SUBMARINEMUSEUMS.ORG Forum
Individual Submarine Boards => USS Drum (SS-228) => Topic started by: Tom Bowser on February 26, 2008, 09:44:55 PM
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On board the Drum we are currently getting things ready for a hollywood low budget movie to be filmed next month called The USS Seaviper (villani-rockhill.com). We have been raising money for the past year and after the movie is completed we are going to start restoring the outside by cutting out the rusted metal and welding in new steel and sand blasting and painting. We are furtunate that the boat was permantly put on land six years ago, that is always the major expense.
The we I am talking about is Lesley Waters, the lady that works for the Park and myself. We have been getting major funding support from the USSVI and visitor donations and material donations from a local steel company and Sherwin-Williams paint. It is going to be a slow process as we can't close the boat to visitors and will have to work around them, but we are planning on getting it all sand blasted and painted this year to stabalize it so we can start making repairs.
I will have updates on progress from time to time.
Tom
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Tom,
Have you come up with a cost estimate for your exterior overhaul?. The Batfish park estimates around $60K for scraping, painting, new deck, etc. We have the same advantage of being land-locked. Saves a lot of money on towing and dry dock fees.
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Mark
The steel we need is being donated by Oneal Steel a some what local steel company. Sherwin-Williams is going to donate up to $5,000 at their cost in paint and they are trying to get the sand donated also. The labor will be myshelf as a volunteer and Lesley , the lady that works on the Drum. We will rent a large compressor and blaster for about $550 a month anf I am figuring two months to sand blast and paint exterior and inside all fuel/ballast tanks. We can not shut the boat down to visitors so the sand blasting will be done from sunrise until about 1000 when the visitors start coming to the boat, then we will paint what we have blasted and I will go inside a fuel tank and blast in there. I don't know about where you are but down here we have found scrapping doesn't get deep enough so we are going to sand blast every thing and we have tried all the rust inhibitors and none of them work.
Tom
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I've always thought it was a shame that a company like LINE-X (http://www.linex.com/) wouldn't get into a project like this. I had the rear bumper of my truck (all steel from a junkyard) professionally sandblasted and immediately coated in LINE-X, and ain't nothing taking that stuff off.
A good sandblasting is worth it's weight in gold, but being near the Gulf like the Drum is, that paint is gonna have to be slapped on QUICK! :)
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The Batfish is near the Arkansas river in eastern Oklahoma. So, we don't have the salt spray issue to contend with, but we do get a lot of rain.
I like the sand blasting idea. $550/month to rent the machine sounds pretty reasonable. We have a large sand bar on our part of the river. Maybe we could get the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge it and give it to us.
How do you gain access to the fuel tanks?
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There are access covers along the tank tops under the deck. I am going to cut access holes near the bottoms of the tank to help with ventilation and to shovel the sand out through. You will need to sample the air for flammable fumes and wear an air feed respirator. Most of out tanks have so many holes intem the air is almost fresh.
Tom
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New update.
The movie has been pushed back to the end of Aprill because they don't have their camera yet, it's a new super digital so they will need a learning time also. As soon as we get some warm dry weather we are going to start restoring the stern, look out for flying rust.
Tom Bowser
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Things ought to be getting really busy down there really soon. :)
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Today we hauled the mark 27 we are restoring back on deck to do some more welding and to test the 220v power we just finished installing. Also we have fun playing with our 27's, we are getting pretty good at bringing them in and out of the boat.
The 220 and 110 circuits we ran are working good, all lightning bolts where they belonged, cominmg out of the welder at the right pace. looks like next week we will start on the stern.
Tom Bowser
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New update
The Mark 27 is complete except for painting.
One of the movie crew is here helping to get ready for the movie and we can now lower and raise #1 scope 5' and we got it to rotate again. Now I can go up and clean the lense. Finally got to se the Batleship the proper way, thru the scope. Tested the dep depth gate to 30'.
Our Navy inspection is the 19th of this month so we will get ready for that shortly. I am hoping to get a litle bit done on the hull before they get here.
Thats about all for now.
Tom Bowser
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Tom,
How much work did it take to restore the hydraulic system? Did you bring both IMO pumps back on line or just one of them? Are you pumping low pressure air to the air/oil "flask"?
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Sorry you got all excited, I should have explained to start with. the movie people made a can to hang a f' hydraulic ram in the well and push up on the bottom of the scope, works real good but we can only lower it to the point that the bottom of the scope is even with the top of the well. It does get the lens down to within reach of a short handled brush so we clean it though.
Tom Bowser
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the movie people made a can to hang a f' hydraulic ram in the well
Say again?
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Sorry about that, as you can tell I don't proof read very well. That is supposed to be a 5 foot long hydraulic ram or cylinder with a 3 1/4 cylinder and about a 2 inch rod capacity 2000# hydraylic pressure. works great and the more we operate the scope the freer it gets.
Tom
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How did you get it into the periscope well to begin with? Scope probably needs a little grease on the exisitng hydraulic rods/cylinders in the upper housing in the conning tower.
