29 Mar to 1 Apr Now getting some Hustle in the Bustle

On Friday, the 26th, the yard tried to fit an 8 foot wide plate longitudinally on the stern at the centerline. Monday morning, they were still struggling with it. At noon, Earl, Dwain and I got together and discussed splitting the plate longitudinally which had been the original plan. This was done and by Tuesday, a 4 foot longitudinal plate was fitted up on the centerline extending to the starboard. The yard then attempted to fit the other 4 foot wide plate to it on the starboard side. This did not work. The discussion turned to using 4 foot square plates which I opposed. Earl came up with a plan of using 4 foot wide plates centered on the rudder tunnel. A more narrow plate will then overlap and fill the gap. They then fitted up the 4 foot wide plate on the centerline extending to port. By late Thursday afternoon, the 1st, they had the third plate up centered on the starboard rudder tunnel extending to port. They expect to have all the longitudinal plates up by the Friday, the 9th of April. The side plates have been trimmed up and are partially fitted into the original plates aft.

Repairs to the gussets and stanchions in number 4 starboard outboard is progressing piecemeal. Repairs in number 4 port outboard have not yet begun.

The fabrication of the Z-bar girder for number 4 outboard compartments was started. One complete girder has been fabricated and a second is about 50 per cent complete.

Lepi finished blasting and cleaning compartment number 1 on Monday and started the clean up of the above deck spaces. This was completed by Thursday afternoon. They did a good job cleaning up their debris and dust. Painters are scheduled to prime compartments 1, 2, and 3 starting Monday, the 5th.

The yard was closed on Good Friday.