Dwain, that is a darn big plate!

On Thursday morning, the 4th of March, I travelled down to the fab shop at the new facility to watch and videotape the flipping of the three bottom plates joined by the new welding procedure. However, when I got there, Dwain decided that he wanted two more plates welded on so as to reach the whole length between the blocks underneath compartment 4. This would reach from knuckle to knuckle with a length of 40 feet. Returning to the boat, I performed my usual rounds of the cutting work and Lepi's activity on the port outboard compartment 3. I also had some discussions with Earl the foreman and Nick, the lead welder on the replating of the stern section. Lunch time brought me back to the fab shop where James had welded the two additional plates. The now 30 by 40 foot plate was dragged out into the open where a well coordinated crane effort lifted it vertically and laid it over. It was quite a show particularly as this was a windy day and the wind seemed to strengthen when they got it vertical. Fortunately, it was accomplished without mishap.

I sat down with Dwain that afternoon and we laid out the replating procedure for the stern. When the overlay was removed on the stern, it had significant gaps between it and the original plate. This made the tunnels deeper which would reqquire greater compound bends of the sheet steel. Fitting this up to make tight butt joints would be impossible without a computer controlled bending process. McGinnis does not have this. No shipyard on the Western Rivers has this. Accordingly, as there is little stress in the stern area and to facilitate the replating process, we will be going with split sheets (4 foor wide) and lapping the joints. When the overlay was taken off the stern, it revealed the lower carrier (gudgeon) bearing which protrudes beyond the surface of the original plates. There was some cut trim on one of the bearings from time before (?). It still protrudes. I do not want to remove or discard those bearings. Accordingly, they will be boxed in with a truncated cylinder over the new plate. This will show the position of the rudders where it was not visible before.

Friday, the 5th, I returned to the fab shop where James had welded up the backside of two of the plates with two welds to go. Paul Tucker from Lincoln Electric showed up with the new written weld procedures that had been qualified previously on the plate with rounded corners. I already had the test coupons. The resulting welds are coming out very well with full penetration and with no requirments to gouge out and repair.

Initially that morning, it was decided that the stern replating could start on the 8th. However, that got changed to Tuesday as Dwain had to go out of town Monday. The trimming work in both the stern area and in compartment 4 is progressing steadily. The hole in the transverse bulkhead between compartment 4 and 5 inboard starboard has been closed with an insert plate. The holes in the longitudinal bulkheads cut by Lepi can remain open to facilitate the welding operation joining the new plate to the existing frames and longitudinals. Lepi has now completed number 3 port outbaord compartment. The survey team will run measurements again prior to the stern replating.