A View From The Bridge

I only use this title, as one of the photos below was taken while standing on the roof of the bridge.  I have to test the emergency batteries every  Saturday, and so took this quick snap while up aloft this very morning.  Some of you may notice that it’s also the name of a play by Arthur Miller (if memory serves correctly).

 

Yesterday (Friday 17^th) was the best day I’ve had yet, due to the work we did in the engine room. 

 

We began by replacing an exhaust valve on the main engine (for cylinder 3).  This is a fairly major job as it involves using the engine room crane to life the whole assembly away once everything is disconnected, and also takes a few hours to complete, with the main engine out of action – I’ve included a photo of it being lifted away from the engine.  This only has to be done once every 5000 hours so I might not see another one done while I’m here.  I got stuck in with the second engineer and we dismantled everything.  The Chief handled the crane and sorting out all the new gaskets (plus preparing the overhauled valve to replace the one we removed).  To torque the main nuts tight that hold it in place, there is a special torque wrench supplied by the engine manufacturer, that is over a metre long.  It took both myself and the second pulling it to get it tight enough. When we took them off the old valve we had to use a huge breaker bar to get enough purchase.  In all, it took a few hours to complete, but was very enjoyable and I appreciated being able to work on it with them. 

 

For the afternoon we replaced the gaskets and o rings on one of the two stage air compressors we have – these provide air at 28 bar (about 400 psi in old money) that is used for starting the main engine.  We were replacing these parts on the first stage of air compression which reaches about 4 bar.  Again, it was great to be involved (we actually did the same to compressor 1 the other day, so it was really a repeat, but enjoyable still to be using my hands. 

 

After we finished at five we were still in Bayonne so I managed to fit in half an hour running before dinner.  It was great to run again (I’ve only been able to twice since joining the ship) and Bayonne is a quiet, quaint place; well the parts I saw were.  It was beautiful, but still hot and muggy.  When I got back we were still loading steel into the ship, and they had a huge load of fresh steel that had just been produced sitting outside one of the buildings.  I could feel the heat standing a couple of metres away, and there were about two metres of heat waves above it obscuring anything in view behind. 

 

In the evening, after dinner, we were leaving Bayonne to head back to La Coruna with a shipment of steel.  The second taught me, by way of men actually doing it, how to start the main engine.  This was really exciting, and after a few more goes they will be getting me to get it ready for sea without the second assisting me, so quite a big responsibility.  The chief also told me today that he’ll get me setup on the computer planned maintenance system they have so we can start dividing out the tasks between us all.  So, it seems like I’m being given more and more responsibility, which I’m happy about.  The only downside to learning how to prepare and put to bed the main engine is having to do extra ‘unusual’ working hours, as we come into port at funny hours of the night a lot of the time.  It’s well worth it I’m sure.

 

Not much else to report.  I’m trying to fit in doing these extra projects now, so time is short. Hopefully come December I will have worked enough to get everything I need signed off.  The new chief is good, so hopefully that will all happen. 

 

We had a half day today so I’ve just been mooching around feeling quite tired for the afternoon.  Spent a bit of time on deck to get some much needed sun, however it wasn’t long as there are no seats or anything, and sitting on the floor can only remain comfortable for a limited time.

 

Tomorrow I will work rest and play, and do some more laundry.

 

Photos should be below - one of them is me standing under one of the pieces of equipment they use on the cranes – not for loading our shipment of steel though.