SUBMARINEMUSEUMS.ORG Forum
Individual Submarine Boards => USS Batfish (SS-310) => Topic started by: Mark Sarsfield on March 19, 2008, 10:54:27 AM
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Guys,
We cancelled our trip to Pittsburgh, because of booked flights and I got the green light from the War Dept. (my wife, Jill) to come down to the boat this Saturday. I remember a few of you saying that you would be there, as well. So, it sounds like it will be a good day all around.
I'm going to continue to clean the 1MC and maybe the I.C. circuit board this weekend. I was using denatured alcohol and it was good at removing paint, but not so good with dirt and grime. So, I'll probably bring Simple Green this time to cut through the sludge.
If it's sunny, it would be a good weekend to take exterior photos, since we may be getting closer to getting the money we need to start exterior restoration. I'd like to take some notes on specific areas that we need to address, too, like putting foot rails back on the conning tower exterior.
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Mark S.,
My wife and I will be there on the 22nd, look for us at the Shark Memorial. Vaughn and Mary are suppose to be there also. After I get the torpedo painted, I plan to start looking into Ricks list of repairs and take photos as I need to update the virtual tour.
See you Saturday.
Mark A.
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Sounds good. Do you guys need any gloves for painting or stripping paint? I have rubber chemical gloves and disposable latex gloves.
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Nope...going to Lowe's tonight to get the supplies. We should be OK. Thanks for the offer.
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Wish I could be there with you guys. I will be down the first week of April though, however I will probably be up during the week.
I am still looking for a project of my own on the boat. As of now I am doing the write ups on the new displays for Rick, and I am just emailing them to him. Something I really want to do on the boat is either start working on cleaning up the conning tower, or the torpedo rooms.
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Conning tower would be an easier task, since it would mainly involve scraping paint over a much smaller area. In some places it breaks off easily by hand.
An easy project that just about anyone could do that's not afraid of electricty would be to repalce all of the flourescent fixtures with either wire nuts and a blank metal plate or a light fixture, if one is really needed in that area - of course power would be cut to the lighting system during work.
I would also like to see descriptions on all of the control panels and valves, so that visitors have an idea of what they are looking at... and the rest of us worker bees aren't always having to check the manuals when we're looking at or working on something. But that would be a lot of work.
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I am still looking for a project of my own on the boat.
Any electrical skills? If you can hoist a motor into the conning tower, we could hook it up to the SJ mast and get it rotating. We pulled the old motor down (heavy sucker) and were able to rotate it by hand. I keep bugging Vaughn about it...maybe this summer.
PS...what's with all the spongebob face icons? LOL ;D
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I am learning electrical stuff in my Physics class right now, and my grandpa is ok with electronics so I could ask him if I needed any help.
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Any electrical skills? If you can hoist a motor into the conning tower, we could hook it up to the SJ mast and get it rotating. We pulled the old motor down (heavy sucker) and were able to rotate it by hand. I keep bugging Vaughn about it...maybe this summer.
PS...what's with all the spongebob face icons? LOL ;D
In one of the O'Kane novels...I think the one on the Wahoo, they used a washing machine motor to rotate the SJ mast.
And the spongebob smiley faces are my doing....I got tired of generic smiley faces. :)
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Mark,
Has the SS Radar unit been checked out, yet? The cabinet appears to be in very good condition. I opened one of the panels a while ago and she appeared to be intact. We should run the tube checker on each of the vacuum tubes this weekend.
But (and I know I sound like a broken record) we still need power to the I.C. circuit panel before any of these electronic gizmos ever get running, again. I'll pick thebrain of the Cobia and Cod guys to see what they had to do to get theirs running, again.
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Last summer while working in the forward torpedo room, I noticed that in the torpedo ready indicator -on the left side of the compartment- had christmas lights in it that work, to show that the torpedo tubes are loaded and ready to go. However Rick and I noticed that the only plug in that worked in the room was right over the sound gear, so a good 21 feet away, can one of you guys check that out and see if there is a plug in closer so we can get that indicator board lit up? I think it would look really cool.
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can one of you guys check that out
Sure, I can take a look
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Thanks, I just think it would look really cool, to see that all the tubes are ready, and maybe we could do the same for the conning tower tube ready lights.
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Has the SS Radar unit been checked out, yet?
Not that I'm aware of. Only think I've done is refinish items (sonar, SJ cabinet, firing panels (which I found in the aft battery).
We can take a look tomorrow.
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So how was the visit today?
Mark Allen, were you able to take a look at the torpedo ready indicator board with the lights, and see if we could get that working?
Also, can you guys post up some pictures that you took, if you took any?
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So how was the visit today? Mark Allen, were you able to take a look at the torpedo ready indicator board with the lights, and see if we could get that working? Also, can you guys post up some pictures that you took, if you took any?