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The scopes were already in the raised position so it was just a matter of lowering into the top of the well. The hoist cylinders still had oil in them and we disassembled the bearing, cleaned and greased and reassemblyed. Greased barrel from inside and above the shears as we raised and lowered and cleaned old grease off also. We are next going to try to get grease thru the zircs and work the scope more. It has freed up a bunch and rotates easily while going up or down. We are hoping to get it to rotate easier at reset so the visitors can move it and that will make it freer. We have clamps on the barrel above the shears for safety and are going to try to put a bearing under the clamps so we don't have to keep the ram up and on the scope. sometime in the future we will try to rig a hydraclic system back to the origanal hoist cylinders.
Tom Bowser
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Your original hydraulic system should be intact. It just needs some TLC and a 250V DC inverter to power the two 15hp electric motors that drive the IMO pumps - only one really needs to operate. The hydraulic lines in the pump room and conning tower are metal pipes. I think the only flexible lines run from top to bottom of the boat, but they might be solid metal, too - I need to examine those lines more closely.
My biggest issue, so far, is finding a company willing to make a 2-phase DC inverter with 220 VAC going in and 250 going out. Usually they are custom made to your specifc application and each motor is 51.5 amps with a 1.2 hr variable duty cycle. Pretty oddball stuff.
Worst thing about the whole deal is the hydraulic fluid is really nasty stuff. Even the modern skydrol used in aircraft is toxic and caustic.
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I don't feel it is worth the expense and headache to get the on board system working. all we really needed to lower the scopes for is the movie and to be able to maintain the exposed barrel and that only requires to lower the 5' we achieved. If we get a really good source of funding it would be great to get everything working but we are having a hard enough time raising the money to restore the outside.
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I agree it's a low priority project. Someone with some hydraulics background and free time would be a good asset for the boat. Pampanito got a local hydraulics company to donate time and resources to get theirs working, again.
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I am hoping that someday soon a few more of the local subvets will get fired up a little to help me make phone call, track down materials and such. I am geting good support from the base commander but everyone else is too busy with their own lives and I can understand that to a point. Lesley and I have a winter projects list that goes out for about six years, of course our winter is only about three months long and once we get the outside done than we will have more time to do other things.
Tom Bowser
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Tom,
Is anything happening with the movie project right now?
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They are to start filming on the night of the 26th and run through the 4th Of May and then come back again for another week later.
This week we are busy getting ready for the Navy inspection this Saturday so it has been kind of hectic, will have a report on the navy inspection and what we have been doing next week.
Tom Bowser
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Okay. Have you started welding, yet?
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Tom, I see from the newest Signal Ejector newsletter that the Drum has a green board now (I think)! How did you do it? What was used for lenses?
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Used strips of color acrilic and then the movie set guy made the triangle shape lens to set in the holes, looks pretty good. we are on the 5-6 day of shooting now and I am beat, one 20 hour day and five 16 hour days, actually nights as we are shooting at night. It is going good and the actors are great. more later, right now I don't know what day it is or who I am any more.
Tom Bowser
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We have finally finished with all our minor interruptions for a while and have gotton back to restoration work. I was able to get a professional sandblaster/painter to donate two days of work with his equipment and crew and the abrasive company donated 9,000 pounds of sand to start with. The photos show what they were able to get done in two days. They sprayed the primer on as soon as they were done blasting and painted the first days primed area with black today. Lesley and I are going to paint the rest of the primed area ourselves and I am going to try to get more time donated from other companies, if not we need something to do any how. We are going to blast and paint first to stabilize the steel and then do repairs.
Tom Bowser
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Looking good, Tom. It's nice seeing the old lady getting her full dignity back.
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Am I missing something or did you guys have to take down the fence?
Very, very nice Tom and Lesley. She's going to be beautiful up on a pedestal when you finish. I hope to get some good pics!
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There isn't a fence around the forward end, just a rope barrier and a lot of airplanes.
Tom
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Have you guys accomplished more sandblasting and painting? Have some new pics? I'm thrilled!
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Attached is a photo of the super structure where we sand blast and painted this week. We are starting at 0600 and can blast until 0930 then we have to blow the sand off to make it visitor freindly, then we prime what we blasted and on friday top coat what we primed. Slow going but it is moving along. We are using 600 pounds of sand each day. Sure am glad I made the davit and got an electric hoist, it is all this old fart can do to pick up a hundred pound bag of sand and put it in the hoist basket and than take it out again.
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Excellent Tom, just excellent. You are doing some great work down there.
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Tom, how much sand have you guys had to use, so far?
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The sand blasting contractor that donated his time and equipment to do the bow section used a toatal of 6,000 pounds in two days and he blasted from about 0630 until 1030 each morning. Lesley and I are using 600 pounds each day for roughly 4 hours of blasting using a 3/16" nozzle, by the end of this week we will have used 3,000 pounds. With the heavey rust we have it is slow going. We get the primer on within one hour after we are done blasting and then top coat color on friday. We are getting about 6-8' of the side of the superstructure each day.
I will have the bunk detail deminisions for you in a day or two.
Tom Bowser
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Okay. Thanks.
