship is a classic.. And in the workshop, the extension for our shop took shape. See Steve & Steve posing in it! The girls took a shot at restoring the wheel-house and had far too much fun... The giggling and singing-along to Fleetwood Mac turned many heads on the shipyard! We also decided to remove all concrete and tarmac on the living-dining area floor to allow for floor-heating and it took a lot of chiselling to remove the rubble! Looks familiar doesn't it?
23 April 2008: We had some nice spring weather today and the crew took the opportunity to work on some outdoor projects. Denise took off on the ship's identity plate and polished it once again whilst Agnes started on removing rotted wood on the lifeboat. The shipyard crew completed the new staircase to the treatment rooms in the workshop and will install them on the lightship tomorrow. We will have nice hard-wood steps but for the moment we will use temp wooden ones. Steve also started on the frame-work for the extension for the shop.
15 April 2008: Sometimes you see the strangest things: this ship that can split itself (!!!) is currently in dry-dock, hair extension pieces openly in a car of one of the shipyard guys, and whilst removing drawers to sand and re-varnish, we have found ladies (!!!) underwear behind a cabinet in our first-mate's cabin! Sometimes you just wonder...
11 April 2008: Again, a lot of activity on the ship this week! The new door frame for the new engine room door was completed. This took some time since the wall wasn't straight at all, due to collisions in the past. (!!!) So it took Steve and Bogdan a lot of time to construct it in such a way the door would fit flush. Also, Steve used the plasma-cutter in the living/dining room to clear the steel walls in that area. This room is taking shape and starts to look really nice! Bogdan is removing the last bits of steelwork with a blow-torch to make the floor level. Denise has started to sand all woodwork in her room. She is doing a good and precise job! We also worked on the new "heads" area: a porthole has been cut into the steel outside wall and we have attacked B&Q for all sorts of materials like (eco-friendly) insulation and such. The Smiley picture was a creative moment of Steve with his plasma cutter... cutting into one of the tarmac covered internal walls... Proves the point: a man will always stay a little child!
4 April 2008: No, we haven't planned for two toilets on the main deck! They were removed from the old crew's and officer's "heads" by this very cheerful team: Nathan and Dave. They stripped a big part of the mess rooms and heads to allow the plasma cutter to come in and to make us our new living/dining room. The shipyard has stepped-up the activities on board! The old cable locker area in the bow section has now been fully plated and is almost ready to have the partitions installed for the 3 treatment rooms. A new staircase to that area is also under construction. Good work by all!
2 April 2008: The bow deck section is starting to look great, ready for the extension to be welded on later. Bogdan, our hero, makes a first-class job of it! We have also completed the clearance of the new Heads (toilet) and Galley (kitchen) so that we can start fitting them out soon.
22 March 2008: We are starting to fear we will not be finished with the lightship conversion and restoration in June, and even July seems doubtful now. This would be a real shame since we will not be able to have the new tourist attraction in place for the 2008 summer tourist season. We will work with the shipyard to recover some of the lost time.
20 March 2008: The cleaning of the deck is completed and they have started putting primer on the bow section. I must admit: it is great to see the end result of 2 weeks blasting and turning our ship into a totally nasty, noisy and dirty looking object.. I even got to the stage (for the first time!) thinking: what the he** did we get ourselves in to.. But more constructive work was happening in the back-ground: Steve created a brand new door for the engine room in the workshop, and Agnes started to turn the old cold-store into the new ships "heads" by removing the old insulation and such. So although a frustrating week for me, it turned out to be a good one after all. HAPPY EASTER!!!
14 March 2008: Denise is really good in polishing brass. The ship is LOADED with brass bits and bobs and this work will go on even after the lightship work on the shipyard is completed. Also, meet Brian: one of the experts on the machinery in the workshop. If it's broken, he can fix it!
13 March 2008: The high-pressure water-jet broke down, leaving the guys with nothing else to do than using the old chisel method until spare parts for the washer come in. As a result, the tarmac on deck comes lose in big pieces. The ship looked like a battlefield.. see pictures from the same area prior to, and after the chisels did their job. I keep telling myself; things need to get really bad first before it gets better.... right?
11 March 2008: Looked like the ship is under a bird attack due to the netting, but these were installed to stop debris going overboard produced by the high-pressure washer. This spectacular activity simply blasts the 2.5 inches of old tarmac deck covering off, straight down to the blanc steel deck so that we can re-coat it later on; see the last picture.
6 March 2008: We haven't been on the shipyard for the past 2 weeks, but were pleasantly surprised by the progress the shipyard has made with our project! The chain-locker area in the bow has been completely cleared and will be ready soon to start with the construction of the walls for the treatment rooms. On deck level, they have cut the front section of the superstructure to extend the new shop area. And down below they had a "break through" by cutting a hole in one of the stern bulkheads that will give access to the new bathroom. Both masts have been re-painted and are ready to be re-installed soon.
22 Feb 2008: Wasn't orange the colour of the Dutch? Well, it starts to show! We found a couple of tins on the lightship reading "flaming red". Assuming this was the colour of the ship, we opened them up to discover it was orange! So we tried some on the masts and it showed too much... So Denise and Agnes decided to paint my newly made work-bench in the boiler room... orange.. Needless to say we will order new paint for the ship itself. And that paint colour has a very special name.. only known to insiders ;-)
20 Feb 2008: We were moved out from the dock again to make place for an emergency repair on the Dutch (!!) dredger Sospan-Dau. We also have a new "mate" on board (although she liked the captain's hat) Our daughter has joined us to work on the lightship for the next months. She certainly brings a smile on all the faces on the shipyard!
12 Feb 2008: Space invaders seemed to have taken over this morning... a guy was giving a demo on how we could removed the almost 5cm thick tar decking. He used a 2500BAR (!!!) pressure washer. The stuff was flying everywhere and it looked like THE way to go to get a blanc steel deck to work with. Later that same day, we found another rather strange looking individual down below deck.. Maybe our lightship turns into a ghost ship! It certainly looked like one when we showed up the next morning in thick fog... But wait.. there's somebody on the gangway..
7 Feb 2008: Work is going well. The engine room is getting stripped at a high pace, with the main air receiver vessel been cut into pieces in order to get it removed. The chain locker area in the bow section has been cleared and a lot of unnecessary bits and bobs removed from the vaults of the ship. Whilst doing so, we found many useful things, like the wooden bays for the famous red/green navigation lights that were only put in place when the lightship was under tow. The guys worked hard for their money and did an excellent job. Also, below a picture of the shipyard's friendly receptionist Nicola. As the only female staff member she has the daunting task to keep the lads under some sort of control!
31 Jan 2008: This week saw a lot of activity on our ship! The Boiler-room is turned into a workshop area for me, the main rope shock absorber on the bow section of the deck was removed and work was started on the engine room where a lot has to be removed to turn it into the future training room. The ship was buzzing with activity and the guys gave it their best! One thing we need to influence next week.. the CD's the guys are playing (very loud!!!) are not to all our taste. See if we can sneak in some decent music...
24 Jan 2008: We moved the lightship into the dry-dock although she will stay wet! The move is purely to enable the shipyard to do the "heavy stuff" since the dock is straight opposite the workshop. So lots of cutting and burning to be expected next week. The dry-docking will take place much later, maybe in April-May, so that we can sand-blast and paint the whole ship. The shipyard has started to plate the areas inside the boiler room to enable me to set up my workbench area. We ourselves are in progress of ripping-out old electrical cabling and switches. These switches will be re-used later on in various parts of the ship.
22 Jan 2008: Today the masts were removed from the ship. They were taken down a long time ago and lying on the deck during the trip from Ireland. They will need to be restored in order to put them back upright in their original position. Would be nice to have them back on again: a ship without masts doesn't look like a real ship to me! :-)
19 Jan 2008: The shipyard has made progress on several fronts: the old foundation of the winch on deck has been removed (a new one will be replaced later) and started work on the chain-locker area. They have also started work in the engine room, removing old cabling and emptying tanks. We ourselves are working on the conversion of the mess-rooms and 2 of the 5 cabins down below, to be converted into the master bedroom. We are carefully removing and storing bits and pieces to be re-used later on. Although the next months will be focussed on removing things, we are looking into the design of the new central heating and electricity systems since they are one of the first systems to be installed.
10 Dec 2007: A The Shipyard has completed a major task on another ship and has released it from the dry-dock. Our lightship is going in the dock (although still floating: no DRY docking yet) to allow the guys to start removing heavy metal bits and pieces. The mast, temporary stored on the deck, will be removed for restoration, the engine room will be stripped from un-needed stuff etc.. Old central heating piping throughout the ship will go, the winch foundation on deck will be removed and a new one fitted later. The "stripping out" exercise will take some time!
24 Nov 2007: A lot of the features inside the ship are still original, including fixings and wood-work. We try to rescue most of it to be used again. We started on the mess rooms: these will be pulled together with the 2 bathrooms to make one nice big living & dining room. Here is the team in action!
