It seems I was a little hasty in condemning those
responsible for the drowning boat next door to Simon. Something in the way of
repair has obviously been done, as she is going up and down with the tide again
(Photo 941). Whatever the problem
is/was, I hope it is nothing too serious because I think, with a lick of paint
she could look very nice. Of course I have not looked inside!!
Back to Simon’s
boat, the reasonable weather, the insulated deck and a radiator down below has
dried out down there very well. It is
still all very rusty and discoloured, but at least there are not drips from
every projection (Photo 942).
The next step is to remove as much of the
rust as possible/practicable. A good chip and scrape would get rid of the
really loose stuff, but would take quite a time - at a rough estimate there is an area of about
5,000 sq ft to clean, a lot of which is not flat, easy surface (Photo 943).
Once the loose stuff
is off, the choice will be either to
cover what is left by coating all the ironwork with either rust-proof paint
and/or spray-on insulating foam, or to remove a lot more by some form of
blasting, then cover it all with paint and/or foam.
In my day blasting
with grit was the only answer and what a messy business it was when not
contained in a booth. I have been researching dry ice blasting – three
expressions of interest already (even though it’s a Bank Holiday) and one of
the responses came from a chap who lived in Ireland, worked in the marine
industry and knows several of the old lightships over there. Now that would be
appropriate wouldn’t it? However, I have
a feeling it is going to be rather expensive.
Perhaps we could get a grant from an organisation with
nautical/historical preservation objectives?
It is a big job, as you can see from Photo 944, which shows about one
third of the below deck area!
David
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