Baragoola 5th March 2011

In attendance: Nick, Lance, Peter C, Peter H, Geoff, Ernie & Gary Visitors: Several An absolutely beautiful day at Waverton this weekend with the usual suspects showing up and a handful

of visitors as well. Hopefully after this weekend’s Manly heritage talk we may gain some more support

and some more volunteers as well.

One of Saturday’s visitors left a donation and also promised to come back as a volunteer – and we need

more of those!

An unusual weekend – absolutely no painting was done at all.

You may recall that last weekend we commenced an OH&S ‘drive’ on the boat and several areas had

been identified that needed immediate rectification; this weekend the first steps were taken to make

the boat a safer work place for all volunteers with appropriate signage going up marking the location of

certain items and marking off areas that should either not be entered at all or are regarded as restricted

access.

One of the out of bounds areas is a location on the starboard deck that has failed completely and a fair

bit of planning and discussion was to be had on Saturday around this. We have made a decision on a

possible replacement and Gary will be bringing a sample next weekend so we can determine the

suitability of it.

Replacing the deck will make life a lot easier – no more water getting down below via these areas is one

of the major benefits and of course safety is another. The replacement will not be the permanent

solution but is expected to give us around ten years of service prior to doing a full replacement with

more suitable material. Of course, not all of the deck needs replacing, there are large areas at both ends

that have been under cover and are still fine; these areas slated for replacement are the ones that have

been exposed to weather for some years and not kept up.

First order of the day was preparing more of our new anodes to go on, this task was accomplished by

Ernie, Nick and Peter C. We still need to put a couple more on yet and this is being delayed by not having

materials to complete the job. You can refer to last weeks’ newsletter to see what’s needed.

Ernie, Peter (out of shot) and Nick prepare an anode for installation…..

…. and once more Nick gets the duty of dangling off the sponson!

Work was done downstairs of course – Ernie looks like he’s managed to convert the battery

compartment into his “office” – not too long ago this was Geoff’s domain but he’s been well and truly

supplanted. A box covering was made to encase the batteries and shelving has gone up. Also in this area

Nick and I planned on closing up a hole just under the sponson, that particular plate will need replacing

eventually and it’s well above the waterline but as we’ve discovered sea water splashing in is not a good

thing. A light layer of concrete will be applied to the plate around half a centimetre or so thick to close

the hole and improve the internal cosmetics. As this isn’t a permanent or structural repair we don’t need

to use quick setting cement.

There are a couple of small holes in this compartment (again above the waterline) that will be repaired

next weekend with compression patches. Mark had these made up a few weeks ago and last week Peter

H took them off to get holes drilled in them. There are compression patches elsewhere in the hull, some

dating back a very, very long time so the method is a sound one and can be trusted to do a permanent

job. Eventually the plates will need replacing but this will alleviate the necessity of doing that in our first

docking which we’re planning to be for any urgent repairs if discovered and for a general cleaning and

painting of the hull.

Also downstairs, Peter C continued working on the general service pump and made great inroads on

cleaning this up – refer to the photo published last week as a comparison to this week.

General service pump undergoing restoration

Unusually, Geoff did not spend all his time in the hull this weekend – though he did apply another coat

of Rustmaster to several areas that he’s previously cleaned up. Instead, along with Nick, Peter H and I,

time was spent on the roof. We have begun the work of restoring the funnel and shroud (all one piece)

and a huge effort was put in. As most of you are aware, this is one spot that has been a major source of

rain water getting in. All the rotted ply wood was stripped off this weekend and most of the metal

underneath is still fine with some holes and one large area that had been cut out to insert a false roof at

one stage. Likely done when David Ashton had the boat and converted the ventilation uptake into a

storeroom. Peter has fabricated new edges for the shroud and these are (mostly) in place as well as two

large sheets to replace the cut away. Many, many years (and layers!) of paint have now been stripped

off and we’ll complete that next weekend prior to several liberal coats of Rustmaster. On the funnel

itself some work is required on the port side as well as a couple of small holes needing patching near the

top of the funnel. Geoff also pointed out a very dodgy repair that he recalls having been done by Sydney

Ferries (UTA) – it’ll probably need to be redone at some stage.