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As we are hanging over the side on a small scaffold sand blasting and painting with donated supplies and those bought by donated money, we are watching a coast guard Albatros being repainted because the colors were wrong, using expensive automotive paint bought by the Park. Then we watch a brand new golf cart being delivered so the grounds people can carry their weed eaters in style instead of in a cart pulled by a lawn tractor. That was right after a truck deliver 9000 pounds of sand I had just paid for. Just thought you might like to know what the view is at Drum Beach. By the way we have nice white sand to make believe we are on the gulf beach and black sand to make us feel like we are on an exotic volcanic beach in the south pacific, come on down and play in the sand.
Tom Bowser
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So how's it been going over the last couple of weeks down there Tom?
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Things are moving along, we are geting about 8' a day done on the superstructure and are now half way thru the sail area, phot atached. I talked to a rental company thursday and they may let us use a large compressor and blaster whenever it is not rented out, that would be a big help. We start work at 0530 so we can get 4 hours without visitors, I will be glad to get inside the fuel tanks, than I can blast to my hearts content and not worry about visitors. I moved the welding machine into the stern this week so I can start welding that back together. It is going to be like putting a jig saw puzzle together with out the pieces.
Tom Bowser
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Thanks for posting that photo. Please feel free to post any photos of the progress. There's plenty of space! I'm going to take any photos you post and put them in with the convention project folder.
Tom, I meant to ask this before, who does any cleaning inside the Drum? The routine type stuff like sweeping, vacuuming, etc?
If there's anything that a total dumbass could help you with one day in specific, let me know.
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We do the cleaning and all maintaince as needed in the afternoons if the visitor traffic isn't too bad, other wise I cleanup spills and other disasters while Lesley is painting what we got blasted for the day. Any one that can be at the park at 0530 on week day mornings and can lift 60 pounds is more than welcome to come, we will teach you how to load the sand blasting pot, we are going thru 70 pounds each morning. I call it going to Drum Beach, we have nice exotic black sand or white sand if you prefer the Gulf Coast beaches.
Tom
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I don't think it's possible to get any dirtier than running a sandblaster. I've used a small one here at home before ... the humidity kept the nozzle stopped up 50% of the time even with a moisture trap on the compressor. I hear that isn't an issue with a "real" sandblaster.
So you are using 60 pound bags and going through about 70 pounds a day? Did you get more scaffolding?
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We are using 100 pound bags and going thru 700 pounds a day. we may be able to get the use of a ground monted scaffold but I am trying to get a powered man lift. A scaffold is just to much hassle.
Tom
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Scaffolding does take a while to put up, and the panels seem to get amazingly heavier the higher you go. Then you have to worry with boards to walk on. But, if you get enough scaffolding in place, it's nice. But yeah, one of those man lift/cherry picker things are nice I'm told! Do those have to be rented by the day or what?
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Anything new Tom? Or just more sandblasting, priming, and painting? How is the money and equipment holding out?
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Still plugging along but make progress though a bit slow. Of course we still need money, the companies around here have been bled pretty hard and it getting tough to get things. also there is so much big construction going on the rental equipment isn't sitting idle. we are trying hatd to get the use of a man lift to do the bow, it is a bit precarious to do it off of our hanging scafflold but we may have to. We have welded in our first piece of new metal on the stern, we are working on that after we finish sand blasting in the morning. I always prefer to wait for it to get warm before I start welding.
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How's the welding/sandblasting/painting coming along, Tom?
Maybe Emily and I can make another trip down there as soon as the weather begins to cool down some, maybe in October again. I wish Mobile were closer (except during hurricane season) so I could help out on some work. The Park isn't hiring is it? LOL
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I really don't understand the attraction to cooler weather, we have had a fairly cool summer so far, hasn't even hit 100 yet.
We are still making good progress on the sand blasting and painting on the super structure. We are now about 30' from the bow. after we finish the gray on this side we will drop down and work on the hull
Tom Bowser
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She's looking good.
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Tom, how goes the Drum since last month's update?
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We haven't done much more due to hurricanes in a row messing up our weather. The hurricanes didn't cause much problems here other than closing the park for a couple of days because the roads coming in were flooded and many days of rain. We are almost finished with the starboard superstructure, two good days next week will do it. We got a man lift donated for three days last week and were able to get the front of the bow where we can't hang our scaffold so that was a big help.
Tom Bowser
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Glad to hear that everything is okay.
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Hey everyone, latest news on the Drum
We have finished the starboard super structure and have moved down to the hull, I was getting tired of gray paint also. I made a hoist to make it easier to move the scaffold. It is on rollars, hangs from the rails and we use to block and takles (WWII vintage) to raise and lower. I am hoping to get a couple of small electric hoists for Christmas or the use of a man lift next year. We did get the use of one for three days and it was a big help but almost spoiled Lesley. The movie people will be back first of Janruary to finsh filming which is good, they will be done before the weather improves and we won't lose any time next year.
We are still accepting donations.
Tom
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We have had to give up on sand blasting for the year due to the cooler weather causing fog and dew in the mornings. By the time it drys off the visitors are already coming in and we can't sand blast with them walking around. we moved into the stern last week and have started rebuilding it. Talk about fun. I am using the photos of the Batfish stern to try and figure out what it looked like and going by what little remains in the stern. I taught Lesley how to use the torch and she cuts the metal for me while I weld it in. There isn't room for both of us in the stern.
