Last week I ended with the Sikuliaq scheduled to be lifted the next day. Well, due to high winds, the boat lift ended up being delayed two more days. There was some work to be done on land at the UAF warehouse, such as running salts samples and working on my IRT (Infrared Radiation Thermometer) project, but I mostly spent those days getting to know members of the crew better and seeing Seward. I visited the Alaska Sealife Center, got some work pants at Ukanuzit, petted a really cute corgi puppy at Gypsea Treasure Trunk, got burritos at the Lone Chicharron, and skipped rocks at the Lowell Point Beach. It was nice to have a break but by the time the ship was able to be lifted out of the water, I was ready to get back to work.
Lowell Beach
Sunset at UAF warehouse
And oh did the work begin. The big project that we did was removing the transducers from the hull of the ship. Snow gear was put on, hard hats donned, wrenches and allen keys grabbed, and we went to the bow of the ship. Our workspace consisted of a steel metal sheet about 3 feet under the belly of the ship. You are on your back with the enormity of the ship looming above and only some wooden blocks preventing you from becoming jelly. But, you get used to it. We quickly discovered that rolling on your side is the best mode of transportation and any time I moved between tasks, the Mission Impossible theme song blared in my head. The first step was to remove the sea glass panels which followed the centerline of the ship and a line from starboard to port. These panels are invisible to transducer pulses and are made of titanium spacers and polyurathene. The next steps were removing any obstacle from the transducers, including side panels and old wires. With every bolt undone, a crumbling of ocean sediment would fall on your face so I learned quickly to wear eye protection and a face mask. We then removed the transducers from the frame (seen in the image below as blue squares) and lowered the frame from the ship. This will make room for the new transducers being installed later.
Pre-work fit
Working to remove the transducers
Empty frame
The next project was to pull all of the transducer cables running through what smelled like the large intestine of the ship haha. This was somewhat difficult as the wires had fused to the inside of the pipes so we used a come along to help pull. But in a day, we were able to pull about 18 cables from the ship in order for people to come in and clean it the next day.
Small break
Pipes holding the transducer cables
Hired muscle
Pile of pulled cables
Thanks for tuning in for this episode of Dirty Jobs! I’m your host, Sarah:)