The shroud is not a structural area so rather than weld in new metal in the small holes we shall be

fibreglassing the entire thing to give it a smooth surface and painting it; this is planned to commence

next weekend so if anyone has experience with fibreglass you are more than welcome to assist us.

Geoff also pointed out that the funnel ladders are not original and will need to be removed – another

modification done by the UTA. This will be done once the internal ladder is put back in place (it’s still

there but currently disconnected). The ladder leads all the way to the top of the funnel and an exit in the

floor at the very top. Nick has cleaned up this area and rust proofed it.

Ernie and Peter C discussed modifying the six exhaust outlets by creating truck-style flaps for them,

currently these are capped to prevent water getting in and the caps have to be removed and replaced

each time an engine is run. This is one of the very few areas where we are deviating from the original

but it does mean that someone doesn’t have to go up the funnel all the time.

While we are still “in” the funnel, Ernie and Peter completed the work needed to get the two exhaust

fans in here operating – which they dutifully did the first time they were turned on (no surprise really,

everything else works so why would these be any different?).

These suck fumes out of the engine room down below and had a couple of mates that ventilated the

control room (now missing). Those two will of course need to be replaced as will the two passive

ventilators for the forward hold.

The passive inlets for the control room are still there and are unobstructed and one of these received a

repair job this weekend to fix the rusted top of it. The other is still in perfect condition and needs little

more than a coat of paint.

Look at that – an entire page spent detailing funnel and shroud work and not a single picture – well, as it

was the major piece of work this weekend I managed to get a few for your viewing pleasure!

Nick at work removing the ply wood covering

Peter and his fabrication work

Nick cleaning rust and paint, Gary and Geoff emulating council workers

The shroud with the entire ply removed (finally!), repaired ventilator at left (port)

The ventilator before repairs were done

Nick and Ernie checking operation of the fans – exhaust smoke is from #2 Gardener

Sunday was our day for the talk at Manly as part of the National Trust’s Heritage Festival. Prior to Nick

and I departing the Baragoola we had an early morning visitor – one of the many that now come by her.

Betty Cuthbert comes calling

The talk was held at the Manly Art Gallery and Museum and the staff was very pleasant and had

everything set up in readiness. Around 40 people attended the one hour event and we went through a

presentation setting out where we’d come from, what was being done now and what our future plans

are. There were a few familiar faces in the audience and lots of new ones and some good contacts were

made on the day that will hopefully see our cause furthered.

A transcript of the speech will be published on our website later this week along with the two

PowerPoint demos that were used.

At the end we ran a Q&A session and received a good selection of questions from the audience – I

obviously hadn’t sent them to sleep!

In all, a great event and I believe we were well received – of course the big question from everyone was

“will Baragoola ever be seen at Manly again?”

And the answer? We certainly hope she’ll visit there again one day!

Normal working day next Saturday (16th) – pickup from 8am at the usual spots and feel free to contact

us (volunteer@savethebaragoola.com) for info or phone me on 0405 945 465.

If you’re coming don’t forget to bring lunch – we provide tea, coffee, cold drinks and fresh fruit to all

volunteers on board.

Particularly this weekend we are looking for people to assist us with the rest of the funnel work.

Don’t forget – all donations above two dollars are now tax deductible – see our website for details on

how to donate.

That’s it for this week – don’t forget you can keep up with all the latest on our forums at

http://www.savethebaragoola.com/forum/index.php and you can see our old newsletters at

http://www.savethebaragoola.com/works.html

Latter day Manly ferry at night

Show your support!

We’re pleased to announce some additions to our range of collectable items.

All items can be ordered by sending an email to help@savethebaragoola.com with the following details:

Your name Postal address Size (for clothing) and quantity Your contact phone number All items will be sent with an invoice payable within 30 days.

White T-shirt, printed with Baragoola’s build year and our web address, available in white cotton only in

sizes S, M, L, XL & XXL.

Price is $22 including delivery.

SS Baragoola – Baragoola as built in 1922, white coffee mug.

Price $25.80 including delivery – available now.

SS Binngarra (class vessel), white coffee mugs.

Price $25.80 including delivery – available now.