Yarns From the Yard - July 2019

By Chris Barritt, Shoreside Support Manager

With the Ships having a week at the dock before starting out on their summer trips we had a rare chance to work on them for more than a couple days at a time. The last week of June was the Swift’s turn and it was a full week capped off by a Friday evening procession under the bridge with four other vessels due to limited bridge lifts. It was mostly a collection of small jobs including re-bedding bolts, repairing dorade boxes, and fussing with the hot water system. It’s also a good time to book contractors for jobs we need outside help with. One such job was some welding on the Swift’s hawsehole (the cast iron fitting through which the anchor chain and docklines pass). Several thousand passes of the chain wears grooves in the iron that then cause the chain to twist so they need to be ‘filled in’. It’s another reminder of just how hard our boats, and crews, work every day. Even the cast iron gets tired.

We bought an exciting new tool, well, exciting if you’re inclined to get excited about a lumber moisture meter with 6” probes and a slide hammer for driving them in. We’ll use it for monitoring the moisture content of the lumber for the Swift's new deck. The first load of Douglas fir and yellow cedar should be arriving from the kiln soon, so we’ll be able to track it from there.

We had a good ‘old salt’ job for one of our volunteers. We have rope or ‘thump’ mats that sit on the deck to protect it from getting dented by the blocks and the Swift’s were due for replacement. Volunteer David Blacoe did a little research and made us six new mats out of 1/2” hemp line we have in the shop and they look great! The hemp line was old stage rigging from the Royal Theatre, and after a long career in live theatre it's now on board Pacific Swift with eager groups of young people. It is, I expect, a more interesting life than the average piece of rope has. After a long career in live theatre it’s setting sail with an eager crew of young people as they explore the coast.