March 2005 Work In Progress

March 2005 Work In Progress Photographs © Neil Marsden
Ian Wales of James Walker Packings presents John Deakin with some examples of the firm's products. They will come in very handy.		Temporary decking laid over aft peak tank top to allow safe working area. The 'deck' comprises numbered boards (salvaged scaffolding boards) laid over the frames, these can be lifted to allow continuing work on the aft peak hold area as required. When the painting is finished these can be secured in place using the existing bolt holes and covered overall with ply sheet pending the final replacement of the deck during restoration.
Volunteer John Hake adds the finishing touches to a new junction box for temporary on board electrics		Detail of starboard main engine LP slide valve mechanism, showing the valve rod after cleaning. Note the addition of a grub screw to secure the inner brass bush within the gland cover, just new packing to be installed to complete the job
Volunteer Walter Graham checks clearances on port main engine slide valve		Pete Murray removes tripping hazards from the quayside (Old reinforcing rods are cut off with the angle grinder)

Pat Brennan painstakingly removes all traces of old paint and rust from the bulwarks and frames of the 'opened up' aft peak tank top. Every square inch of steel is chipped, scraped and wire brushed before a primer coat is applied. The photo shows the bulwarks before cleaning up while the finished and primed frames show the result of all the hard work	Volunteer Jack Nulty assisting Pat in the aft peak 'hold' a section of bulwark plating has been cleaned up ready for the final coat of paint. The thickness of the concrete scupper is evident in this view which will give an idea of the thickness of the deck planks which were removed. These planks had been badly rotted in places, but it still required a lot of hard work to remove them. It can be judged what a difficult job it would have been to clean up the steelwork in this space had the deck been left in situ
Piston from the port main engine piston valve assembly, the piston fits within a heavy cast cylinder type valve chest which in turn is bolted to the main engine HP cylinder. On removal the piston had been badly rusted, but thanks to the efforts of volunteer Walter Graham can be seen looking very much better and ready for replacement.