While Storm Otto blow through Orkney with gusts of over 85 knots (97 mph) recorded at Black Craig & Sandy Hill most of the hardy OHBS volunteers still turned out for a mornings work at the Old Herring Factory. Others turned out the following day when the wind was just 7 knots :-)
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| Old port knee |
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| New starboard knee |
The timber to enable us to construct new workbenches has arrived. As well as the timber we have fixings and a large professional grade wood working vice which will be fitted to a new work bench.
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| Timber |
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| Large vice (boxed) and fixings |
While one crew concentrated on facility improvements; removing unwanted factory piping and installing new electrical outlets, another crew continued work on boat and tool renovation.
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| Working on Shamrock |
We now have a sign by the side entrance door so people can find us more easily.
Work on the new fire points is now complete and the new Water Mist Extinguishers are in position and ready for use should they ever be required.
A new cable reel has been installed off a supporting steel column to provide 240v electricity to the central work area. Further work is planned to add more 240v socket points around the storage area.
The area near where the new boat door is to be fitted has been cleared in preparation for work to begin on the installation of the door.
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| A ready to go extinguisher |
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| The new cable reel |
We gave ourselves until the end of January to get our fire precautions all in place. The fire extinguishers we inherited when we moved into the building had not been serviced for 12 years so we condemned those in our area and bought new ones suitable for our requirements. The sheet metal insulated wall panels can't support the weight of fire extinguishers so we have built bases to house the fire extinguishers.
Outside a Fire Assembly Point has been identified and signed. Inside work continues on a couple of the small boats.
This week the volunteers again split into two groups; some working on boat restoration - now possible as we have basic facilities in place, and those continuing to work on facility improvements. A lot of the boats previously left in the main storage area have now been relocated to a side area.
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| Small boats in storage |
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| Discussing a boat |
There was a good turn out of volunteers for the second meet of the new year, the improved facilities helping to attract more help. Some work was restarted on the two small boats currently in restoration while other volunteers continued to strip out old factory fittings in preparation for the installation of the new boat door and for additional storage space.
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| A good turnout of volunteers |
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| A technical discussion... |
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| A non-technical discussion |