Category: Host Page 31 of 85

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. 

This week was relatively short for me as I took 2 personal days off, Thursday and Friday. Both Monday and Tues day was spent removing the mounts the engines sat on. This was a very laborious job that took lots of leverage to complete. The bolts for the mounts were seized in place so we had to use lots of PB Blaster, a lubricating oil that eliminates rust, corrosion, and sticking, and place pipes over the end of the rachet to act as a cheater bar to increase the amount of torque. Even this at times didn’t help, a persuader had to be used (a hammer) to dislodge some of the rust and free up some area to work with. On Wednesday we spent the day cleaning out the port engine room bilge. There was so much accumulating oil from over the years that it turned into sludge. We spent hours that day using degreasers and a pressure washer to clean the bilge. By the end of the day the bilge was noticeable cleaner but not fully cleaned. Once the bilge is clean then it will be time to paint it.

After a busy last week getting the engines out, it has slowed down this week. We have had to pump out slop from the bilges, clean them with the pressure washer, get them all dry, and put paint in the bilges before the new, clean, red engines go in. This mostly took up the beginning of the week along with some crane ops and moving/removing various items ranging from engine room parts to tools and materials. The ship is a mess with so many projects and equipment being used. Alesha and I have many side quests from Denis to install the wifi, run the POSMV wires and set up that system, run the wires for the starboard and port side cameras, reconstruct the CTD, and make new terminations on the 3-2-2 wire. We also have side quests from Jon to finish the A/C installation in  Cabin 9, make a shelf, and insulate some more A/C piping. The main mission of course right now is figuring out how to get the new engines at around 4,500 lbs onto the ship and into the engine room cleanly and safely. Then, to repower and run controls to all of the steering stations onboard. 

In the latter part of this week, I worked on making some holes in the overheads to run RJ45 wire to the two different wifi modems. I also had to mount the modems and figure out where to put the relay boxes for easier maintenance later on.