2009 Week 9 in Review
February 22 to February 28, 2009
OTM Inc did a lot of work with the Northwest Seaport this week - both hammering and teaching. But first:
Control head for the Maris Pearl!
I did a little bit of getting ready for working on the Maris Pearl next week. Jay's got a laundry list of little things that need to be checked up on in the engine room. He is super-organized and has it all in an online database.
I didn't start hammering this week, but I did finally purchase the "new" control head for the main. As you may recall, Rick on the Red Cloud had a spare control head that's perfect for the Maris Pearl. This week I picked it up and brought it to the shop, but I didn't get a close look at it yet (just close enough to see that it's missing some parts). I'll take it apart and clean it and figure out what work it needs, but it isn't going on the boat this year, anyway.
Reinstalling the Arthur Foss's throw-out bearing
I've started getting stuff together to reinstall the Arthur Foss's throw-out bearing. I would have gotten more done this week, except that I had to get ready for the Engineer for a Day program:
High School Engineer for a Day
Every February, I run a session of Engineer for a Day for the Ballard Maritime Academy. It's a four-hour field trip that gives the kids a chance to start the Arthur Foss and the Duwamish, and learn about steam on the Virginia V. I wrote about it last year here and here. It's a really neat class that I look forward to, even though getting ready for it is a lot of work.
I checked in with the instructors at the end of last week. Gary said that he was all ready for the Virginia V steam lecture, but Grant had a potential hot date on Friday and backed out of teaching on the Duwamish. Instead, he volunteered our friend Dave, who Grant and I went to diesel school with a bunch of years ago. Dave has spent decades on the water and has done a fair amount of teaching, but he was hard-pressed to learn the admittedly crusty systems on the Duwamish well enough to teach them to high-schoolers - plus, it was his vacation. He helped me get the boat ready for the class, including the first start-ups since last year's air-compressor rebuild, but backed out of the actual teaching part.
After some negotiation, we got Grant back and the class went smoothly. We got all the preparation done just on time, with the latest version of the startup checklists finished minutes before the kids arrived. They all seemed like they had a good time and learned a lot.
When the class was over and the kids heading back to Ballard, we all met up with Dave at the Zoo to share a pitcher or two.
Grant writing with the Virginia V
While I was getting the boats ready for the Engineer for a Day class, Doug from the Virginia V saw the lights on and came over to talk. We don't currently do engine demonstrations on the V-5, since getting up live steam would double the cost of the course, but both Doug and I want to change that. It happened that the V-5 was in the process of applying for a grant to get live steam up, and they asked for OTM Inc's help. We met up with a couple of the board and staff members and talked about ways to make the grant work, and helped out with the writing. Now, it's the usual waiting game to find out if they got the grant, but I think they've got a good chance.
A note on safety
While working on the Duwamish with Dave, I found that old crusty boats don't easily gain people's confidence. Safety is always a factor, all around us, in everything we do, but one man's safe is another's hazard. Some people dismiss the old boats, saying "that's old and unsafe; we should replace it," while at the same time other people say "they don't build them like they used too." I think that both statements are flawed, since not many of the enforcers bother to understand the systems on old boats and therefore overlook things or crack down on something much lower on the list. Many inspectors have their pet issues, like writing up the hydraulic leak next to a pile of asbestos on the deck. Meanwhile, people don't think about how they're a bazillion times more likely to get maimed or die in a car accident than they are to get hurt in an old boat, but that's another rant.
Where is the line between maintaining safety and preserving a boat more-or-less "as-is"? This is an issue that we must deal with every day on the old boats. It's a judgment call that owners, insurance inspectors, and local agencies - not to mention the engineers - have a hard time making. Nothing is entirely safe, not even doing the best you can do with the resources you have is enough to ensure some old systems are relatively safe.
What is relatively safe, and who can make that call? Many organizations are out there to help with safety, including OSHA, WISHA, the USCG, Underwriters Laboratory, and your parents - but no one wants to invite them over because of the fines and nagging that accompany their recommendations.
That often leaves it up to the engineers, who do what they can. I can't help but think that there must be a better way, so I've come up with a few recommendations. I can't guarantee these as ensuring safety on the old boats but it's a start:
- keep the boat clean
- keep as many systems operational as possible, and exercise all functioning systems regularly
- retain engineers who have many years of experience on that particular boat
- constantly work to keep communication open between owners, captains, and engineers
If all that is working, then I recommend carefully inviting regulatory agencies to the boat to help find ways to up the safety, but without ending programs or breaking the bank. Then make a timeline to accomplish these tasks, get them done, and invite the agencies back to make more recommendations. I know it's scary for those on the line, but another set of eyes can really help increase safety on these old boats