Tom
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Here Tom, these might help you a little..
Pics of Torsk's stern at time of decom in '68 and in drydock in '87:
good luck shipmate,
Darrin
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Awesome pics, Darrin! Thanks for sharing.
Fred
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The upper pic shows tubes #7&8 with a partial cover over half of the torpedo sutter door area, that is NOT orgional at all and that is from what I understand part of a plate welded on in the shipyards either in '87 or '97 to help seal up the tanks or to strengthen the tanks.
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Here's some of the Pampanito pics from when she was in the drydock a few years ago
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Here's more and I hope that this will help you in your efforts Tom to rebuild her
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Thanks Darrin, the outside will be easy. I am using the Batfish photos for the interior structure and framing and I have enough of the shutter doors left on the port side to use for paterns. I am getting real used to the smell of burnt skin, hair and cotton (shirts).
Tom
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PING
Tom, it's cold outside, so what's new with the Drum? I know you prefer 100 degree weather. I haven't heard anything out of the movie guys lately either.
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The movie crew is coming back the last week in March and the first two weeks in April, we hope. Navy inspection is 4 April so Lesley and I will be having lots of fun. We have put the rest of the bunks in the after torpedo room starboard side except one so we can so off our restored cutie, (MK 27 torpedo that is, Lesley doesn't need restoring). We brought the other half of our TBL radio transmitter up out of after battery well and have started cleaning it up today. We found the blue prints for the mounting of it in radio and will make what we need to reinstall it properly.
Tom
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Hey Tom, where'd those bunks come from?
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That torpedo room is looking real good their Tom, you and Leslie are doing one heck of a job :smitten:
The TBL transmitter has seen better days and I am sure that you two will do a remarkable job of putting it back together also :)
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We found four bunks on the target that matched ours so we relocated them to a better place. Today we got all the meters, switches, etc off the TBL and will start cleaning it all up tomarrow, we are having fun now.
Tom
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I know that I don't have to say this but..... PLEASE take pics of EVERYTHING prior and during the restoration (just in case) that and other boats may need some help later with their TBL's and other equipment :coolsmiley:
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We are taking many photos. We are not trying to get the TBL working, it is corroded to bad from being in the refrigerator and after battery for 50 years in a damp inviroment, we are lucky that we can display it at all.
Tom
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Thank you Tom for doing the work to display it once more, while it may not work it may bring back memories of those whom once served on the boats and for the children of those whom served on the boats and their dad/grandfathers have passed they can tell their grandchildren that their dad's/grandfathers once sat at a station just like that one.
I have seen many WWII submarine movies and then had the honor to walk the decks of Pamp, Cod, Torsk, Bowfin and Clamagore and I have always been surprised as to what I see next and to know as a submariner what it meant to the crews who served onboard them and to the families of those whom served that those of us whom are donating part of their lives to restore something that was forgotten so many years ago.
It truly means alot, Thank you to all whom give their time to restore our past so that future generations may learn.
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Hey Guys, here are some photos of the TBL radio back together again and in radio where it is supposed to be, after fifty years. One shot is of the mounting plate we made according to blue print and the amazing thing is it worked. Notice it is on rollars and we believe they are the origanal rollars.
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Here is a photo of Lesley cleaning up the meters before reinstall in the radio, sorry its kind of dark. Also two photos of a food order September 45, I think it was their load out before leaving Pearl for home after the war ended. We found all kinds of old invoices, the earliest 4 August 1941, for office supplies. I am going to try to scan them.
Tom
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Tom and Leslie,
Those are incredible finds and scan them and display the copies, the origionals.. personally I would store them in a cool dark place with little to no humidity (future use if needed)..
Outstanding job on the TBL, I didn't expect it to be displayed this soon.. Keep up the hard work ;)
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Darrin
They are in a Submarine, can't get much cooler or darker than that. :2funny: Seriously we are moving all of our papers into the ammo storage under the galley and they are all in heavy dark envelopes and the boat is air conditioned.
Tom
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Definitely lots of storage space in the ammo lockers. The Batfish's 5" ammo locker has a vent that leads up to the galley. It looks like the vent was added some time after the boat was originally built.
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What's new down there Tom?
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We completed filming the movie Seaviper, two weeks ago Saturday after 14 14 hour nights. We are just about back on normal schedule again but still really tired. The filming went good and I feel we have some really good scenes, especially the one loading a MK 27 in tube 7.
Attached is a photo of the latest acey-duecy board we restored and copies of the submarine cards, this is mainly for Paul.
We are now sand blasting and painting the periscope and radar shears and will move back into the stern in a couple of weeks.
Tom
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As Lance pointed out, wrong photo above, Try this one.
Tom
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Well we are finally back on schedule and deep into the restoration again now that hollywood is done.
We finished sand blasting and painting the periscope shears and radar masts, (made 6 new inspection covers) and the 20mm.
