Soundings

[James Curry]

Easy one, What would you find at the bottom of a sounding pipe

[Doc Vernon]

The Striking Plate James!

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hopefully not water, unless fresh.
Des

[James Curry]

Easy one as said , another answer may well have been the sounding tape bob So why is there a striking plate at the bottom of a sounding pipe.
Doc spot on, Des what about sea water ballast tanks.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

To be expected LoL
Des

[James Curry]

To be expected LoL
Des

Well you know me Des pain in the **** about detail. Sadly I am OCD, my Mrs is always having a moan if a magazine is not straight on the coffee table.

[John Cassels]

Whwn doing a bunker survey , always pays to check builders sounding tables to check total ullage - top of sounding pipe to striking plate. Not unknown for some to weld on few extra
striking plates !.

[DLambert]

When surveying tanks it was often surprising how far the striker plates had worn - often requiring repair. Same with tank suction/fill bell mouth wear plates. These items were always high on the inspection agenda.

[James Curry]

Yes I have seen the amount of erosion around the bellmouth/ elephants foot in some tanks and as said often reqiures attention. Also cargo tank bottoms badly pitted. One company I worked for must have had shares in Belzona the amount. Thankfully some one invented Ultrasonic Thickness Mesurement
testing UTM. Some times the readings would certainly raise a few eyebrows.

[j.sabourn]

As regards the soundings of tanks , I was on one vessel ex British but had been under numerous foreign flags where I had strong suspicions than when loading down to her marks that the soundings of fuel and fresh water did not give a correct reading. The vessel appeared to be very tender and close to a neutral stability when loaded . I suspected that the vessel when changing hands and countries of Registry had been got at by unhappy people, one way of doing this would have been by pouring loose cement down sounding pipes and thus placing in position false striker plates. Anyhow other conditions got that bad I more or less walked off her in Japan and she went to the scrap yard not too long after. A long complicated story. A disaster waiting to happen. As with bell mouths on suction discharge pipes I was on a guarantee dry dock which had been delayed for 12 months , and did 10 months as mate there before finally doing it in Mitsibuishi dry dock in Yokohama.
Was a nightmare if on a shallow berth loading as had to put the ship about 10 feet by the stern when deballasting double bottoms . In the shipyard had down on the default list and would you believe not one bell mouth on any ballast line , the ship was built in the same yard and the japs were certainly caught out with egg on their faces. Good for my ego as couldn’t put a foot wrong after that and had a chauffeur driven car waiting to take me ashore every night at 1700 hrs. JS