A Tale of Dirty Days in Dudley

10th May 2006 by Bob Crompton

We have had a great week from an Engineering standpoint, albeit not without its frustrations and problems, culminating in an excellent Working Party which was well supported and very productive.

Kildare

Monday 8th May was the day that Kildare finally made it onto the dock with the help of a 50 ton crane and the heaviest rain we had seen for weeks. I could not be there but apparently Ian Kemp and his wife Marion got thoroughly soaked.

On Wednesday 10th, Dave Speer, Babs Parkin and I went over to Dadfords to find that Ian had already made a start and that half the port side bottom was laying on the ground in 4ft * 3ft lumps. So that he was not held up we decided to clear the boat for him and spent a happy few hours removing the lower cloths and then lifting out the mast and stands, floors, water pipes and ballast. As the latter involved some pieces of 4ft and 3” sq steel, Dave Speer and I were wondering if any FOP member knows of a hernia corsetry supplier for the fuller figure!!!
It was a stinking hot day, always the way when a coldish day would have been ideal.

As far as Kildare was concerned the next major activity was at the Working Party when the wooden gunwales were unbolted (about 100 of them) and lifted off. In addition the knees between the boat sides and bottom were de-scaled with a large hammer so that Ian can assess whether they need strengthening. (See later)

President

Later the same day we returned to the BCLM to start work on the large number of tasks on President which still needed to be completed before steaming is possible. A new lubricator for the big end was fitted, similar to the successful arrangement on the main bearings, to try to obviate the dreaded “knock” which occasionally plagues us.

Dave Stott arrived lateish in the day having had altercations with his plumber and together we planned out the next couple of days over an (unfortunately poor) pint in Wetherspoons.

Thursday dawned bright again with the promise, later fulfilled, of another hot day.

Most importantly, Babs screwed down the Windermere kettle which, subject to a steam test, should now allow all drivers to be obnoxiously independent as far as making tea is concerned!! More seriously it is a necessary item for the Middlewich trip where the two motors may be some distance apart and therefore tea is not simply the ritual passing of the tray over the cross straps.

Babs also spent some time lagging the new larger diameter exhaust pipe, this is really necessary as it is a very normal handhold for many Drivers. In addition she and Dave did a final clear of the tubes, using the new brushes brought down by Dave Stott.

Tony Tibbins joined us and did a great job cleaning down the roof of President and then having a good scrub at the back deck. While Dave Stott and I were off shopping for various hire tools, pipe fittings and the new dead plate from Ian Kemp, Babs and Dave drilled and bolted the patches on the smokebox shroud, finished the fabrication of the new weed hatch clamp, started the replacement of the hinge on the funnel and started the boxing up of the boiler.

Returning in the afternoon, I was presented with a surprise birthday present in the shape of a couple of wedges of “President” Brie cheese together with a really nice chocolate cake which the crew wolfed down after the ceremonial first cut with very dirty hands – Thanks folks.

Steve Barnes, a welcome new member, cleaned out the front of the boiler and reorganised the items under the coal hopper. Our supplies of oil were stored there and although we are careful, there is a chance of coal dust getting into the oil. So Steve moved the petrol pump under the hopper and put the oil on the other side. He also got the 10 cent tour of the engine room and is keen to get on some trips, for President boating experience, with a view to training up in the ‘ole.

Thursday evening was spent at the Lamp Tavern in Dudley, which some of you may know is a Bathams pub. Now next to Timothy Taylors, Bathams is probably my favourite tipple so a good night was had by all, enlivened by a rude birthday card and another cake, but this time in the shape of a pair of boobs!!!

Friday saw real progress on a new feature of the steam plant being the ejector for the condenser. This will be used to pull water through the condenser, when running condensing, instead of trying to use the Weir pump which has proved unreliable for this duty. The Weir pump is very good working against a significant back pressure as it does when feeding the boiler, but it is very difficult to get it to run reliably for both duties.

The ejector is fitted in front of the Weir pump and is a sizeable red lump. Thread cutting in 1.5 in pipe (outside diameter c. 2”) even with an electrical pipe threader is hard work and I can safely say that the pipe does not bend, so your fitting has to be really accurate. The only item remaining on this task is to increase the size of the outlet hole through the hull from 1” to 1.5” diameter with a flame cutter.

The new hinge on the funnel was finished and the inside of the mud hole flanges cleaned up ready for refitting of the mud hole doors. Late in the day we appeared to have a serious problem. As we were loading the fire bars onto the new dead plate, it became unstable and would have tipped over depositing all the fire bars in the bottom of the firetube. This caused much head scratching as the geometry between a straight plate with a fold along its length and with bevelled corners resting in a circular tube is remarkably complex. In the end, on Saturday, we used a couple of largeish bolts screwed into the inside of the firebox front plate to hold the edge of the dead plate down and stop it tipping. Hopefully problem solved.

Working Party

A really good turn out for the WP enabled us to split resources for maximum effect. Brian Empsall and I carried on with engineering things on President while Steve Barnes, Richard Burke, Penny Clover, Nick Haynes, Harry Stoopman and Tony Tibbins went over to Kildare and successfully removed the wooden gunwales ready for inspection, reseal and refit.

Arriving a bit early, Tony painted the funnel with heat resisting paint, so it should look the part for the first trip. Brian meanwhile was repacking the water and steam glands on the Weir Pump, while yours truly started off the folk at Dadfords and then returned to the BCLM to make more progress on the dead plate issue.

The team arrived back just in time for Fish and Chips and then moved some of the less good coal from in front of the mast, further back, so that it can be mixed with good bags and burnt.

Lastly all the odd bits of metal and wood in front of the Bolinder shed, which will be in the way when we can get to moor alongside the new wall, were moved out of the way and stored by the old ice breaker.

Things still to do

Engineering-wise we now only have to fit the mud hole doors and the two clack valves before we can fill and steam the boiler. Then get the insurance man along for the formal steam test and hopefully we will be ready to go boating.

One more Working Party to load coal on President for the trip ‘oop North and we should be ready to go.

As far as Kildare is concerned, there will now be a period where Ian has to be left largely to get on with it. Once we have a new bottom in place then the Working Parties will start in earnest again for the re-fitting of the floors and the interior.

Dave Speer has taken some photos along the way, so the picture book version of this should be on the Web site in the next few days. Great effort by One and All – Many Thanks to all who helped.

Bob C