Last week we rented a man lift for a month and got a 300lb sand blasting pot and compressor donated for about a month and Oneal steal donated 6,000 dollars worth of steel, (16 sheets 1'4" and 4 sheets of 1/8"). In two and a half days we sand blasted and primed the top of the stern to just forward of the aft tank bulkhead, 2/3 of the inside of the stern and the new interior partition which we had compled also. Thanks again to the Batfish for her photos..Tom
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What is the latest and greatest on the work on the stern tubes??
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I'm curious as well. I've been out of touch the last couple of weeks. It's going to take a bit of adjusting before I can get back to work here. :)
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OK Guys, here is the latest on The Drum. I have a little busy and tired so haven't updated. We got the donation use of a 300 lb sand blaster and air compressor from Sunbelt Rentals for a month but had to rent a man lift with donation money. The abrasive company could not give us a discount on the sand this year due to the economy so we are having to pay full price. The first two weeks we had the equipment we had off and on rain and didn't get a lot done but it finally cleared. I go in at 0530 and get set up and started and then Lesley comes in at 0730. We blast until about noon or later depending on winds and visitors and then primed what we blasted. We decided to concintrate on the upper half of the hull that we needed a lift to reach and we can get the rest from the ground if we can get a blasting rig again. This week we will put the top coat on and turn in the equipment, we have the crew reunion this week also.
Thanks again to all for the donations.
Tom
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Looks like real good progress Tom - great work. Thanks for the pictures too! ;D
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We were able to get top coat on all that we had blasted and primed before the reunion. We were painting monday in 105 degree heat index with rollors and finished up on tuesday monrning. We both had tears in our eyes to see the boat shinning again. We are going to take it a little easy for a couple of weeks and let it warm up some more before we start in again.
Tom
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Ok Guys, I know you have all been holding your breath waiting for the latest up date, so you can breath again here it is. I am also posting a first before phot for those that may not remember what we started with. Should be painting it next week. We will do the shutter doors down the rode.
Tom
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That's amazing! What looked like a rusted out stern is now looking like it's ready for the outer doors and a coat of paint. I can't believe the amount of work those people have done. I wish I could be there to help.
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WOW, you and Lesley have done an incredible job and I have to echo Bill in I wish that I was closer to give you two a hand.
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Tom, what are your plans for the shudder doors? We'd likek to get something movable, as opposed to welding them in place, since it's kind of hard to ever paint in there, again, if the plates are blocking the way.
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Mark
I intend to have at least #7 operable as the outer door works now. I will have to make new tracks, rollars etc plus the doors. If I can get the other doors to open I will make the shutters to move also.
Are you guys thinking of making the shutter doors?
Tom
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Yes. Mark Allen, our work/restoration guru, would like to make and install the doors, but we need plans.
So, your hydraulic system works well enough to open the #7 door or is it mechanical?
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Get with the folks on the Pampanito because there shutter doors open on their hydraulics, google the pampanito and her last drydock and there is some video of them opening the outer doors.
Darrin
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Okay. We're a long way from getting that system restored. A lot hinges on us getting new electrical installations. That's probably why the Navy removed the doors before giving the boats away, because they knew that the areas had to be accessed for maintenance and most boats would never get their systems operational again.
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You mean your outer doors are hydraulic? Lot to be said for the older manual boats, 14 turns on a hand crank.
Tom
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I think our outer doors are hydraulic, but the shutter doors are probably mechanical. I'm guessing at that, though.
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The Muzzle door is hydraulicly operated (and can be manually operated) and the shutter doors operate by using linkage attached to the Muzzle door.
Here is da link from the fleet submarine manual... Now had we only finished the tubes block on the School of the boat ;)
http://www.hnsa.org/doc/fleetsub/tubes/chap3.htm#3D
I hope that this helps you out
Darrin
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Instead of restoring the whole hydraulic system how about isolated the part needed operated (muzzle doors) and hook up a small inexpensive hydraulic pump to just that one thing. Having most of the stuff still manual does make it easy at times.
Tom
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That is a good option. There is plenty of space in the FTR to hide a hydraulic pump. ATR would require some creativity. Maybe put it in one of the forward closets and run the line behind the lower wall lockers.
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Under the deck just fwd of the tubes.
Tom
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I don't think we have any deck panels in our ATR. I think it's a solid floor.
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Should have them between the tubes and just forward of the tubes. I may be wrong though the Batfish is newer and may be different.
Tom
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Ok guys, here is a photo of the lady with primer on her rear (stern that is), I am talking about the Drum of course. We hope to finish sand blasting the stbd side this comeing week and will move to the port side. The batle of the rust continues.
Tom
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Nice work, Tom. One of these days we'll get Batfish in the same direction. At least the deck is coming along.
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I hadn't realized it has been a month since last update. We have completed sand blasting strd except for the bottom and have started on the port. We are out of man lift time, out of sand and out of money so we are back to being metal workers and are working on the bow. We took off the #6 shutter door to get into the bow and as you can see it is full of mud, sand and clay and of course rust. I spent a whole day in the chain lockers on a bosun's chair I made, knocking rust off with a sledge hammer and most of the walls of the chain lockers also. It is going to be a real challange to rebuild the bow.
