Baragoola 11th & 12th June 2011

In attendance: Nick, Glen, Peter C, Peter H, Gary, Ernie, Ian, Lance, Geoff & Daniel Visitors: One This week our income was $8,600 and outgoings were $7,500. We have now completely paid off all

loans made to us by our members which is a great hurdle to have finally overcome. We also gained two

new members this week.

Don’t forget that all donations over $2 are now tax deductibles as are material donations. Glen (our

treasurer) is following up with the ATO to advise exactly how material donations can be claimed (so

make sure you have your receipts!) and will advise via our forums later on this week the process that

needs to be followed (http://www.savethebaragoola.com/forum/index.php).

There is a slight error in the donation receipts issued (a transposed digit in the ABN), Glen will be

sending out new receipts this week to those affected.

You should have your membership renewal form and Annual General Meeting pack by now. If not,

please contact me at president@savethebaragoola.com. There’s been a good number returned thus far;

many thanks to those who have already renewed their membership for the next financial year.

Remember, you have until the 30th of this month for these to be returned to be eligible for voting at the

Annual General Meeting or being nominated as a committee candidate.

Our new site will be going live shortly; Gary has done some more of the work this week on it and it will

be launched fairly soon.

This weekend we requested that volunteers devoted themselves to the task of improving the safety of

the downstairs areas and a chunk of work was nominated to be done to accomplish this. This included

hull cleaning, Smoking Saloon work (so the galley can be relocated and the uptake vents opened where

the old galley is), emergency lighting improvements and laying of floor plates. Great to see that most

people on board assisted in some way with these tasks – we rarely ever direct what needs to be done,

but this work was deemed high priority. Safety on board is always the first priority and anything done

that can help this will always take priority over anything else.

In improving the safety downstairs, quite a bit of work seemingly unrelated work also needs to be done

– Gary has now completed the plans for the Smoking Saloon and materials will be purchased very

shortly to fit this area out. At the forward extremity, the old store room will be put back in place; this

section is now painted out. It’s also the only part of the boat where we discovered some dry rot in one

skirting board, so this is slated for renewal. The electrical line in and associated equipment will then be

relocated to this area as well by Gary.

Ahead of that a new galley will be installed in roughly the same spot as the old crew quarters – it will be

a little larger though. The remainder of the space will be devoted to crew amenities and Association

space including being fitted out with an office area and carpeted (a deviation from the original, but this

will not be a public area so won’t be seen by the majority of people).

Until now, this area has been a bit of a dumping ground and an effort was made to commence clearing it

out. The sliding loading gates that were stored in here have been removed (myself, Ian, Peter & Daniel

were needed to lift each one which gives you an idea of their weight) and are now stored outside. The

rubbish in this area has been cleaned up and readied for removal off the boat and a general tidying up

occurred. There are still a few things to come out and this will be completed next weekend.

General overview of the Smoking Saloon prior to cleaning, painting and tidying

Note the emergency exit lighting – there are already several of these downstairs and the ones shown

here are under test prior to being installed in the Engine Room.

So in order to move the galley and reinstitute the store room, work proceeded on the painting in here.

Nearly all areas received both their first and second coats of paint this weekend with me, Nick, Ian and

Glen all getting stuck into it. It’s very satisfying to see that such a large area can be largely completed so

quickly. This room was the “worst” on the boat until this weekend. And, in no small part due to Peter’s

roof work it is now very dry as well and finally “fit for purpose”.

Starboard entry to the Smoking Saloon and door to current electrical store

Note the life jacket racks in this area, these will be taken down, painted and returned and used as

storage space.

The colours are those used throughout the vessel – nearly all of the lower deck has now been painted

out in the correct historical colours. Ian (who hasn’t attended for a few months) commented on how

amazingly different Baragoola now looks and this is largely due to the clean paintwork that now exists in

the vessel. A large amount of exterior painting for this section was also done.

Area of dry rot (dark patches on the skirting board)

Painting in progress

Port entry before……..

….. and after

Starboard side, note the beautiful curves of our lady!

Other work that was commenced as part of the safety plan was to begin dismantling the store room that

currently exists in the centre funnel uptake. This has a false floor and the exhaust vents have (until now)

been hidden behind a false wall.

This whole area is in the process of being ripped out – this will allow free air flow to the ventilator fan

sited in the funnel proper and will also allow us to (eventually) install the main Engine Room access back

to here. Currently access to the Engine Room is either via the emergency escape or through the water

tight bulkhead between it and the Control Room.

Restoration of this will provide a third access way and also give back the second emergency escape from

this area as well as improve the air flow throughout the hull – all of these are very important !

Ernie began the demolition in here and at the same time exposed a junction box that he’d located and

wanted to commence working on. Fortunately there’s very little water damage behind the false wall –

this would have been a massive job to repair the uptakes if any rust had been located.

A big sigh of relief for that!

Exhaust vents exposed

View up the funnel

Peter H was again working on the roof (as he always is!). This week he started work on the port side of

the forward wheelhouse and already the amount done has made a difference with persistent heavy rain

experienced on Saturday evening – the decks below remained mostly dry.

