Baragoola Week Ending 18th December ‘11

In attendance this week: Glen, Nick, Lance, Peter C & Peter H Visitors: Nil $1,385 raised this week and $0 in outgoings. Don’t forget that all donations over $2 are tax deductible –

why not do what some of our donors have and set up an automatic payment once a week, fortnight or

month ? We are still chasing our target of $63,200 and have already raised $37,426 so please keep those

tax deductible donations rolling in! Even more important with our auditor’s bill (around $1500) due soon

– these sorts of things take a huge bite out of our available finances.

We also gained two new members this week – this gives us 55 financial members, the largest total we

have had so far and still growing. We have members from all over Australia and this week gained our

first international one.

This time last year we ran a series of very successful charity auctions on eBay raising several thousand

dollars for the boat thanks to the generosity of our members. So, a year later we are going to do it again.

Can you help with our fundraising efforts by donating items that you no longer need? We will take any

item – old furniture, knick knacks, electrical and consumer goods, old computer equipment (especially

form the early to mid eighties), books, tapes & DVD’s – in fact anything you’ve got laying around causing

clutter and can spare us. Contact help@baragoola.com.au

We are also urgently looking for more volunteers with some specific skills – in particular welders and

woodworkers, so if you know of anyone who can help out give them an invite. Note that the welding

does not involve welding plates, just various areas around the vessel like bulwark footings and similar.

Saturday was the last formal working of the year and was fairly quiet due to the holiday period and to a

high level of illness with several regulars away due to the flu – something I suspect I may have to take

the blame for as I was the first to come down with it – ‘tis the season for giving though!

Indeed this Saturday saw only three of us aboard but work was done nonetheless and quite a bit of it

too.

Before I go on to what was done, perhaps this is a good time to do a retrospective of the year just gone.

This is now our second year aboard Goola and as I look around I’m quite astounded at what the fairly

small, yet hugely dedicated team has managed to do. This year nearly all the internal painting has been

completed, the roof is nearly replaced, the control room looks a treat, one of our English Electrics is now

functional as are the aft prop motors, an enormous amount of hull work has been done, the 110/240

volt generator is functional, the bilge pumps are functional, quite a bit of external painting has been

done, electrical wiring laid and both auxiliary engines are functioning. Add to that we received another

clean bill of health from our surveyor this year. A little over two years ago a certain government

department in its submission to NSW Heritage to support the delisting of the vessel stated that the job

was beyond a bunch of amateurs – well, this bunch of “amateurs” has managed quite a monumental job

thus far! There have been a few bumps, but we’ve learnt and adapted – kudos to all involved. I would

personally like to extend my thanks and gratitude to all the volunteers who attended in the last year – I

am indeed humbled to see what you guys have managed to do and I’m inordinately proud of all of you –

excellent job guys, take a bow! As well thanks to all financial members and to people who have

contributed donations over the last year and thanks as well to all our commercial sponsors who have

contributed equipment and material to the project – we very much appreciate everything that has been

given to us.

But on to the weekend just completed.

On Friday Peter H dropped off some paint for the roof – due to the bubbling caused by the black paint

he’s decided to try grey instead in an effort to keep the heat off the finished areas. Poor Pete still has

the remnants of a flu (I’m not responsible for that one!) – hope you get better soon mate.

Peter C brought back the items he took off last weekend for restoration from the aft rudder indicator –

these were the arrow and the plate that holds the arrow in place. Both of these are bronze and the plate

will be painted; the arrow however has been polished to a high shine and will be kept this way.

Plate, arrow and bolts for the aft rudder indicator

Nick attacked the metal plate running under the wheelhouse early on Saturday morning to ready it for

new woodwork. A huge effort with the needlegun followed by a liberal coat of anti rust paint saw it

ready just in time for Peter’s arrival.

Prepared metal footing

Once Peter arrived we were co-opted into carrying a heavy beam up to the wheelhouse for use as the

floor plate – first one up was warped so another had to be carried up......

While this was happening Peter took the opportunity to jack up another supporting piece of timber to

keep the roof of the wheelhouse level as it will be a few weeks before the proper work can begin to add

in the new structural beams and supports. The whole idea of getting the bottom plate in (bottom beam)

was also to provide some extra support to the starboard wall which was hanging suspended from the

roof and to take some of the strain of the roof beams.

Over time these have shifted but should not be too much of a problem with the new work being done to

brace the walls.

Peter then cut away some more bad wood and took on the task of readying the new plate to go into

place – sawing and planing the piece so it would fit snugly up against the old timber.

Cutting out old timber

Preparing the new plate

Securely bolted into place and ready for the next piece of work to be done

With Peter running out of time a flurry of instructions were left – prepare the aft rudder indicator for its

final work and clean up the wheelhouse of all the old timber and rubbish!