Tom
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We have about finished cleaning out the bow and have started replacing the hull skin with 1/4" plate, it is a slow process due to having to find solid enough steel to attach to. We have to do it in small sections to get the curves right and maintain some strength. The indented areas at the forward end of the tube doors are really fun.
Tom
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We are making progress on the bow. We will have to replace almost all of the hull on the starboard side bottom six feet and all of the structure inside for the bottom 10 feet, it is about gone. On the area forward of the tube doors we are having to use small pieces of 1/4" plate to be able to shape it with the multiple bends reguired. We are trying to return it to as original as possible. We are also having to do the sides in small sections to retain some strength. It is amazing how strong some of the rusted metal is.
Tom
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God bless you guys. You really have your work cut out for you.
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We are making slow but steady progress. It has turned cold now so I don't know how much longer we will work outside. Last weekend we had another movie on board, it is just a short film for film festivals and we only had to work two nights. The neat part of this one is they portrayed the Drum as the German u-boat carry uranium to Japan, the boat the USS Seaviper was after.
We are getting more creative in metal bending, we run over pieces with the fork lift to get initial bends in it.
Tom
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"...we run over pieces with the fork lift to get initial bends in it"
That's the creative juices of a submariner at work. :)
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Here are the latest photos. We have finished the starboard bow except for the shutter door which we are rebuilding. Notice the draft numbers 0, 1, and 2. Lesley cut those out of 1/8" steel plate with the torch, she is getting to be a fantastic shipyard working and her welding is straighter than mine, she doesn't wear bifocals. We will start on the port side in the spring. Thanks for all of your suport.
Tom
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Tom,
If you and leslie keep this up the Navy will ask you if they can put it back to sea again :smitten: You two have done a FANTASTIC job, keep up the good work
Darrin
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Thats what we are hoping for, with us in the crew. ;D
Tom
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Tom,
I cannot believe the fantastic job you guys are doing. You have brought the Drum to a point that would make any submariner proud. Thanks for the latest pictures.
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Thanks all for the kind remarks, it helps to lift our spirits and lighten our load. We have completed rebuilding the #5 door but have to sand blast and paint it, maybe next week and we have started on #6 door. I can't begin to descripe the feeling when we installed the door for test. We were both chocked up and couldn't stop looking at all we have accomplished this year.
Tom
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Time for an update. We did repairs to the deck for a month and a half and last week finally returned to the bow. We finished sand blasting #5 door and primed it and reinstalled and have started replacing the port bow.
The Drum shipyard crew made the local news. Go to mobilebaybase.com and click the link. also check out our newsletter, the signal ejector. we are back having fun again.
Tom
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Great interview, Tom. Have you had any new volunteers show up?
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We have a subvet couple that comes once a week now. Joe gives tours and Eileen loves to polish and we just happen to have somethings that need polishing.
Go to drum228.org and hit the restoration button for updated photos on the port bow.
Tom
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Superb progress and nice TV story, Tom. Actually though, the Salmons were definitely the first all-welded US submarines and the Pikes may have been.
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Fred
Thanks for the info, I will have to do more research. I don't remember where I read about the weld construction but it stated that some of the Gato's at Portsmouth and EB were still partially rivited at the start of the war.
Tom
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Well we are done with the bow. It took 15 days, we learned a lot from the starboard side. We will now move to the port stern.
Tom
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Wow, great job Tom! She looks amazing! :)
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We are working on the stern port side now. Heat index has been around 105, makes the metal bend easier. We tried to fire a mark 27 out #7 tube but didn't have enough air pressure without out water in the tube.
Tom
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Tom:
You make the difficult look easy! Atta boy! :smitten:
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That's abso-freakin-lutely incredible and impressive. Congrats to you and especially Leslie (spelling?) the welder!! :D
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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 :smitten:
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
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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.
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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
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Thanks for the clarifications, Tom! I always want to get it right. Sorry for any misrepresentation.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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 :)
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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.
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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. :)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Tom,
as you well know our boats were not designed to be in the water 60+ years after they were commissioned, in the 1997 drydock pics you can visibly see deterioration in the bow area above the "chin dome" SONAR. We set in brakish water with little current and tides so we for the most part have it good, time will tell how it will all play out. It has been 13 years now since she was out of the water and the differences from the 1987 pics to the 1997 pics is evident that she is slowly deteriorating.
One day she will have to be brought onto land or scrapped, one of the truly sad things in life is that Baltimore HAD a shipyard in the inner harbor and when it closed we lost the chance to cofferdam her and build a building over her similar to the U-505. A few years ago the piers were sold to developers whom built VERY expensive condo's on them and I seriously doubt that they would want the pedestrian foot traffic on their condo area or have to look down at a lady that was once the pride of our Navy.
Time will tell with ALL of our boats still in the water that do not recieve drydocking regularly, sadly the time is running out once more for a boat that gave so much and wanted so little other then for someone to maintain her. :'(
for the pics please go to www.usstorsk.org so you can see for yourself what has happened in the last 2 drydockings. Tom I think I posted those before you started the restoration of the bow and stern, I know that I posted the Pamp's and the Bowfin's for you to see what was done while they were in the drydock.
