Back at it.

Well I had a great time during my trip back to Canada for Christmas. It was good to spend time with family and friends both in Manitoba and B.C. I am sorry though that I have not updated this blog while I was away. The trip North was good but a few deteriorating car parts and lack of a block heater cost me a lot upon my arrival back in Winnipeg. Then the trip West to B.C. was smooth quiet and uneventful. The last day I had meant to stay in 100 Mile House the car decided it had had it and started acting up big time so needless to say it is buried in the snow in my parents backyard now and I'm not going to comment on weather it will ever run again. Not anytime soon anyhow. I bought that car anticipating big financial savings on fuel, but what I have saved there has been dwarfed by the well over $10,000 the thing has cost me in parts and maintenance. That is especially encouraging when I think about the fact that it is now basically inoperable without a lot more major work being done on it. So anyways after about 80 hours of Greyhounds and Greyhound stations I finally got back to Louisiana and the ship at Port Mercy. Then after a shower and some lunch it was straight to work... The news was my ship may be going out on a bareboat charter for an indefinite period of time and inspectors were due the next morning to check it out. As of now I have not heard weather the charter is happening but either way we have lots of work to do on it both outside and in for use either by us or anyone else. Interior work we've done has included a total remodel of one end of the mess hall (A former cabin had been partially removed and we turned it into an extension of the mess hall.) One cabin has been completely redone and another couple are coming up next. I've done a bunch of repairs and or alterations to the electrical power in the cabins we are working in and odds and ends of little projects throughout the ship. On the deck side we have been chipping rust and repainting the ship as weather allows. It's kind of rainy here this time of year. I welded some new railings on the Starboard side quarter deck and have patched cut and repaired other railings, drains and rusty places on deck. One blessing we have is almost everything I have been involved in installing on the Mer Sea we have salvaged from the Shalom, an old Canadian Coast Guard research vessel we have and are parting out. I enjoy seeing the stuff we are salvaging put to use right away on the Mer Sea and our other vessels. So far we have been able to reuse tables, chairs, beds (bunks), shelving, bulkhead sections, outside deck railings, wiring and electrical components, ceiling tiles and probably other things I can't think of right now. I believe we are going to be able to install Shalom's gyro pilot automatic steering system as well. Down in the engine room the engineers have replaced one of the Detroit 6v71 Diesel generators and are working on the exciters for the main propulsion generators as well as some electrical improvements, breakers and circuitry. Although we still have a lot of work to do it is really encouraging to see the progress that is being made. It it miraculous really considering how understaffed we are compared to where I would like to see us for the jobs we have to do. Right now as bosun I am the only full time deck hand we have, there are two students who work 6 hours a day as well, one carpenter and the Captain- that is our entire current deck dept for all five ships we have here. I am glad to have been able to focus almost exclusively on the Mer Sea, otherwise it would be too overwhelming. At some point though I expect that could change though as the current plan is for the Hope to be the vessel used for the Spring outreach scheduled in late March or April. I don't know much on that though including where that outreach will be to or weather I will be sailing. Right now I'm just focused on getting the Mer Sea up to par. It's all good though.