The forward wheelhouse is receiving a lot of attention for a variety of reasons – we will be returning it to

the 1961 look with partitions re-added and returning the equipment back to it. This includes the

compass that Peter is restoring – we now have a picture of North Head’s wheelhouse that shows the

enclosure we need to construct for this, restoring the prop speed indicator, restoring the main telegraph

and remounting the wheel at this end.

There’s a small amount of decking that will need to be replaced and of course the entire front of the

wheelhouse needs a rebuild, plus a partition needs to be added, internal and external door

reconstructed, windows and portholes replaces and the whole thing re-lined and wired. In all though,

this wheelhouse is in pretty good condition unlike its aft end mate that is pretty poor.

Another item in the wheelhouse received an enormous amount of attention over the last two days – the

mount for the wheel. This is a large cast bronze piece on a steel pedestal and with brass and copper

trimmings. Both it and the opposite one are intact fortunately, but in serious need of stripping back and

restoring. So on Saturday the work commenced with a whole day taken to strip the old paint off back to

bare metal.

What a job!

For comparison, the aft wheel mount – the forward one was in much the same condition

Forward wheel mount after a day of stripping

The very lowest part is steel so this then received a coat of anti rust paint, after that the whole assembly

was painted with a coat of opaline blue to match the equipment downstairs. Some parts still need to

receive the first coat – they are in fiddly areas and we need the rest to dry first. This will then receive a

second coat. Some areas are unpainted – the switch on one side, the tap on the other, the cover to the

hydraulic fluid tank and the wheel mount will all be maintained in a polished state.

Forward wheel mount after the first coat of opaline blue

With a little luck, next weekend we’ll be test mounting the wheel itself before it goes off to have a bit of

work done to it prior to permanently being put back in place.

There isn’t much more to go into the wheelhouse – a clock (which may be donated to us), perhaps some

storage for log books, the grid flooring and some racks for lifejackets. After that we’ll have an

operational wheelhouse to show off to visitors which will be a good thing – it’s a bit embarrassing

showing people what’s there now!

Some more of the intact brass work was dealt with this weekend as well – at each end on the

wheelhouse deck there are two brass plates covering the ends of the railings. The forward ones were

stripped of paint and scrubbed back, there’s still further work to be done but so far they’ve come up

pretty nicely.

One of the railing ends

Nearly all of Baragoola’s brass is intact (despite NSW Heritage’s report that claimed otherwise) with the

major exceptions being the portholes in the wheelhouses and a few other sundry items. I am personally

offering a reward to any person who may have information on who was responsible for the theft of

these items that will be paid upon the successful charging and conviction of the thief (or thieves) –

contact help@baragoola.com.au if you have any information or know the whereabouts of any of the

missing items (apart from the mirror that belongs in the Ladies Salon, we know where that is).

I’d like to take the opportunity to wish all our members, volunteers and supporters best wishes for the

holiday period and a successful new year. If you are going away these holidays take care on the roads –

we’d like to have you back in one piece next year!

There are no further formal work days until January 7th, however there will be people about Baragoola

every day until then with the exception of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and

New Years Day. On all other days people are welcome to come down and pitch in for a few hours or just

have a stickybeak, but call ahead first on 0405 945 465.

If you are on Facebook you can follow us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Baragoola-Preservation-

Association-Incorporated/122851477818947 - we have also launched a fundraiser through this and

would appreciate if the link can be shared out to everyone, so far we’ve received several donations that

can be tracked back to this. That post is at

https://www.facebook.com/ajax/sharer/?s=99&appid=2309869772&p%5B0%5D=122851477818947&p

%5B1%5D=302633779749988

We’re also on Twitter as #MVBaragoola – updates are posted fairly regularly. Our main website is now

www.baragoola.com.au and if you have Google Talk installed you can chat to us if anyone is online and

nearby the computer – add baragoola@gmail.com as a friend. And, last but not least, we also have a

flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/65669741@N08/

That’s it for this week –you can keep up with all the latest on our forums and you can see our old

newsletters at http://www.baragoola.com.au

1914’s Harbour Queen (ex Lady Scott) passes Baragoola on Friday evening

Show your support!

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.

Special Price $20.80 including delivery – available now.

SS Binngarra (class vessel), white coffee mugs.

Special Price $20.80 including delivery – available now.

MV Baragoola – Baragoola in the early 1970’s, white coffee mug.

Special Price $20.80 including delivery – available now.

MV North Head

Special Price $20.80 including delivery – available now.

SS Burra Bra

Special Price $20.80 including delivery – available now.

SS Curl Curl

Special Price $20.80 including delivery – available now.