Nick Jones Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 Did you hone or “glaze bust” the bore in any way? One wonders about the scal of your piston-ring compressor also - ratchet strap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 1 hour ago, PeteStupps said: Forgive my ignorance but how do you start the thing?? Need a big old starter motor to get those pistons moving... Compressed air Pete, at 30 Bar. Each cylinder Head has an air start valve fitted. A distributor is fitted at the end driven by the chain (also drives camshaft). This sends a burst of air to each valve at the right time to activate it. This is the control handle in the ER. (It is in Stop position because the control is on Bridge.) For starting, we move the handle forward to the start position. This opens the Main Start Air Valve, which provides the main air to each valve, as well as the air to the distributor. Engine starts turning, and once we see 10-15 rpm on the indicator we then move the handle to apply fuel, normally somewhere around "3" to get it moving, then back to approx 1.5 for Dead Slow (40 rpm). The bridge control does the same thing, just it is the Engine Control System that does the job of "moving the handle". We also have Local control, on the side of the engine, this directly moves the fuel rack using a winding handle, and the air valve is controlled by a push button. This is the final resort, if we end up running the engine from here something rather big has gone wrong! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 I'm almost disappointed it's so simple, Phil! I saw a starter motor being used to start a car engine, which drove a generator to start some giant industrial diesel, which then span the Big One! I've mentioned the YouTube channel of Abom97, the machine shop owner who posts about his work. He recently visited a welder, who has 1000 Amp stick welding kit! It doesn't run off the mains, but a Giant Industrial Diesel pod , parked outside his work shop! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzABTpi_iCA&t=1205s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 3 hours ago, Nick Jones said: Did you hone or “glaze bust” the bore in any way? The new rings do that. The outer surface (the golden coloured bit) is abrasive, almost like a grinding stone/sandpaper. When we install new rings we also increase the cylinder lubrication, and the two things together does any honing required. 3 hours ago, Nick Jones said: One wonders about the scal of your piston-ring compressor also - ratchet strap? Not quite, but let's say its heavy! I can move it by hand, but not easily so guess around 100kg. Simply, we sit this on top of the liner, and drop the piston through it. Weight of the piston, and shape forces the rings to compress. Other than that, we slosh some oil on it to assist. This is the other tool for the rings, the expander. Fit the ends into the jaws, and wind until ring fits over the piston. These are the old rings. I can squeeze/pull them about 1 or 2 cm, no more than that. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 Well, you spend ages chuntering along, easy jobs, some more interesting jobs, but generally nothing to worry about. Then boom. One generator drops off the board. Standby starts, but something goes wrong, and next thing is you have lost all electrical power, propulsion and steering. In the middle of a moderately busy shipping channel, and uncomfortably close to land. We get one generator back on the board, along with the Emergency Generator powering the Emergency Switchboard. This is enough to get the Main Engine running and Steering Gear started. We are running the bare minimum of equipment, all accomodation is sweltering with no A/C, just enough to maintain propulsion, steering and Navigation equipment. Attempts to start a second generator have failed, and the Electro-Technical Officer is reporting grave findings from quick looks in alternators. We cannot investigate further, as we have an hour before we can get the ship into a safe position. Eventually we are in a safe enough position (no imminent danger if we lose all power again basically). So we start investigating closer. Strong chance that the AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator) on one generator is toast. Another breaker turns out to have been "persuaded" into position in the past, and now having been removed from place will not go back. But we manage to get a second DG onto the board, shut down the Emergency DG and re-sync the emergency switchboard to the main switchboard. This allows us to restart hotel services, and as we are at sea we only require one Generator, so we have a second as standby. This was last night, today we have managed to coax the broken breaker back into place (cam had slipped on the racking mechanism, we can't repair it easily but we managed to bypass it instead) and also repair the wiring for the AVR. We got away with the AVR, it is still functioning although this was not so much a problem as we do carry a spare one. So we are back to having 3 operational generators. Old ships are fun! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John I Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 29 minutes ago, thebrookster said: Then boom. One generator drops off the board. Standby starts, but something goes wrong, and next thing is you have lost all electrical power, propulsion and steering. In the middle of a moderately busy shipping channel, and uncomfortably close to land. S**t might have been one of the words that spang out. Must have been an exciting time, land, ships and no power, no steerage! This is such a great blog Phil, thanks for reminding me what it was like. Forgotten the adrenalin rush when all goes quiet except the loss of power alarms wailing, and how quickly people appear from now where. Hope you get your well earned leave soon. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT6Steve Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 Dead in the Water is a bad scene. Happened once on the Destroyer but we were far out, serious situation. Sounds like you guys did well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 Well done with the black start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 Once again, I may be being overdramatic, but when you came to turning everything back on, was it like Defibrillation time in the Resus Room? Think ER and add adrenaline, shout "CLEAR!" and fingers crossed? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 High drama and a happy ending. No power is a big problem, especially when your main propulsion stops when there’s no power......... Absolutely no functioning IT systems is a problem too, even when the power is on..... that is my work world for the last week, and probably the next week too - thanks to hackers. Half a billion euro business dead in the water.... Quite an eye opener. Like your ring compressor. You can get car sized ones too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 Well, as they say it never rains but it pours!! Office informed us today that Singapore MPA (government dept in charge of all maritime stuffs) have refused us permission for crew change. Not altogether unsurprising, they had THREE cases of joining seafarers testing positive for the virus recently, for which they are holding the shipping companies responsible for. Somewhat unreasonable, but that's their prerogative. So looks like I will be onboard now until September, as the proposed next voyage is a Thailand-Thailand cargo (and they are still completely shut). Nearly at 5 months onboard, heading for 6 and possibly longer. On the flip side, if I can make it back to the UK in time I have been asked if I would co-drive the RBRR again. Originally I said no (back when entries opened) as I was expecting to be at sea, but that was pre-Covid era. I'll no hold me breath for this (two months is a long time to hold ones breath) but it is good to get good news to counter the bad. Phil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 That's a long, long time to spend on board! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidescreen Ben Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Crikey Phil, hope you don’t get scurvy! . Hope the RBRR goes ahead; we’ve offered to marshall at Lands End. Hopefully we will have moved to Devon by then and won’t have to get up quite so early! Fingers crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted August 14, 2020 Author Share Posted August 14, 2020 Well, been a while since I posted. Mainly because very little has been happening! We have zapped the majority of the bigger jobs remaining, and from now on the aim is to try and do routine jobs only. This ship is scheduled to be handed back to the owners early 2021, so from now on we are aiming to minimise expenditure as much as possible and operate a "mend and make do" attitude. This works fine, until I have to strip a Purifier Feed Pump because of a small leak from the mechanical seal. The pump in question: Located in (excuse the French) the worst fucking location possible! The only way to remove the pump is to remove the filter as well, and even then 50% of the bolts are inaccessible. In pieces: Came apart rather easily. However the findings were not good: It's not often I come across this much wear on a shaft. For those unaware of this type of pump, there are two gear shafts, a drive shaft (which connects to motor) and a driven shaft. Solid bronze bearing either side of the gear on each. All four bearing journals look like above! So now I am not so popular with management, as we now need to order new parts. I can repair these sections if I had to, it is simply a case of skimming down on a lathe and making a sleeve that has a very tight interference fit. However our company policy is that we don't modify equipment, so new parts it is. Cheers, Phil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpbarrett Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 ouch! Do you know what has caused it to fail or is it just usage and age? mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Hello All Looks like a Triumph 3rd motion shaft tip! Is it water that the pump pumps? (not the best lubricant?) Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted August 14, 2020 Author Share Posted August 14, 2020 Failure is essentially age, although also caused by the Fuel Oil it pumps. This (and the one next to it you can't seem) is a Feed Pump for the HFO Purifier, a machine is sole job is to remove solids (sludge) and water from the fuel before it goes into the fuel system for the engines and boilers. However, this fuel (plus solids etc!) is not always the best lubricant, hence the wear. It has however taken nearly 14 years of running to get this bad, so not a bad innings really. On a completely unrelated tangent (other than age, possibly), I had the chance to compare a boiler suit I took when I joined this ship with a new (ish) one. This is what your sweat does after five and a half months................ Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 To me, sleeving those rotor tips would be a perfectly acceptable solution....... especially when handing the ship back in less than 9 months..... The overalls though - are knackered and look nearly rough enough to belong to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 Quick, Phil! Get those overalls onto eBay! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1940s-50s-English-Painters-Artist-Paint-Splash-Overalls/254654467424?hash=item3b4a96cd60:g:hxQAAOSws6tfDw2P There's one born every minute (If those are "1940/50s" I'm a pair of pyjamas!) But I've seen branded overalls, like your Chevrons, on sale at classic shows too, for less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted September 10, 2020 Author Share Posted September 10, 2020 (edited) Well, not a huge amount been happening recently. I have now officially passed the 6 month mark, and on the 19th of this month will equal my previous record for longest trip! We have now however just been informed that once we have discharged the current cargo (loaded in Onslow, Australia) in Brunei, we are 90% certain we will go straight up to Manila to do a crew change for those of us who are over. (The more attentive of you may ask, surely you were on cross Thai voyages on last post? And you would be correct, except another vessel was refused clearance for this current cargo, so we did a last minute swap!) Aside from that, today we made a portable flamethrower! It used to be a ventilation fan, until it failed rather spectacularly. Best bit of it all was one of the oilers, who was standing right next to it as belched 3 feet of flame out, asking the other oiler "do you smell something burning?" Definitely a face palm moment. Phil Edited September 10, 2020 by thebrookster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 That’s cooked...... do you do your own rewinds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escadrille Ecosse Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Toasty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AB|W Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Nice to hear from you again, I always look forward to your posts. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted September 11, 2020 Author Share Posted September 11, 2020 23 hours ago, Nick Jones said: do you do your own rewinds? Nope, they don't pay us enough for that. To be fair it has done good service, until it went with a bang. 15 hours ago, AB|W said: Nice to hear from you again, I always look forward to your posts. Alan Thank you Alan. To be honest, this ship was not the best choice to start with really, due to its imminent return to owner. We try and scale back the big jobs, so not as much interesting stuff going on which means a reduction in content to post about! That and I am sailing in the rank below my actual rank, and you tend to give the junior engineer the easier and more mundane equipment. Cheers, Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrookster Posted September 11, 2020 Author Share Posted September 11, 2020 Having just said that I have a lack of content to post, today I have something else! First, I understand why people like to go to Bali for holiday. (This picture is not Bali, it is Lombok which is next door so to speak). However, for working these conditions are bloody horrible! Today I managed to reach Medium, with outer extremities touching on Well Done, but no burning. Anyway, the work. I'll post the pictures, and let you guys guess what the machinery is. Cause I'm evil lol. Best of luck to you all! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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