hatch boards

[j.sabourn]

Ron would you not like a wee dram from one of the whiskey tanks before you get your feet up. Cheers JS

[Les Woodard]

Recall the old fridge ships and having to seal of each hold with king and queen beams then plug each hole using winch's for them because they where so heavy. Forgotten the sequence that they had to be installed but get it wrong and there was a mess. When you consider that this was done at each level then topped of with hatch boards was certainly a work out. Got to agree that those McGregor hatchs where something that demanded respect when ever using them. No one mentioned about having to knock in the wedges on the top of the lids to make sure there was a seal. Still reckon that on reflection I still preferred the older ship with sticks on bits. We proved it on the Adelaide Star when we had a race one day with another ship with all the modern gear for sticks. We kicked there backsides in flattening out and ready for sea. Can also recall using the tent tarps while raining so we must have been spoilt. When ever I look at photos of the ships I was on compared to the modern ones they where so small and in fact not much bigger than a modern yacht I am so bloody glad that I was born when I was so as not to miss out on that adventure of going to sea.

[William Gardner]

you got me going now ron rigging the jumbo we used to have to drag all the blocks out of the mast house and get them aloft hell of ajob but i loved it proper seamans workcheers ron

[William Gardner]

Ron, Todays Able Seaman wouldn't understand a word you were talking about let alone were to begin Terry.

no more abs seaman 1 and 2 no not speak our english sad mate cheers ted

[Les Woodard]

Yeh Ron rigging the jumbo was hard yakka at times for sure and still recall the way you take the twist out of the falls after the runner has been stretched hey. Get a bloody large bar and turn the lower block until all the twists are out of the falls. Then undo the dead eye and watch the fecker spin. Then add a couple more turns then all should be ship shape. The trick was not to get to close when undoing the dead eye hey.

[Lou Barron]

Used the spare tarps to make a swimming pool in the tropics

[happy daze john in oz]

Ron, Todays Able Seaman wouldn't understand a word you were talking about let alone were to begin Terry.

Terry, are there still such things as AB, I thought they were all known now as utility deck hands??

[happy daze john in oz]

Silly me there I was thinking a McGregor hatch was something under the kilt of a Scotsman.

[j.sabourn]

#30 No that's McGregor Thatch or maybe McGregor Patch, The female version is obvious. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

i suspect today there are even more efficient means of covering the hatch, and Mcgregors are museum pieces. KT

A lot of hatches can now be closed from the Bridge Keith, seems a dangerous practice, but us oldies are used to different ways of working. Hydraulics and cameras everywhere are now normal, no wonder they need gyms on board to keep fit.