Baragoola 19th - 26th June 2011

In attendance: Nick, Glen, Gary, Lance, Ernie, Peter, Geoff & Greg Visitors: Four This week our income was $60 and outgoings were $0 – although we are holding about $200 in

chocolate money that needs to be deposited so that’ll count next week. Don’t forget that all donations

over $2 are now tax deductible. Glen has now sent out all corrected receipts that show the right ABN –

these were emailed or posted last Friday so you should have them already (or very soon).

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.

We are planning another day at Manly soon – we’ll let you know the details once it has been booked –

members who can help out with our small stall and info area are welcome to stick up their hand; we

have the usual suspects of course but it’d be good if some “new faces” could attend and help us out as

well. Planning for our December Bunning’s BBQ is in hand too – thanks to Mark and Janelle for taking

this on.

Lighter weekend this one with some of our regulars away but much was accomplished all the same.

Seems to be that things are moving quicker now; perhaps as our own skills increase the work is

becoming easier.

A new volunteer (Greg) came to help out this week – he’s been down twice before as a visitor and last

week joined the Association. This was his first week working here and it looked like he enjoyed himself –

he’s promised to be back so we obviously didn’t scare him too much!

This week saw Nick, Peter & Glen attending on various days and work progressing as a result. Peter

continued with his roof work and the run of fine weather has allowed him to expose areas and not have

to close it up immediately because rain may threaten. The entire aft end including the wheelhouse is

now re-roofed and has received much of its sealant. This was the worst area for leaks – there are only

smaller sections on the roof that now need doing. No doubt Peter will be pleased to be down from there

reasonably soon! He’s also scoped out the roof on the forward wheelhouse and unlike the aft one, this

one needs no replacement panels. Once the wheelhouses are completed (roof and flashing) we will be

able to move on and rebuild the leading panels of each one.

Removed false roof showing area underneath prior to cleaning and re-panelling

One removed section exposed the original downpipe (not in the above pic, that’s a recent replacement).

This has now been recovered, but will be re-used again once we re-install the drain pipes from the roof

in their original locations. For the moment the “temporary” ones are doing the job just fine and there is

no hurry to replace them (although they do look unsightly sticking out from the sides of the boat).

Originals used to drain onto the deck directly – so it’s a good thing this isn’t happening right now

considering the state of the deck timbers.

On Saturday Pete re-roofed the areas he’d prepared earlier and Greg assisted him by cleaning old

material away for disposal and laying down a coat of Bitkote.

After another application of this sealant, a matt black coat of paint will be applied and that should deal

nicely with the roof with only regular maintenance needed from now on.

Another leak dealt with!

Greg works on the drain

Glen has been working on the varnished window surrounds this week with them being stripped off and

cleaned of paint preparatory to them being varnished again. A long tedious job with the amount of

windows we have. He made an attempt at polishing one of the brass screws as well, but considering

there is four of these for every window and somewhere around 200 windows it may not be worth the

effort.........

The funnel received some attention this weekend as well with Nick and me giving it a first topcoat of

high gloss white. It’s had two undercoats and next weekend will receive the final coat as well as some

touching up of the black section.

Funnel

The tall white funnel was a hallmark of the Manly ferries from 1859 until 1987 when North Head was the

last in service to sport the colour scheme. The government Freshwater boats ignored tradition (and still

do) and have (for Manly ferries) the wrong funnel colours entirely. At least they still run them bow first

to Manly (well, most of the time anyway....). Baragoola is the last traditional Manly ferry in her correct

colours (unlike South Steyne (no, Brunswick Green has never been a Manly ferry colour) and North

Head) and naturally the funnel is an important part of this traditional livery.

After dealing with the funnel we both worked on the aft sundeck with a big chunk of the white painting

being done up here. It’s beginning to scrub up very nicely and that end is looking quite smart in high

gloss white.

White poles, white longitudinal beams and some glossy paint on the deckhead

As well as painting lots of white, Nick has been busy this week with the aft stairs and they are very close

to completion. Once done, both staircases will then be fully restored and only require new brass treads

placed on them. The staircases are very much showpieces of the boat and have (very fortunately) not

suffered terribly much over the years.

Some paintwork was also continued this weekend upstairs with some of the skirting boards receiving

their coat of red oxide paint.

Further work was done on the floor plates with both Glen and Geoff removing rust and applying a coat

of Rustmaster to protect them. Nick then painted several of them in black. Next weekend Gary (who’s

been sorting out the jigsaw puzzle) can advise where they need to go downstairs after their frames are

cleaned and rust proofed.

Needless to say it’s a noisy and somewhat dirty task as well!

Floor plate preparation

You might notice in the above photo that the decks are uncovered. This has been done to allow them to

thoroughly dry out to stop the percolation of water into the lower areas. A lot of work has been done of

recent to the internal hull to arrest and reverse the water damage that has been done over several

years. The below decks areas are totally dry and we want to keep them that way!

Gary was at work in the engine room removing flaking paint and rust spalling from one area of the hull.

This will allow the other guys to move in, chip it back as needed and rust proof it and then later on apply

several coats of white paint and lower in the hull opaline blue. It would have been easy to do white and

grey, but not accurate and 100% historical accuracy is what we are aiming for with Baragoola – even in

areas that most people will never see.

As part of the work, Gary was vacuuming up the built up detritus of several years – this banks up and

traps water with predictable results – more rust. The removal of this and cleaning of the hull makes any

water that enters through the decks above drain straight to the bilges where it can be dealt with quickly

and easily by either our electric pumps or the ships’ own pumps.

All this means less water being held against the hull and a stop to the rust and deterioration that has

been occurring – so a very important job.

It also allows us to more easily monitor the hull and respond to any changes very quickly.

Gary removing flaking paint – note the difference between completed and untouched plates

This is a good example of the work most people don’t see – they see the outside of the boat (and

perhaps a bit of the interior) but don’t see the work that really matters for the long term safety and

viability of the boat. So just because you may not see too many external changes it doesn’t mean that

enormous amount of work is not being done.

Cosmetic restoration is not the only work underway; remediation of the hull is also taking place.

Of course, the big work on the hull starts when she’s out on the hard and it’s something we are all

looking forward too – seeing Baragoola high and dry and the hull under repair and then repainted ready

to go back into her natural state again and ready for a useful life. No quiet retirement for our lady –

she’s a work boat and has for too long relaxed and done nothing!

This week Ernie cleaned out the sludge from the diesel tank that services the auxiliary Gardners. There is

work required to renew the feeder pipes (these have rusted out) and the pipes to the engines

themselves will also need to be checked out. Once that is done the tank can be refilled and the

temporary fuelling arrangement removed.

This will allow us to store more fuel to run the Gardners in case we need to be self powered or to run

Baragooola’s pumps.

This tank does not supply the four English Electrics, they’re of the main tank in the forward end and at

this point we are not looking at them – a task for the future.

Interior of the diesel tank – now nice and clean!

Ernie also completed the work on the 115/240 volt generator this week – now fully restored and

operational.

The restored generator

Next scheduled working day is next Saturday the 3rd of July. You are welcome to drop down during the

week as well as there’ll be one or two people about most days. 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.