Just a quick one shipmates as we have a day out planned which doesn't involve me and the devil's own machine (aka the shot blaster)... Woo hoo!!

We have been delayed again going into dry dock. We are now due in on the 14th Nov with the big commercial vessel and another barge (hopefully reducing costs still further). I have blasted away a tonne of the grit so have made the decision that I will extend the hire for another week, get another tonne of glass grit and just keep going... I will also try to get some very fine soft media so that I can blast the removed portholes and get them looking more presentable. It looks like we have a buyer in Holland for the 2 large opening portholes in the skipper's cabin so that's another €400 into the pot.

A quick test of the Vactan anti rust coating on a section of the foc'sle goes solid black showing the steel is bare and the Vactan is doing its job. I am going to try putting it in an air blown degrease gun to see if I can speed up the application process (spray on, spread out with a brush) given I have an area the size of a tennis court to cover.

I am about 60% through the cargo hold walls. Once the walls are done I will probably Vactan them before moving onto the frames in the bilge and the rivet heads. The plate of the bilge I can do with wire brush as the blaster doesn't do so well on hard scale rust. You can't do a proper job on the rivet heads with a wire brush so a quick pass with the blaster will be the best option. I will also do the vertical sides of the floor frames as they have congealed oil goop on them as well.

The big job after that is removing the Skipper's cabin floor, welding over the section of the engine bay (which will need some major patching), covering up windows and and access to the engine room, covering the prop shaft and bearing area and then blasting the hull and cabin area. Welding the floor back in place can be relatively quick given the steel fabrication capabilities on site to cut the steel blanks.

Still no updated quote from the ultra high pressure blasters after their comedy 'you're going to need to sell a kidney' quote. I am sure it will all work out ok but not having definitive costs does make me nervous so late in the day. It has been a hard week of blasting but the results are pleasing (if not visually perfect). It does the job of removing the goo and allowing me to apply anti rust and then paint with some confidence it is not going to rot under the paint. And that was all I wanted from the process....