Month: August 2022 Page 1 of 2

This week we took a break from the engine project as we were awaiting cables in the mail. Monday consisted of running new POS-MV cable and insulated Cat5 cable from both engine rooms to the tech space through the tween deck. This project took some time because the pull stings we ran ended up getting wrapped around each other as one was pulled. The new Cat5 cable is for a new camera in each engine room to be able to see the engines and generators from a different vantage point. To end the day, we made new RJ45 connections for the Wi-Fi router and the clock display. We had to add keystones jacks to be able to create a patch cable to add in as well. The next day we replaced a Cat-5 cable we ran back in June with a different Cat-5 cable because Dennis “preferred the grey color to be structural cable and the green cable to be the patch cable.” That afternoon we learned all about DB-9 and DB-25 connection terminals as well as null modems, which are used to cross over the transmit and receive data line when trying to connect male to male or female to female cords. We used a manufactured R232 serial connection to be able to talk to each other’s computers and understand the concept before we create our own terminal emulation at some point when time allows. On Wednesday Jon, Kyle, and I started the AC wiring project and got as far as we could with the wire we had as we waited for more to come in the mail. Finally on Friday we finished the wiring, and the project was completed. Thursday and Friday Kyle and I disconnected the sensors from the transmissometer and removed them from their mounts. We then put new calibrated sensors and transmissometer into the cage and mounted them accordingly. After Kyle and I put everything back together we connected communications wire up to the transmissometer to ensure that everything was working correctly before we upload the new coefficients into the software.

Friday evening was a crew morale night and we went to Top Golf. It was great to spend time away from work in an incredibly fun environment.

Week 14: After major successes getting the engines onboard and in place at the dock, the engine project has come to a slow down as the boat has to wait for contractors to fabricate and install exhaust parts, control parts, and weld electrical boxes/plumbing parts in both engine rooms. As Alesha and I have been very busy and heavily involved getting the engines in and put together, Denis’ projects were waiting for us to take on, so this week has been very tech heavy, which was a nice transition as these projects were less dirty and not as physically demanding. It is funny as I made the joke that working with the engine side of the house you use the biggest tools lying around, while working with the tech side of things we use the smallest tools available. 

Monday, we started out in the tight spaces of the Tween Deck running wire through the Rox Box that gave us so much trouble the last couple of weeks. Well, our struggles continued and Alesha and I learned quickly that this was a major pain in the butt. The Tween Deck is a space where the framing of the hull runs between the pontoons and supports the main deck and superstructure. There is an entrance in the starboard side Engine Room as well as another entrance in the Dry Lab. It is a very tight fit and must be traversed lying down and manuevering through lightening holes that are only a few feet in diameter. Going through the hatch from the Engine Room there are 4 lightening holes to pass through on the way up forward towards the Rox Box as well as Fiberglass insulation at the entrance. Alesha and I ended up running five pull strings leading from the Marine Tech lab to each engine room (3 to the starboard, 2 to the port side) to be used later to pull wire through the space from the spool. We pulled the new POSMV Coaxial cables as well as the shielded and heat resistant Cat 5 cables for the new cameras to be mounted in both Engine Rooms. Here is a picture of the broken Rox Box wedge that we have to replace: 

Also here are some pictures in the Tween Decks to understand the confined spaces we were crawling through and some of the piping and we had to work around: 

On Tuesday, we worked on fixing up some of the wiring we ran for the two wifi systems onboard and the time server display in the dry lab. These were all RJ45 connections with Cat 5 cables running to Keystone Jacks connected to Patch cables that allowed for easier access when troubleshooting or maintainence projects. We also replaced a structural wire that we had run to the Chief Scientist room for the exterior cameras that are getting mounted on the port and starboard sides. Later in the afternoon, we learned about R232 terminations including the pin configurations for DB9 and DB25 connectors. This is a serial type connection that allows specific IP to be transmitted and recieved on specific pins. We learned about a bit about the different types of IP (Internet Protocols) including RTR (Ready to Recieve), RTS (Request to Send), DTR (Data Terminal Ready), Rx (Recieve), Tx (Transmit), CTS (Clear to Send), DSR (Data Set Ready), etc. We then learned how to make the connections crimping different wires to pins and putting them into the connection ports. We then learned how Null Modems work as there are DCE (Data Connection Equipment) and DTE (Data Terminal Equipment) that when connected communicate through different pins and therefore require a Null Modem to cross them over or fake out DTE from recognizing a DCE as another DTE. 