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All we can do is the best we can with what we have or can get and hope in few years things will change for the beter. I am seeing an increase in public appreciation for restoring history and many young people are getting interested. Maybe there is hope.
Tom
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I hope some of the Submarines they have now will be musems when im older, the USS PHILIDEPHIA will be decomissioned this summer it just got back from its final deployment it had been around since the 70s
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It isn't too likely that there will ever be another nuc made into a museum or tourist attraction. The Navy is charging way more than anyone can pay and they are also taking a close look at the lack of care the existing ships and boats are recieving.
Tom
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I guess it is time for another update. We have recieved the tools from Stanley and we are using the heck out of them, already put a bend in one of the pry bars. LOL. Had to take Wednsday off to visit with Lance and family (Kara is growing fast and had a ball in the crews mess sink) and to keep an eye on Mark Allan, (he was secretly weighed coming and going off the boat). Really enjoyed the time spent. We have just about completed the port shutters doors, these were fun becuase there wasn't much left and we had to kind of guess at what they are supposed to look like, not many good photos out there.
Tom
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Tom,
It was good to see you and Lesley (and the Lance Dean crew) last Wednesday.
I took something from the Drum you can't weigh....information. I was able to make sure the bow planes would rig out and then with the help of others, we were able to manually lower the planes.
Oh...and the only time you have to worry is if I show up in a U-Haul. ;D
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Looks good, Tom. I think you guys "guessed" well. Contoured doors to match the contour of the hull is the most logical choice.
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We are now done with the port stern. We will be starting to sand blast the port side next week, sure am glad it hasn't gotton hot yet.
Tom
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Nice work, guys. Are you guys painting the whole thing black ala early war paint scheme?
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No, we are doing the grey and black. Itt is too hot here to do all black.
Tom
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Time for another update but first a well done to the Batfish for their painting and to Karen for the new paint on the sail of the Cobia, are we having fun yet? We have started sand blasting and painting the port side. Fighting the frequent afternoon storms and sometimes early rain but we are getting there. Occsionaly we actually run into an area where good primer was previously applied and good paint was used. The difference is remarkable and I am sick they couldn't have taken the time and used the right paints on the whole thing. I actually found a large area with primer on top of 1/8" of rust. Because of the poor condition it is taking forever and we are going trough a lot of sand, about 20 tons the first three weeks and we are about 30' from being half way. The photos below are the first two weeks.
Tom
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Tom,
The work that you and Lesley have done while slow and tedious not to mention dirty and really damned hard work has SAVED the DRUM so that future generations can see her for another 40+ years. It to me is a miracle how far you two have come on so very little, I am EXTREMLY proud of the two of you and what you have done.
May the rest of our boats be so fortunate enough one day to be out of the water and have volunteers like you two working as hard as you have trying to save our history.
Thank you again for all of the hard work and dedication, one day I am going to make it out to see the DRUM and personally shake both of your hands and then buy you the tallest beer or whatever beverage you are drinking that I can find and finally be able to see this incredible work up close and personal.
Darrin
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The Sub looks very nice fellas especially in the alabama heat yall have done such good job
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Ok, time for another update. Here are photos covering the last three weeks. It is slow going , the rust is more solid than we first thought and we have found pockets of water unter the paint. What disturbs me the most is wen we uncover primer on top of 1/8" rust, did a lot of good. We are working hard trying to be the cold weather, themperatures have dropped to highs of 92 and I have had to run the heater in my truck a few mornings because the lows were 65.
Tom
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OK, I know everyone has been holding their breath waiting for this. ;D The port side is finished, we still have the very bottom to do. It was a long hard summer but we got it done.
Thanks for all of your suport and incourgement, we needed a lot this year.
Tom
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Amazing results Tom! You've earned a rest.... have a great Thanksgiving!
The last shot of DRUM's port side really illustrates how big a fleet boat is!
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Hi everyone
Here is the latest update.
We have completed painting the crews head and wash room and installed the washing machine we got from Pampanito.e also put back the cpo sink that the reserves removed in 1964, it was returned to us last year by Garland Summerall who rescued the sink before it was thrown away.
Navy inspection is this saturday.
Tom
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Cool. I didn't know that the CPO's had a sink in the aft battery.
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Hey Tom,
I hear you are working on FBT #6...I found a piece of it on my desk this morning! I met Alan Ferdinandsen this weekend when he was here for the Jallao reunion. (Hi back!) He left me some Drum bruchures and a piece of the I-beam from FBT #6. Bad enough I have random parts of Cobia around my office and now I have a piece of the Drum. ;D Better make sure I label it somehow so it doesn't get mixed up with Cobia parts!
Karen
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Hi Karen
I guess I am going to have to put a leash on Al, he has wandered off again. Here is a couple of photos from inside #6B, we have checked most of the rest and they are quite as bad. O'neal steel has already donated and delivered 200' of I beam. I hope all the rest of the boats that haven't seen the inside of their tanks aren't like this. The first photo shows where that piece came from.
Tom
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Hi All
It has been a while. Here are photos of #6B fuel tank after sand blasting the I beams. O'Neal steel has donated the needed beams to replace and we have started that today. Also a photo of the detonator board I had made and it too was donated. Also a photo of our new portable shop I bought to make life easier. (bought with my money, not donations). I also got us a new cutting torch, and rig and a bunch of other tools.
