Torsk Memorial Day

[Gil Bohannon]

We're having a Memorial Day ceremony aboard Torsk on Saturday starting at noon. On every hour we read a selection of the lost boats, toll the bell for them, and have the visitors participate by placing a flower in the water for each boat. Its a moving ceremony.

I'll post pix after the weekend.

Gil

[Mark Sarsfield]

Please do.  I hope that you guys get a big turn-out.

[Gil Bohannon]

All,

Here is a link to some pix from Memorial Day aboard Torsk.

Enjoy!

Gil

http://www.usstorsk.net/temp/2008memday/2008memday01.htm

[Mark Sarsfield]

Nice pics, Gil.  What are all of the batteries for? 

Also, I see that you started replacing your forward deck like we have.  We're using Brazilian Red Heart wood.  Are you the guys that said you were going to use Ipe wood?

[Lance Dean]

Gil,

Thanks for sharing the pictures of the ceremony and what went into it!

[Gil Bohannon]

Hi Mark,

Yep - thats Ipe. Nice stuff - our wood shop is in the process of ripping the larger board down to the proper dimension for the deck slats. Hopefully within a month or so we'll start laying the wood down up forward.

The batteries will be used to power the boat's original emergency lighting circuits. With a group of bank of 21 batteries, we can get 252 volts DC, exactly where we need to be for the emergency light circuit. The lights have all been restored and tested - we have a relay in place that will kick on if the power drops, but the old batteries we had were not holding a charge any more. The new batteries came from a local company, from their UPS system. They replace them on a regular basis. These batteries are only a couple years old and almost all of them tested out fine before we brought them on board. We have enough to do three banks of 21 batteries.

If we ever get around to activating any of our 250v DC systems, such as pumps and blowers, the batteries will also give us a chance to test the systems out. Thats down the road a ways, though.

Gil

[Lance Dean]

Gil, I must say, that's FREAKIN' AWESOME!  That has to be something unique.   

[Mark Sarsfield]

Gil, that's a pretty good idea and probably a lot cheaper than installing a 250VDC rectifier. I didn't realize that the emergency system needed 250 volts to operate.  You are right that other systems on board also use the same voltage and current type, including the hydraulic pumps.  You guys will be one step closer to operating your periscopes.

I'm assuming that you have one battery charger per battery.

One issue that Batfish has with running power of this magnitude through-out the boat is that a lot of the battery cables were stolen by profiteers.  We'd have to lay new high-voltage cable to make use of the batteries.

What circuit panel does the emergency lighting tie into?

[emeacho]

The emergency lighting system is powered directly off the battery.  If you go into the battery wells you will find disconnect switches on the aft bukhead.  The emergency light circuits connect to the battery at thse dsconnects.  There are two lights connected in series per branch circuit.  Each branch has an on-off switch.  The idea is that if all else fails, the emergency lights, connected directly to the battery (there is a fwd and aft circuit/port & stbd) will continue to operate.  We have jumpered the port and stbd systems because we only have a battery in the aft battery compartment.  When the relay switches on, port and stbd emergency lights come on powered from the battery in the aft battery well.  The light they provide is nearly as bright as the normal ship's lighting.

[Mark Sarsfield]

Okay.  I don't think we have any circuit boxes left in our battery wells.  They pretty much gutted the entire rooms, except for those heavy bottles that hang from the ceiling.  Vaughn, our electrician/welder guru, has a few emergency fixtures wired into the main lighting system.