Repaired (and under repair) false roof sections

Peter is doing a fantastic job up there and we are deeply indebted to him for it. Indeed, nearly all of the

work he’s done he’s done alone with some sporadic assistance. It would be truly wonderful if he had an

assistant or two on a regular or semi-regular basis. We have no shortage of people wishing to bring the

engineering sections back to life, but the two areas of the most importance (hull and roof) seem to be

managed by only two or three people. This is an imbalance that we will be addressing as these two

items are, without any shadow of a doubt, the most important areas that need to be attended to for

Baragoola’s long term viability. Bear in mind that if we have no roof or no hull, we have no boat.

Recently Nick and I have been working on the exterior hull, it is tedious work and tiring – only reason we

didn’t get out there this weekend was due to the poor weather. Geoff however continued with the

interior hull work and this weekend turned his attentions to a very filthy job – that of starting to clean

out the bilges of years of built up detritus.

I am staggered at the work he did – a very large chunk of the bilge plates in the Control Room are now

clean; mud, material build-up and rust removed and the original paint work is now exposed.

This will allow any water getting in from the decks to drain clearly into the bilges and not remain

dammed up against the hull and cause issues.

Geoff cleaning out the bilges

This week the “new” air compressor tank was brought up from Melbourne; this has now gone home

with Gary and will be shifted in to our big work boat that has been off the run for maintenance and

cleaning. Gary plans on bringing this back next weekend which will be a big help as we have been relying

on the smaller and slower boat of late. It doesn’t have the carrying capacity of the big one and tends to

limit what we can get on board and in rougher weather isn’t really suitable.

The bigger air compressor will allow us to put more air tools on board which in turn will allow us to

attack metal areas with somewhat more ease than we currently can. Big bonus!

The work downstairs also included returning the first of the floor plates back to where they belong. Gary

has spent a considerable amount of time working out the placements of the ones that we have already

retrieved. Our plan over the next few weekends is to retrieve the remainder, clean and paint them and

put them back in place. The payoff for us is that it will improve the look of the underdeck areas and

most importantly, will improve the safety – something that I experienced firsthand this week when I

nearly skidded off the temporary flooring and into the bilges. Again, this work is something we expect

everyone in attendance to pitch in and help with – especially the engineering crew as it impacts on their

ability to work safely in that area.

Indeed much of the work done this weekend directly impacts on improving conditions below deck and

will be continued next weekend as well.

Painted floor plates

Ernie investigated and located a persistent earth leak problem in the propulsion equipment cabinet this

week; he’s identified what needs to be done to rectify the issue and has removed the offending

equipment off the boat to proceed with the work.

This weekend he also spent time cleaning up the shelf the 115/240 volt generator lives on and began

painting it as well.

Cleaning of the generator in progress

And a near complete coat of paint

Peter C returned the renewed fuel injection pump for the No.1 Gardner this weekend and after cleaning

the crankcase, chaincase and sump this was reinstalled. A test operation proved problematical with a

major oil leak being identified that required some ingenuity to (temporarily) rectify. It now operates

correctly and like its partner can supply 115 volts to the vessel. A coat of paint was given to it to smarten

it up.

No. 1 Gardner a few weeks ago

And as it is now

And that’s where we leave you this week – don’t forget to get your membership renewals in if you

haven’t already and with tax time nearly coming it’s a great opportunity to make a donation to a worthy

cause – and at the same time reduce your tax bill!

Next working days are next Saturday the 18th of June and Sunday 19th of June. As well, the boat will be

open for work for the entire following week with some of our guys in attendance every day, so feel free

to come down and assist. If you’re coming don’t forget to bring lunch – we provide tea, coffee, cold

drinks and fresh fruit to all volunteers on board.

Don’t forget – all donations above two dollars are now tax deductible – see our website for details on

how to donate.

Also, if you have Google Talk installed you can chat to us if anyone is online and nearby the computer –

add baragoola@gmail.com as a friend.

That’s it for this week – don’t forget you can keep up with all the latest on our forums at

http://www.savethebaragoola.com/forum/index.php and you can see our old newsletters at

http://www.savethebaragoola.com/works.html

Show your support!

We’re pleased to announce some additions to our range of collectable items.

All items can be ordered by sending an email to help@savethebaragoola.com with the following details:

Your name Postal address Size (for clothing) and quantity Your contact phone number All items will be sent with an invoice payable within 30 days.

White T-shirt, printed with Baragoola’s build year and our web address, available in white cotton only in

sizes S, M, L, XL & XXL. Price is $22 including delivery.

SS Baragoola – Baragoola as built in 1922, white coffee mug.

Price $25.80 including delivery – available now.

SS Binngarra (class vessel), white coffee mugs.

Price $25.80 including delivery – available now.

MV Baragoola – Baragoola near the end of her public life, white coffee mug.

Price $25.80 including delivery – available now – limited edition.

Coming soon will be a range of mugs featuring the current four Manly ferries. The price for these is the

same as the current stock and you can pre-order if you wish.

Specify which you want – Freshwater, Narrabeen, Queenscliff or Collaroy.

These should arrive between four to six weeks from now.

Designs will be the same as our current range.

And also coming soon – a new range of calendars similar to those released last year but for the financial

year 2011-2012.

These are printed on high quality thick glossy A4 card and will feature several views of the internal and

exterior of Baragoola. Only twenty were printed last time and they went quickly so it would be a good

idea to pre-order now to avoid disappointment!

Price will be $30 including postage.