Green fish anyone?

[Ivan Cloherty]

Well the greens have done it again, the environmental policy is backfiring yet again. North Sea and Channel trawlermen are complaining that they are constantly getting pieces of wind turbine blades caught in their nets, some +4m long and 30/40cm deep where they have flaked off the blade and the sea is littered with fibre glass flakes and shards, some of which is probably being digested by the fish. Should make for an interesting meal when mum says 'be careful of the bones and fibre glass'

[James Curry]

I wonder would it give you wind?

[happy daze john in oz]

Putting wind turbines off shore is a non, no as far as I can see.

Some are proposed for here, but do they not understand that salt air does damage to metal!!
Of course the companies that sell them do not care about that.

Maybe some company will provide men with chipping hammers to maintain them.

The cost of off shore is about twice the cost of onshore ones.

But someone is making money, estimated here in Oz it will by 2050 be worth some $10.5 trillion.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Putting wind turbines off shore is a non, no as far as I can see.

Some are proposed for here, but do they not understand that salt air does damage to metal!!
Maybe some company will provide men with chipping hammers to maintain them.

.

John paint structure has changed immensely over the last two decades, there are ships sailing around with antifouling applied 20 years ago and has not been repainted, there are self polishing paints for anti-fouling and boot-topping that last for 10 years plus, so the steel structures will not be a problem, vary rare to see anyone over on a stage or on a quay with a striker painting hulls, wear is not a problem, mechanical damage (contact with quays etc) is one aspect, but most modern paints can withstand that.

We deck wallas knew about the limits of plastic based products years ago when Perrybuoys (to replace cork lifebuoys) were introduced in the early 60's with their polypropylene grab ropes and lanyards, and lifeboats were supplied with polyprop grab lines, by the early 70's the lines all had to be replaced with another type of rope as it was discovered that just after two years they were dangerous and useless as ultra violet light (sunlight) caused them to rot very quickly and the broke when you pulled them, the same thing is happening with turbine blades which are under constant pressure, the speed the tips of these rotate at is calculated at 200/250mph depending upon their length from the hub. Lets not forget a lot of these blades are imported from China, which may not have the best quality control in their manufacturing processes

Sometimes it is difficult to really envisage the size of these wind turbines, the new ones installed at the North Sea Dogger Bank farm are 853 feet tall from the water surface to the tip of the blade, to give a comparison the Eifeill Tower is 1000 feet tall and Big Ben is 356 feet tall. The rotating speed for these at the tip is 90 metres per second (circa 200mph) otherwise they start to disintegrate.

[Duke Drennan]

The leading edge of the blades are removable and replaceable. How often that occurs, I don’t know. I worked for a rigging company that manufactured and provided suspended platforms that encircled the blades to allow workers to replace them. This was for land-based turbines.

[happy daze john in oz]

Ivan, yes I agree paint has improved but look at any ship in port and you will see the evidence of rust streaks.
Regular to see a cruise ship when in port having paint work being repainted and on deck scuppers and other parts regularly repainted.
Varnish on wooden rails also geta a regular overhaul

[Allen James Jones]

Hi John. I too was surprised to see the lack of maintenance(painting) when boarding a tanker at Marsden Point, NZ. I was talking to the skipper about this and he told me that there were not enough crew to keep up the paintwork plus (he then showed me) the volumes of health and safety tomes that governed the life of ships masters these days. Masters have now become office managers. Upkeep of paintwork is only done when the ship is drydocked. Regards, Allen.

[happy daze john in oz]

Very true Allan, take a look at most tankers and container ships, the number of crew are barely enough to keep the ship running.
Some only dry dock for inspections so painting is very little of concern, costs money to be out of action.

[j.sabourn]

#8 Some must have very short memories John about crew manning. immediately after the 1966 strike the first. Awareness of such happening was the first day of the strike finishing. Weekend end overtime was knocked on the head except for watchkeepers , and there was a maxinum of two later 1 seaman on a watch. I was totally against such and attended various meetings on the subject. However it did come into the legal strata of the law on the understanding that all maintainance would be done ashore and if extra hands were required on bigger vessels for berthing they would be put on vessel prior to such happening , this never really did happen to the average shipowner , and to me was just one big Con and there was a labour government in at the time. I could go on and on with examples of what I saw as a big and well planned plan to get rid of British seamen , however I decided to go elsewhere in disgust and did so. I feel lucky and priviliged to reach the age of 65 and still at sea through my own efforts no thanks to the British government and when asked to stay on until 70 in Australia I declined with the words in my mind , you have achieved what you set out to do , now it’s someones else’s turn. I had no regrets on turning my back on the people who had caused the loss of so many’s livelihoods . The seamen who never came back after the 1966 strike had the right idea . JS

[James Curry]

Ships drydock on a regular basis as dictated by the classification society. I have never dry docked a ship that did not have a bottom clean and a hull paint job,ship side valves overhauled/inspected/anniods replaced if required and usually a propeller polish. A paint job/ anti fouling and Prop polish help improve fuel efficency and vessel performance.

Hull inspection and dry docking a ship out of schedule usually is the result of grounding or prop/steering damage.

I have seen on more than one occassion in water hull scrubbing carried out by divers usually if a vessel has been anchored for a longish period. No point in dragging a carpet around on the hull.