Tom
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Seeing as Baltimore's awash in heat (80 degrees at 0730) you all make sure to take as good care of yourselves as you have the boat! No heat casualties down there in Mobile, please!
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You haven't lived until you sand blast and work inside a fuel tank when the temp is hitting 102, without the heat index. Lesley sand blasted the port stern bottom while I was replacing I beams in 6b. She came in and did some of the welding on a rainy day, it was fun with her welding and me cutting 4' away. 6b is finished except for the cleaning and painting and we are starting in 6a, which is even worse, if you can imagine that.
Tom
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WOW Tom,
If I didn't know better I would believe that you are going to relaunch her and take her back to sea once more :smitten:
You two have done an amazing job
Darrin
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Took the words right outta my mouth, Darrin - amazing work, by an amazing crew of two. You two are an absolute inspiration.
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Thank you Darrin and Earl
No we won't try to take her back to sea, as much as we would like too. Replacing the I beams is a necessity, some of them were starting to give and we were at risk of hull sag. We have had cracks in the deck and it could have been from this. Hopefully we have stabilized it and won't find too much more of this in the other tanks.
Tom
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Hi every one,
I realized it has been ages since I posted an update.
We just about completed the work in #6 normal fuel, including cutting out the dent on the port side. We have moved inside and are repainting the forward torpedo room, I can hardly wait to get back inside the tanks where there is some room. I realy envy all of you that get to shut the boats down for the winter.
Tom
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Looking good. I bet you guys are hotter than we are in OK, right now.
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It has been awhile so I figured I had best update. Great work Cobia and Silversides.
It has been a busy year and unfortunately our season never ends. We finished four months of scraping and painting the forward torpedo room, went to south florida for a premier of the movie Seaviper ,(which still hasn't been released) , replaced I beams, framing and skin in fuel expansion tank, started cleaning rest of ballast/fuel tanks getting ready to sand blast (still working on that) and the best yet- with Navies permission, removed and sold 83.5 tons of lead ballast-so far. we found another 20 tons we and have another 12 still to be removed. We have raised $100,228 with the 83.5 tons. We are hiring out the sand blasting of the tanks. Amongst all this we had three boat reunions, the Drum crew reunion and the south east regional subvet conference and last week a small fire when we cut into the port side of safety tank. Most of the tanks are lined with plastic that burns a little bit but this one really took off, no damage done. The plastic has melted in all the tanks and piled up in the bottom sometimes 6 inchs deep and I have to air chiesel it out. Looking forward to when we close Christmas Day. Check out our photos at www.drum228.org
Tom
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Tom, how are the concrete "chocks" holding up under the keel? Are they holding steady or sinking? Does the rudder clear the ground or is it part of the supporting structure?
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Ok it has been a while. We had a real wet summer and couldn't get much done but we are now back working in and on MBT #4a replacing skin and frames. The photos are kind of big so it will take several posts.
Tom
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Things are about to change at Battleship Park. We have a new director. Major General Janet Cobb. Yep an army general and a female. She is a navy brat and has told us many times she really admires submarineers and submarines. She is wanting to attend our base meetings at least once a quater. I think we are finally going to be part of the park and will get some help from them.
We haven't done a lot this year for various reasons but hope to get more accomplished this coming year. I am still trying to get the tanks sand blasted and painted.
Merry Christmas to all
Tom
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Excellent news and it's good to hear from you again Tom! I really miss the Drum updates as they were "heavy iron" things I could relate to....You know, dirty, gritty, sanding and welding. :-)
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Thanks for the update Tom! New bosses can be a good thing... ;) :)
Merry Christmas to you too!
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Now that I'm a member of the Mobile Bay Base, I hope I can get down there for a meeting or two a year. I really, really need to visit the Drum again soon.
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Ok It has been a real long time. Last winter we painted in the forward engine room, almost done. This spring we did repair work on the deck again. We then spent the rest of the year repainting the exterior of the boat, everything topside except the 5" gun and the deck. We used a different paint on the hull, suppost to bind with the rust and seal permently, expensive but we got it at half price but a real pain. It sticks to everything and if you don't get it off your skin in 30 minutes it is there untill it wears off.The real pain is it is moisture cured so dry time deepends on humidity, 30 minutes to 4 hours and you have to top coat as soon as it is past tacky. we spent a lot of time watching paint dry. The top coat is kind of rubbery when dry and is not supposed to fade for 10-12 years, sure hope it works.
Today we had a celebration of Drums 75th anniversay of its commisioning. The park went all out supporting us this time, free admision to the park, fancy invitations and programs, lost of photos displayed, a band, cake, and 5 commissioners. We had about 150 people, it was cold and real windy (not as bad as you northern boats but for us it was cold). Lance and his family even made it along with the author Don Keith.
Tom
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Outstanding. Good to hear from you! We need lots of pictures!! ;D ;D
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Had a blast down at the 75th, and I hope to get there more often.
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Thanks for the update! Keep up the good work! She's looking good. :smitten: