Batfish visit on 3/22

[Rick]

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.

[Mark Sarsfield]

Tom,

  How did you guys clean the lower decks before repainting them?  Did you use a pressure washer?

[Tom Bowser]

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

[Rick]

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

[Mark Sarsfield]

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.

[Tom Bowser]

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

[Fred Tannenbaum]

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.