KINGSWEAR CASTLE WINTER REFIT 2003/2004
Kingswear Castle slides back into the water at the Acorn Shipyard, Strood at around 2.15pm on Thursday 25th March. (25/03/04)
Looking aft towards the newly painted port paddle wheel. (23/03/04)
Looking out from under the awning on the slipway on a gloomy, damp, dull and windy day towards Strood Pier - gateway to sunny summer Medway paddle steamer excursions. Note the life-raft cradles on Kingswear Castle are empty with their normal occupants away for annual survey. (19/03/04)
Looking into the furnace at the firebrick wall towards the back end of the boiler. The fire-bars which form the grate are in two sections, the back section is in place in the picture and several of the forward ones have been fitted. Each fire-bar has a hook at one end to attach it to a cross bar to keep it in place and a slide at the other to take account of expansion in the furnace. The coal sits on top of the fire-bars to burn and is fed with air coming up through the gaps between the bars. Each fire-bar has a spacer in its middle to keep it the correct distance from its neighbour thereby creating the right gap for the air. This may not be rocket science but it is important. Too small a gap between the bars starves the coal of oxygen leading to incomplete combustion and therefore greater smoke and wasted coal. Too narrow a gap also reduces the cooling effect of the air which may lead the fire-bars to overheat and fall out. The coal also needs to have a reasonable ash content when burned as this ash helps to insulate the fire-bars from the intense heat of the burning coal sitting on them. After the Deep Navigation coal mine in Wales closed some years ago we had a lot of problems with coals with a minimal ash content which led to overheating of the grate and fire-bars buckling and falling out. (19/03/04)
The main sea suction valve for water for the condenser sitting out of place on deck. The valve has been stripped down for refurbishment this winter. (19/03/04)
With the valve out, the opportunity has been taken to renew the frames and keelson in its vicinity. (19/03/04)
Kingswear Castle left the Historic Dockyard at 9am on Friday 5th March under tow for slipping at the Acorn Shipyard Strood for annual survey and painting. She was out of the water by 11.30am
Work starts on cleaning the hull (05/03/04)
Time for tea! Front to back Daniel Smith, Alan Beavan and Chris Smith (03/03/04)
Volunteer Jill Harvey in varnishing mode. (27/02/04)
Another view of the new wheelchair friendly access. (27/02/04)
Chris Smith about to attach the centre piece of the paddle box renovated by volunteer Terry Harries, a wood carving of the eponymous Kingswear Castle flying our adopted house flag. (27/02/04)
Rachel Beardsley sands the engine room skylight. (24/02/04)
John Mannering (right) and Alan Beavan (left) open up the condenser door to have a look inside. The condenser is a large box through which cold seawater is passed in copper tubes in order to cool down the used steam from the cylinders and turn it back into water for re-use in the boiler. Land based steam engines like railway trains generally exhaust this steam straight into the atmosphere producing their characteristic chuff-chuffing noise much imitated by children and cartoons but ships operating in salt water generally re-circulate it using a condenser and a pump to pump water back into the boiler. In a typical day Kingswear Castle does not generally need to top up the boiler with an additional outside water supply as little water is lost in this re-circulation. Days with many hops on and off piers tend to use up more water though as the engine driven feed pump stops every time the engine stops and that is when slight leakages from the system mostly occur. (24/02/04)
The new walkway for Thunderbolt Pier taking to the air (18/02/04)
Nearly there (18/02/04)
Attached (18/02/04)
Alan Beavan (right) hands a leaf spring for the low pressure piston ring to John Mannering. (03/02/04)
The supports for the starboard bridge wing back in place. (03/02/04)
The Kingswear Castle name board beautifully made by wood carver Paul Stevens is now attached. Paul's expert work can be seen all over the place from historic ships to country houses, churches and cathedrals. (03/02/04)
Kingswear Castle's home alongside Thunderbolt Pier at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham is undergoing a major renovation this winter including the provision of a new walkway pictured above shortly after being lifted from the delivery lorry. (21/01/04)
Chris Smith making the new starboard paddle box fenders (21/01/04)
Daniel Smith needle gunning the steel of the starboard bridge wing (21/01/04)
All the fan venting decorative work completed (21/01/04)
The new fan venting all in place and being sanded by Chris Smith (11/01/04)
The new starboard paddle box coming on with work progressing (11/01/04)
The old fan venting has been re-attached to act as a template. Each piece is then removed in turn and the new venting cut to be an exact copy. In this picture two new pieces are in place. Chris Smith is removing another one and his son Daniel is sanding down the new wood cladding which has been laid over the aft part of the cover. (11/01/04)
The cover has been welded into place and the steel and wood for the base for the decorative centre piece are now in place. (December 2003)
The new steel paddle box cover is being wedged into place by Chris Smith (November 2003)
Back to behind the scenes page