There are some pretty major jobs which need doing on the barge in the coming months. This include mast removal (storage, sanding back to bare wood and oiling then refitting), blasting all the old paint off above and below the waterline as well as blasting the oil and grease from the insides of the hull, derusting, application of 2 pack primer, replacing both sea cocks, adding a freshwater flush point for the engine and generator.

Given the ‘no grit blasting’ policy on the marina, it will have to be completed once we get Zeelandia into dry dock. Saul Junction is about 25 miles away but should only take a couple of hours with a fair tide to get into the canal so we won’t have to struggle against the tides too much. The dry dock has a tower crane which would be ideal for removing the masts but on talking to them they wouldn’t be able to store the masts under cover. This would be the same arrangement as I would have here at Portishead only with the added disadvantage of the commute to the dry dock to work on them and then a return trip in Zeelandia to refit them. All in all, this is not a great option so I have decided to pursue the removal of the masts here with a mobile crane and then cover them with tarpaulins in the boat yard. At least this way I can work on them whenever the weather is suitable.

I have started manually derusting the inside of the barge. I have decided to only do above the gunwale where there are no rivets. Below the gunwale will have to be shot blasted. Using a variety of wire brushes, degreasers, tungsten carbide and surface preparation discs I have found a fairly speedy and economical way of removing the oily, hardened residue on the steel.

(Test area on the sides of the hull. The white scribblings show what was used on the area, and they were then left, tested at a later date and will also be tested once the red oxide primer is painted to test the adhesion)

First pass is with a standard cup wire brush on an angle grinder then second pass with a surface preparation disc. This manages to get the majority of the black residue off and gets back to the steel. Once the steel is showing I derust with Vactan (an acid based anti rust agent) and let it dry before overpainting with red oxide primer.

Problems I have encountered include using Vactan too late in the evening and then leaving it overnight when the steel condenses out water which then affects the finish of the derusting agent. It's best to heat the area with a fan heater and ensure the derusting is completed by early afternoon to give it enough time to ‘go off’ before I leave it. This would obviously not be as much of a problem in summer but it’s something I just have to deal with.

The centreline of the roof has some quit serious scale rust but a quick bout with the pointy end of the club hammer has removed this and there isn’t any daylight coming through so all is ok. I will be welding some additional angle iron frames to the roof on the inside for added rigidity. The roof did look badly corroded but it’s only surface rust over most of it and a quick going over with a wire brush on an angle grinder takes it right back to steel and the Vactan does a good job on it prior to painting.

One of the downsides of the oil and grease residue on the walls is the amount of debris shot into the air whilst wire brushing. I have purchased a more robust and better sealing face mask with replaceable filters as the paper disposable ones were just not up to the job. It also has the added benefit of not steaming up my safety glasses.

I only have one small section of the central beam to remove now after the aft 8 ft section gave way relatively easily after only a couple of hours of hacking away at it. The beam was ridiculously oversized and will not be replaced in such a ‘zombie/nuclear apocalypse survival’ fashion. I will still use a central beam to hold up the wooden ceiling panels but they will be easily removable rather than needing TNT and a pneumatic hammer to remove them.