Batfish escape Trunk update

[Travis McLain]

Ok guys, just got back from vacation on Sunday.

On the escape trunk, I started cleaning out all the dirt, and paint chippings at the bottom of the hatch. Most of it is gone except for the dirt that was not accessible due to machinery. I also started scraping some paint inside on the fixtures and side door. The stainless steel will be nice to work with but the cork will not be as they painted over it about 3 times with different color paint, and when I try to scrape paint cork comes with it. One other sour note is that I used WD 40 on the side dorr hinges to make it easier to open, and somehow it shifted enough to make it unable to close. Rick and I were baffled on this one, as it worked fine earlier in the morning, but then shifted a good 3-5 inches to where the lower dogs will not go up over the insides catches.

Also I was bale to get the torpedo ready indicator board lit up in the Forward topedo room, it looks great. 

[Mark Sarsfield]

Also I was bale to get the torpedo ready indicator board lit up in the Forward topedo room, it looks great. 

Did you use Christmas lights?

That's strange about the side hatch. Either some mounting bolts were loose enough to allow the door to sag or the double-hinges have shot bearings.

[MWALLEN]

it shifted enough to make it unable to close

Is "it" the side door?  Did it shift horizontally or vertically?  Or was it something with the hinge?  I agree w/ Mark S. in that it might be a bolt.  Hard to say w/o seeing it.

[Travis McLain]

Did you use Christmas lights?

That's strange about the side hatch. Either some mounting bolts were loose enough to allow the door to sag or the double-hinges have shot bearings.

Yea, there were already some Christmas lights in the board, and I just plugged it into a socket that was working.

Also about the hatch. It was the side door, and we dont know what it was that caused the door to do that, because there were no visual signs of it having dropped.

[Rick]

The berrings appear to be intact.   I would think that there is some way to adjust the dogs. 

[Mark Sarsfield]

Agreed.

[Travis McLain]

So is the solution as of now to remove that dog? Also does anyone know the best way to get paint off of the cork around the hatches? Because it appears somone painted over the cork like three different times, and now when I try to scrape it off, the cork comes with it. I do not want to scrape away all the cork.

[MWALLEN]

Also does anyone know the best way to get paint off of the cork around the hatches?

Good luck with that.  I've not seen the area, so I can't speak much about it...but would it be possible to replace the cork?

[Mark Sarsfield]

A paint stripper of some kind would be my only guess.  I'm sure that a sheet of flexible cork could be bought.  It could be pieced, int oo, since you're painting over it.  A little wood putty could fill in the gaps.  To give you an idea of price, there's a company called manton Cork, which sells 200 square foot sections of 6mm cork for $125, but I think they can supply different thicknesses.  I'm guessing that the cork on the hull is 1/2" to 5/8" thick.