Painting the Deck

[happy daze john in oz]

I was always led to believe that the equipment used for flushing out the tanks was called the Fleming system. This was in the 50's though so it may have been superceded.

I thought it was called the Butterworth system, and Fleming was the gear on life boats to row them with. But I was in catering so stand to be corrected.

[Ivan Cloherty]

You can remain seated John

[Captain Kong]

It was the Butterworth System, now they use crude oil instead of water,for blasting the tanks clean, Safer, no static.
a branch line comes off the main discharge line to the Butterworth plate on deck, then the machine is bolted on and open the valve and the tank is washed all down the bulkheads to the bottom of the tank as the discharge progresses and all the sludge and rust scales are discharged with the crude oil cargo.
Cheers
Brian

[Calvin Kent]

Must be a nightmare taking ullages Cap'n.

[Jim Brady]

Went to meet my son on docking day,early morning autumnol day I think there had been a heavy dew.Walking on the new painted deck after end,my wife slipped on the deck (she hsd her hands in her pockets) just missed the bits with her face,I still cringe when I think about it.Anyway up to my sons cabin he went ballistic "thats that bleddy bosuns fault selling the sand in the W.I.".I remember seeing the emery strips here and there but I dont recall them spreading that fine silver sand,does anybody remeber that.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Calvin, only took the ullages when Loading and it was done with the Whessoe Guages also the mercury indicators in the Control Room, With Close Loading , the tank lids battened down, to reduce the amount of Gas on deck, the PV Valves blasted the Gas high into the air to disperse it. . No point in taking ullages on a discharge the whessoes were wound up to the top out of the way. When you discharge at 20,000 tons an hour, four pumps at 5,000 tons each is pretty fast.
A little different from the old T2s.
Cheers
Brian.

[Ivan Cloherty]

....spreading that fine silver sand,does anybody remember that.

Yes Jim, often used to put sand in the deck paint and also the paint used on steel hatch covers, ICI brought out a non-slip deck paint in the late 1960's but wasn't as good as the sand method then. Cannot comment on today's paints but reading my various journals they seem to have a different paint for every occasion.

ICI also in the 60's brought out a two pack polyurthene white gloss paint guaranteed not to show rust or weep, worked quite well except the rust was not discernable outwards but rapidly increased the rust activity under the paint inwards.

[Calvin Kent]

Thanks for that Brian. I only did a few tankers and Whessoes were just another obstruction on deck that were awkward to paint, certainly can't remember a boat where they worked.

Talking tankers, remember we were doing an open lid discharge of alcohol in Rotterdam and had to change berth mid-discharge. Only across the dock but someone below thought it was a good opportunity to blow pipes. Twas a sight to behold all those sparks in the night sky. I don't remember touching any ladders to get off the focsle and drop those lids.
Regards
Calvin

[Calvin Kent]

ps What's a control room?

[Peter Trodden]

Tony we use to call this type Barmaids Gear,because of the action needed (Like pulling a pint) It was mostly on Liners were the manning of the many L/Boats didn't require much small boat handling skills. CPR. in Montreal would have Boat-Drill and send away a few L/Boats (with a mixed and motley crew) It was great fun,racing around the Harbour.
I was painting Ships decks up untill I retired,and we used the modern anti-slip/skid paint but for well used areas of the deck we added fine sand as a back up.