Sorry, I didn't get to look. Rick talked us into painting the other torpedo after we finished the Shark Memorial. I also assisted Vaughn as he was working to shore up the concrete slab that is being eroded from underneath. More work on that in 2 weeks. In addition, Rick said that work to replace the deck can be started so I'll be talking to Vaughn about getting ready for that.
Here are some before and after images of the Shark Memorial
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I gotta know, what's the red and blue things that were removed from each side of the memorial?
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what's the red and blue things
They are (or were) flag holders. There were 5 of them...and they were never used and Rick said to take 'em out...so I did ;)
The other torpedo was painted to match this one and can be view on the website - look for the Museum link button on the left side of the page.
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That is great Mark. Thank you for doing that.
P.S. Love the new website! ;)
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Great job on the torpedos Mark. I cannot express how greatful I am that these are done. I cannot wait until reunion to see how the subvets react.
Rick
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Hey guys, I will probably be up at the Batfish on Sunday March 30th and Wednesday April 2nd. Just in case any of you were going to come up, hope some of you do so I can meet you finally. Lol.
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Sorry Travis, but I can't get there this Sunday and work beckons on Wednesday. Will be there on Sat. the 5th.
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Too bad. On the 5th I have a freshman orientation type thing at Oklahoma State, so I wont be able to come then.
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I will be looking forward to seeing you Travis. It has been too long...
Maybe we can look at that escape trunk while you are here.
Rick
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Maybe we can look at that escape trunk while you are here.
Hope you guys can get to it...if not, maybe Vaughn and myself can take a look on the 5th
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Yea, I hope to take a look at alot of the compartments you have gotten open since I was there in the summer, those would include the motor room, and the battery compartments.
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Travis,
As a volunteer 2 you do not have to ask for access to these compartments. I only ask that you let me know before going down and if you plan on working on something. This is just so that we do not step on anyones toes during work projects and I know whose body I leave in the balast tank when something goes wrong.
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Rick - last time I was there, I did a walk through and noticed that the hatch to get to the lower deck in the forward engine room (I think) was not secured. Other hatches were by using a screw or bolt...but a few weren't.
Just an FYI
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I have noticed it. I need to take a walk through myself and find all of the unsecure hatches. They get left open from time to time as we get working in there. I am probably the most guilty on this account. I would like to find a good latching system that does not involve drilling holes in the deck and wrenches ect for all of the main compatments as it is fun to open them up during odd times that I can give aguided tour
Rick
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Rick
Although it involved drilling holes in the deck and hatches and was done years ago, on the Drum they have hasps with padlocks, makes it real easy to open a hatch for the special tours. As we get time in the winters we are cleaning and painting the lower levels and intend to put grating in the deck in some locations so visitors can view the lower level. we have already done the refer and part of the pump room.
Tom Bowser
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This sounds like a direction that we want to work in. I need to go through and change the locks as it is. There are several padlocks that we do not have keys to. Most are not important, but it is a little irritating when you see some potential hindered because of a padlock that cannot be opened.
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Tom,
How did you guys clean the lower decks before repainting them? Did you use a pressure washer?
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We have only just started in the pump room and lower level aft engine room. Both areas with rags and mineral spirits and scrapers. We have too many live cut wires we haven't found yet. Some of the people that worked on her long ago had a ball cutting wires.
Tom
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A suggestion that we had from the Razorback is to use a standard power washer and let everything go into the bildge. Then us a standard pool pump and a hose to dran the water. I know live circuitry is a big concern when we do this.
Rick
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In our pump room we have some lighting wires that are taped off above the two IMO pump motors (next to the ladder). IMHO, we should reconnect them to the lighting fixture and get a light screwed in. The light fixtures should be the only live wires down there, at the moment. Same with the lower engine rooms. As long as we don't aim the pressure washer at the ceiling, we shoudl be fine.
My main concern is the nasty fluid that collected near the periscope bases. It should be tested for hydraulic fluid contamination before we start spraying - nasty stuff. Even if it's oil, it probably should be cleaned up as best as possible.
We have some open pipes and a compressor with it's top cap missing that would also have to be sealed off. Plastic bags with bungee cords or duct tape should work fine.
And last but not least, get Mike Rowe to do all of it. :)
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We just put a lot of oil pads in the bilge of the pump room and then scooped out all the junk then wiped it all down, we got about 20 lbs of paint chips and rust out of the bilge, I hadn't had that much fun in over thirty years and am now looking forward to the engine room and motor room bilges.
Tom Bowser
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Sometimes, I think completing the dirtiest jobs can bring the most satisfaction. The first nasty job I did myself was swabbing out the Silversides' crew's head. It just gleamed for years afterward, with all that clean stainless steel.