On Wednesday, we worked with Jon learning more about electrical connections and different guages of wire, the capabilities and limitations determined on length and size of wires, as well as how to make terminations on larger wire diameter. We then made the connections on 3 Awg wire for the battery terminals leading to the Engine starters. Here are a few pictures of the terminations:

We ended the day working on the wiring for the A/C unit that we had mounted at the beginning of our internship. 

On Thursday, we started deconstructing the CTD, cleaning up the wires and sensors, and rotating them out with the calibrated sensors that were delivered from SeaBird. We learned a lot about the care of the sensors, how each sensor worked, and the importance of having a calibration and maintenance schedule to keep the sensors in good working order. A major part of Denis’ job as a Marine Tech. Here are some pictures of the sensors and Alesha and I taking deconstructing it:

On Friday, we finished rotating out the sensors on the main CTD and secondary CTD, as well as prepping the tertiary set of sensors to be shipped out for calibration. We learned how to set up the config file in Seabird’s SeaSave program as well as put in the new calibration data sets. We also finished the wiring and set up for the A/C Unit in the Scientist Cabin, which turned out really nice! Here is a picture of Alesha and I shivering underneath our working A/C unit:

We concluded this busy and great week with a Crew Morale night at Top Golf, which was a wonderful cap to getting the engines in and working with this great group of people. It has been a great experience and I am appreciative to have been a part of such a major overhaul. I have learned quite a lot of many different things and am very appreciative for the crew taking it upon themselves to share their knowledge and wisdom with me. 

This week has been such an accomplishment and weight off our shoulders. The impossible back the possible. Monday the starboard engine went into the engine room defying the odds that were potentially against us, like the hydraulic reservoir that was in the way taking up room. Once the engine was inside the engine room the ship was warped back to it normal docking area. I felt like this move went a lot smoother than the prior move to put the engines onboard. The tide was hugely working in our favor helping generously. On Tuesday the engine was shifted forward and placed on the isolators and mounting blocks. Oil was then added to the port engine for the alignment guys to start their process of aligning the engine to a one hundredth of a millimeter. After that was completed, the engine started to be redressed and like with the port engine, Ron and I tackled dressing the right side of engine.

By Thursday Kyle and I were back to our side quests and this time we were back at trying to remove the RoxBox wedge. After it not moving after endless attempts and realizing the wedge wasn’t releasing tension, worse came to worse and it had to get drilled out. Some of the rubber cubes that hold the wire, and the wedge were destroyed in the process, but it was successfully taken apart to add new camera wire, POS-MV cable, and the engine cables. Now we were able to run some pull lines from that space into both engine room so we wouldn’t have to spend much time running within the tween deck.

To wrap up the week I helped with putting the old engines on the pallet and putting all the part we removed back onto the engine to sell them. At the end of the day, I joined another side quest and helped Jon with the AC project and drawing a wiring diagram, matching the AC in my stateroom, that would help us with the install.

After ending our week last week struggling to get the Rox Box out, this week started on a high note. We woke up early 0630 to get the starboard side engine out on the pier with hopes to time lifting it onboard with the low tide at 0700. We did it just as before and it went seamless utilizing the A-frame to get the engine onboard. Alesha, Ron, Lock, and I got to work moving the engine on the portable A-frame towards the starboard side soft patch. Which went quickly as we have been working closely and well together for the last couple of weeks. However, it got a little hectic when we were ready to lift the engine into the starboard engine room as AME, the vibration and alignment guys, as well as Pye Barker, the CO2 fire system guys, were scheduled to come in at the same time as the lifts that day.

We loaded the CO2 containers back into both engine rooms while AME started to align the port side engine using lasers for accurate alignment up to a 100th of an an inch. We lifted the starboard side engine utilizing a strap towards the aft side (bellhousing) and a chain fall towards the forward end of the engine (towards the dampeners). The idea was that we wanted to lower the front end of the engine first allowing it to come in at an angle and another chainfall on a padeye in the engine room to take some of the weight bringing the engine forward above the transmission. This helped as there wasn’t a lot of clearance on this side due to the hydraulic tank that powered the crane. It went in smoothly and just as we planned. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we moved the engine forward and dressed it with all of the additional parts that were stripped to reduce the engines weight and make it slimmer. This included the aftercooler, exhaust manifold, oil cooler, fuel supply system, coolant reservoir, heat exchanger, turbo charger, alternator, and raw water pump. AME also needed the port side engine to have oil and the simulated weight of the coolant for proper alignment. Here is a picture of Alesha and I filling the engine up with oil: 

Thursday, we went back into the tween decks as the next steps to get the engines powered up were to run wires up to the bridge and doghouse. We also have the POSMV wires and a few camera RJ45 wires to run to both engine rooms. There also might be some wiring that needs to be ran for the new controls that are being set up by another contractor. So we attacked the Rox Box this time with a drill, some PB blaster, a couple pry bars, and a hammer. After quite some time and toil we got the box out and ran some cord through the tween decks and all of the lightening holes leading fore and aft so that we can pull the wires we need through in the next week or so. Here is a picture of me coming out of the hatch leading into the tween deck and yes it’s a tight fit, lol:

Also, I got PADI Dive Certified this weekend:

This week was very similar to last week in the sense that lots of time was spent cleaning the bilge on the starboard side and being able to have the final coat of paint on by Friday. The bilges took longer time to clean than anticipated because they were a lot worse than we thought. We spent hours using degreaser, pressure washing the oil off the bottom, pumping the oily water into a waste barrel and repeating. Once the water levels were low enough the bilge pumps would not pick anything up, the shop vac was used to pick up the remaining water and gunk at the lowest part of the bilge. Finally, after the bilge was all clean and painted, it looked like a new space. By the middle of the week, we were able to get down in the port engine room and place the engine on the mounts and start dressing it back up. I was helping with dressing the right side of the engine while Kyle was on the left side. Ron and I were able to put on the turbocharger, alternator, exhaust manifold, air crossover pipe, and more.

By Friday Kyle and I were off on one of the side quests of trying to remove old cable through a “Roxbox,” a multi cable sealing, watertight module that is placed through a bulkhead to keep the compartment watertight. These are supposed to be easy to maintain modules, but where the one we were working on has not been touched in at least 10 years, we tried our best to be able to disassemble it and nothing was happening. As much as we tried to pry pieces apart or move them by using a wedge and hammer nothing happened except little clouds of dust appearing. In the end, it stayed as it was when we began. What made this job even more difficult was the Roxbox was placed in the Tween Deck. I wasn’t able to sit up straight to work on it, nor was I able to sit comfortably, but in the end we tried our best. It will be a new day to try and tackle it again.

Monday, Tuesday and Half of Wednesday this week was spent getting the starboard side bilges cleaned, prepped, and painted so that we could get the last engine onboard and move the ship back. We had to muck all of the solid waste and oil out of the bilges then power wash them heavily. We then had to grind and sand the surfaces of all of the cracked loose paint. We then applied a two-part epoxy based bilge paint that made the bilges and engine room look 100x better than they did. 

We were at a stand still with the port side engine as we had to wait for an order of stainless washers to come in for the engine mounts. Once they came in on Wednesday, we finished buttoning those up and moved the engine into place securing it to the mounts ready for the vibration and alignment contractors to align the motor and the shaft. 

On Thursday we started putting parts back on the port side engine, the after cooler, the exhaust manifold, oil cooler, coolant reservoir, and heat exchanger. This is the engine all in place with all of the parts on it. On Friday, Alesha and I worked for Denis going in the tween decks to inspect the RoxTec Boxes that kept a watertight seal from the tween deck between the engine room pontoons and the forward tween deck. These RoxTec Boxes are meant to be taken apart and have adjustable squares that allow for different size wires to go through them. However after trying to get these Rox Boxes out all day. Struggling in cramped spaces with screwdrivers, wedges, hammers, knives all day, we still weren’t able to get the Rox Box out. So, we decided to call it after a long, hard week and go swim in the ocean. Also, to get the fiberglass stuck in my back from crawling in and out of the tween deck space out. 

This week was a very reassuring and exciting week. To start the week, we laid the metal plates that replace the wood on the pier. The wood that is kept there normally, Epay wood, is one of the strongest woods in the world. Epay is a dense wood that is resistant to rot and decay and is 8 times harder than California Redwood. Without preservatives, Epay is guaranteed to last 20 years. After laying the metal plating, it was time to get back to the bilges. The port and starboard bilges still needed cleaning, so I spent a few days doing that before the next big mission came, warping the ship. Warping a ship is moving it solely with the help of the tides and lines. So as the tide was ebbing, the whole crew had their line they were in charge of and slowly slacked some as others pulled on their lines to slide the boat astern. This was definitely an experience that I have always wanted to try ever since learning about it. The final resting place for the boat was stern to the dock so the A-frame was directly over the dock. Once the boat was tied back up, it was time for the weight tests. We had railroad tires that weighed 5,200 lbs combined. This wight was over the wight of the engine when it would have accessory parts removed, so when it worked, we knew that putting the engines on board would work too. During the wight test we had to make sure the dock was not buckling under the wight of the forklift and railroad tires, the A-frame could lift the wight, and then bring the weight onboard with the hydraulics. Following the successful day, the next day we did the same things but with one of the new engines. Once it was onboard, it was walked over to the soft patch with the portable A-frame and then successfully lowered into the engine room. To finish the week, I helped with sifting the engine forward and blocking it and clean the starboard bilge more. This week was a huge accomplishment showing that it was in fact possible to get the engines onboard while still at the school and not having to go to the shipyard. The next challenge will be lowering the other engine into the starboard engine room with the hydraulic tank in the way.

This was an exciting and successful week! We developed a plan to move the F.G. Walton Smith aft a few feet so that it would rest flush against the finger pier that tied up the stern, so that the A-frame would be directly above the dock and therefore would be able to lift the new engine onto the deck. This manuever had never been done before and so we needed to test if a couple things were possible first, so there was a lot of contingency planning and troubleshooting weaknesses in the plan. Some of the problems trying to lift the new engine block with the heads on were:

– The cranes onboard couldn’t lift the full 4780 lbs of the new motors with the jib fully extended. Therefore we needed to find a way to get the engines on deck and resting next to the soft patch, so that the cranes could lift with the jib knuckled in. 

– The finger pier structurally has these wooden slats that are along the middle of concrete supports, which run along the whole pier. The worry being if the big forklift with a large boom extension carrying the new motors would be too much weight for the wood slats to bear. These wood slats are comprised of 3 2x4s held together by rebar with small 2×2 spacers in between them. We found out later that they are made of Ipe, a brazilian hardwood, that is actually one of the five strongest woods in the world. However, the slats are varying degrees of age and degradation and there was still worries. 

– The A-frame boom rams when resting on the supports are completely stowed in the ram cylinder and provide an approximate 5-7 foot overhang off the stern. The centerline winch runs off the hydraulics powered by the generators and is rated for 7,000 lbs, which would make it ideal to lift the engines. The only drawback was that SWL was rated with the A-frame in the stowed position and not with the rams extended, therefore it was undefined and untested how far the A-frame could  boom in. 

So, at the beginning of the week we coordinated with the Campus Facilities personnel to put metal plates into the pier in lieu of the wooden slats. But upon later testing found that we also needed to strengthen those supporting it with the wooden slats and 6x6s as well. We moved the ship back timing it with the outgoing tide and working the lines, I learned from school this is called ‘warping’ a ship. The next step was to test the A-frame, pier, and forklift capabilities to move the engines weight. The crew had some old train wheels that in total weighed 5200 lbs lying around in the shop and those were forklifted out to the pier, brought down the finger pier and hoisted with the A-frame. The results were a success as the A-frame was capable to lifting the weight safely until at a vertical angle with the deck. It then would be possible to walk the engine from the center of the deck next to the soft patch utilizing Lock and Ron’s portable A-frame chain hoist bar. After these initial tests, we accomplished getting the brand new portside engine onto the deck and into the port engine room by Thursday afternoon. Here are some pictures of the whole process:

It was very exciting to conduct all of this planning and testing to find that it was a very plausible idea to get the engines onboard and moved where they needed to go and very rewarding to finally do it after all was said and done. On Friday, we put the engine mount dampeners in, moved the engine forward and blocked it up, then got back to cleaning the starboard side bilges. The starboard side engine room brings more challenges than the first, so our successes with the portside engine quickly turned into worries about doing the other engine. But that will be figured out hopefully soon as the plan is to attempt to get the other one on board next week.