Drum progress

[Darrin]

As our museum's get older and the ravages of time take their toll on their steel hulls we now have living proof that 2 dedicated volunteers CAN save a museum submarine and restore her back to as new if not better then new condition

For Tom and Leslie, I am sure that here in the near future you will be recieving requests for how much steel you used in repairing the bow and stern areas of the Drum and probably a few job offers to boot to help with other boats as they start to come out of the water for the final time

My only wish is that more boats would have volunteers like you and museum's that have allowed you to do so much, our community has been blessed by the work that is being done around the country restoring our boats back to the way that they used to be so that the "next generation" can see what it was like to ride a WWII Smoke boat.

Thank you to ALL whom are restoring (and have restored) these amazing boats,

Darrin

[Fred Tannenbaum]

Well said, Darrin!

I read where the museum paid or helped pay for Leslie to learn welding at the local community college. Bravo to whoever sent her and more importantly, to Leslie for learning this important skill. Never met her but sure would like to buy her and Tom a beer someday.

[Tom Bowser]

A couple of corrections. Lesley (Note spelling) is a park employee, has been for 14 years, 12 on the Drum. The park did not send her to learn to weld, I taught her on the job and I am suppling the welding machines. The park has not reconized her accomplishments and have not given her a raise for all the hard work she is doing way above her job description. She may as well be a volunteer, she is doing the hard work because of her love for the boat. She is truely a remarkable women and it is an honor for me to be able to work with her and help her restore the Drum.
Tom

[Fred Tannenbaum]

Thanks for the clarifications, Tom! I always want to get it right. Sorry for any misrepresentation.

[Tom Bowser]

Quite alright Fred, and thank you for appreciating what we are doing. We are taking this week off from work for the crew reunion, they are the ones we are doing this for.
Tom

[Darrin]

Tom,

First and foremost I have to apologize for misspelling Lesley's name it was not intended    

Without you two working on the Drum as hard as you have in the last few years, the museum community would have litterally started licking it's collective chops thinking about the Drum and the fact that it would be ready for a strip ship like no others have seen before.  Very rarely does anyone get a chance to strip out a WWII boat that is not in the water which means that EVERYTHING that can be unbolted/cutoff/torched off/ or just plain muscled off of the boat (to include the propellors) can and would have gone leaving nothing but a dead rusted hulk for a ship breaker to cut up in place

The last 2 boats that have been this close have both been saved literally at the last minute by volunteers and the other was the USS CAVALLA.. Granted the USS TORSK wasn't in much better shape 12 or so years ago (basicly a cold empty steel tube that used to be a PROUD submarine) when the Torsk "Bandits" showed up and started to save her with a LOT of support due to the BBS's and those whom showed up for the first dozen or so work weeekends and strip ships.

There are no amount of words that can truly say THANK YOU for all that you two have done, I am more than sure that the WWII crew will have a tear in their eye seeing her looking so good now. I am proud and honored to call you and Lesley both my friends and more importantly SHIPMATES... One day I will get to shake both of your hands and have a beer or your beverage of choice topside with you.

Here is the link that I posted over on the Torsk website prior to Tom straightening out a few things... No worries shipmate,
http://www.torskphotoguy.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=872

[Lance Dean]

It's amazing to see in person.  Heck, all of this is amazing to me.  Not only with the Drum but all of the museum subs that are getting things done with so little.

The big kicker here, keep in mind that all of this has been accomplished without closing down the Drum to the public.  And the only day of the year that Battleship Park is not open is Christmas Day.  Not much time in daylight to get things done without visitors there.

[Tom Bowser]

Darrin

No worries, almost everyone misspells her name. She doesn't have a computer so I don't tell her about it, just the thanks from all of you. The crew starts coming in today and we are really excited, some of the ones coming haven't seen it for two years unless they go to Lance's web site.

Lance, thank you for all that you do to support us. the drum web site is awesome and has been a great help.
Tom

[BrokenArrowtiger]

Good job yall on the drum restoration staff submarine looks very nice from the pics iv seen it looks like yall have done alot of work

[Darrin]

Tom,
The Torsk would like to know what all of the steel cost for replacement of the bow and the stern, hopefully we will be going into the yards in the next year and I am trying to arm the Torsk Volunteer Association with as much information as I can give them to make the Torsk a better boat.

[Lance Dean]

Tom,
The Torsk would like to know what all of the steel cost for replacement of the bow and the stern, hopefully we will be going into the yards in the next year and I am trying to arm the Torsk Volunteer Association with as much information as I can give them to make the Torsk a better boat.

Keep in mind that Tom and Lesley are using thin steel plate (like 1/4" or 1/8" thick).  I don't know if the same would/could be used in a floating-in-the-water museum sub. 

[BrokenArrowtiger]

Just looking at the pics from the past 2 years yall have made signifficant(i spelt that wrong) progress on the drum it looks very good...good job lance and the rest of yall...okay well im off to bed...have to start drving a car tomarow for just the 2nd time.

matt

[Tom Bowser]

Darrin
Sorry I missed your post about steel cost, it was in the middle of our crew reunion and got buried.

We are using mostly 1/4" steel and 1/8" where we have to make complex bends. we don't have a metal rollar and are bending by hand, chain falls and running over it with the forklift. This thickness will work for the Torsk also as she isn't going to sea. Most of the stern was origanally around 1/8 because it didn't have the pressure on it like the bow. This is all in free flood areas and is mainly streamling.

We are getting all the steel donated but rough guess for price is around $3,000 for the bow and stern. I don't know how it would work for you guys being as you will be in a shipyard. I hope you can get the work done, but then you would miss out on having all the fun.
Tom

[Darrin]

Thanks Tom,

that helps...... damn I wish we were on the ground like you and not floating so that we could take the 2 years and do it right piece by piece.  I don't want to think about what the shipyard will cost to do a quarter of what you and Lesley have done.

Maybe one day we will be able to do that before it is too late, time will tell for the Torsk because her last dry dock was in 1997 and you could see the deterioration in her stern and bow and doubler plates were added at the stern.

Darrin

[Tom Bowser]

Sorry to hear that, and doubler plates I don't think are the answer. It usually continues to rust between the plates. I have a couple of areas on the Drum where that was done on the bow at the top, not even in the water and they are rusting trough. The people that are responsible for maintaining these boats have no clue what is involved.
Tom