The Shipyard Blues
Part of workin' on a boat is spending time on shipyard. It aint fun being parked in a big ole dusty parking lot, but there is a scientific principle called entropy. The meaning of entropy is that over time things fall apart, no kiddin' look it up. Well, the boat I run is 30 years old and occasionally entropy slaps the ole gal in the stern. The shipyard is a busy place bustling with workers kicking up dust clouds as they scurry around. It was good to see my tax dollars going to a good cause; watching the Coast Guard boats being refit. This first picture is of the 'Pelican' being put back in the water after her 5 year refit. It was kinda funny watching a half dozen shipyard workers armed with water hoses trying to kill the dust while they painted her.
In this next picture you can see one of the shipyard workers carrying her new name boards to her.
Below, here she sits in the water being stocked up with supplies by a gang of "swabbies". This is the view from my galley door and I must admit the sight of those 2, fifty-caliber machine guns on her bow pointed toward my boat door was lil unsettling. 
The shipyard no sooner had the "Pelican" back in the water, when they snatched up the "Sturgeon" and placed her on blocks for refitting. If I gotta pay all that tax money outa my check I don't mind seeing it going for a very good cause.
This shipyard uses a boat lift to pick up the boats and set them on blocks. Here it is seen carrying a barge that is 180 feet long by 40 feet wide.
You will note the tires are really squatted down as the lift carrys this 180 foot supply boat.
With all this activity swirling around me, you may wonder why I titled this post the Shipyard Blues. In this last picture you can see the stairs that led 30 stairs from the bottom deck of my boat to the ground. When on dry dock, you can't use the toilet you have on the boat, 'cause they don't want the sewage tank to pump itself out onto the heads of the shipyard workers below. So, it's 30 stairs to parking lot level from the bottom deck of my boat, and then a quarter mile to the building that houses the public bathroom, and the building is their barge assembly warehouse, and it's 350 feet long and you guessed it; the bathroom is wayyy on the far side of the warehouse. 
AND YES DAS WHY I CALLED IT DA BLUESSS :-)
In this next picture you can see one of the shipyard workers carrying her new name boards to her.
Below, here she sits in the water being stocked up with supplies by a gang of "swabbies". This is the view from my galley door and I must admit the sight of those 2, fifty-caliber machine guns on her bow pointed toward my boat door was lil unsettling. 
The shipyard no sooner had the "Pelican" back in the water, when they snatched up the "Sturgeon" and placed her on blocks for refitting. If I gotta pay all that tax money outa my check I don't mind seeing it going for a very good cause.
This shipyard uses a boat lift to pick up the boats and set them on blocks. Here it is seen carrying a barge that is 180 feet long by 40 feet wide.
You will note the tires are really squatted down as the lift carrys this 180 foot supply boat.
With all this activity swirling around me, you may wonder why I titled this post the Shipyard Blues. In this last picture you can see the stairs that led 30 stairs from the bottom deck of my boat to the ground. When on dry dock, you can't use the toilet you have on the boat, 'cause they don't want the sewage tank to pump itself out onto the heads of the shipyard workers below. So, it's 30 stairs to parking lot level from the bottom deck of my boat, and then a quarter mile to the building that houses the public bathroom, and the building is their barge assembly warehouse, and it's 350 feet long and you guessed it; the bathroom is wayyy on the far side of the warehouse. 
AND YES DAS WHY I CALLED IT DA BLUESSS :-)
Guess you got to start walking at first twinge!
ReplyDeleteAnd not only dat, you better to be sure to bring a roll of toilet paper just in case...it's wayyyyyy to far to walk back for one.
ReplyDelete