Tug Project – Wk2
Tug Project – Wk2
by: Peter A.
This week, progress has been steady despite the cold and frosty conditions. The wooden buffers at the bow of the boat, which exhibited considerable wear & tear were removed for the chippies to repair. The three bolts which held each buffer on put up quite a fight when we attempted to extract them and this encouraged the usual helpful advice of a number of spectators!
Last Thursday, we had ventured to Sunbury on Thames to collect a couple of winches ( from a most interesting theatrical emporium), which will be mounted on the face plates which carried the repurposed originals.
A new mounting hole pattern was required, so the mag-drill was called upon to drill the four large holes for each winch.
Further deck paint removal filled in the remaining time gaps, there is more still to do.
This morning, (Wednesday) with a hard frost glistening off the vessel, we had scaffold staging installed as much of the work will now focus on the engine room and equipment above deck level.
Meanwhile, we fired up the wood burner in the machine shop and set about inspecting the winches, followed by a red oxide repaint in the warm. The 8mm steel rope was removed from the unit that had it, there being enough to do both winches once configured for the mud hopper connection.
With the gear train exposed, all parts were cleaned, painted and greased as required, there being no signs of any wear. Each unit now sits in the workshop waiting for paint to dry and a top coat.
With full winter sun now on the boat after lunch, the cabin paintwork was cleaned and preparation for a repaint started. Conditions really need to improve a lot before we can apply paint to these surfaces.
The old signage was peeled off with the aid of a hot air gun. {Shock News} A temporary renaming has taken place. The tug is no longer Kingfisher, but something more appropriate for Monday morning when Ken will be back with the new head gaskets to fix the engine.
We hope to get the winches mounted on Monday as well, the pully wheels which guide the ropes to the bollards arrived this evening and will require a bit of engineering to mount them correctly. There is the cabin inside to redecorate and we have interesting plans for the steering wheel refurbishment.
