Ordinary Time

 Well, I'm on days now. Since B and I are staying aboard until Big E, our other partner, comes back from med leave, we decided to rotate watches every 3 weeks. So for the past 3 weeks, which have been damn hot, I've at least been out of the sun and working in the cooler parts of the day... until now. 

       Today we're on standby with no time yet fixed for the upcoming cargo sitting on our books... which means it will either be in 48 hours or a case of 'surprise, losers!' and 30 minutes from now. 

        In the meanwhile, we took on stores this morning and I was able to grub up (get groceries) on Monday so we've got what we need to work.  Among the boxes and the like, the company sent us 2 new mooring lines, as UV, wear and age did for several aboard here. We use synthetic lines, which break down into little fibers over time, and shed like a Portuguese girl in the springtime. Stuff gets EVERYWHERE, including in our eyes, which is a cast-iron whore to get out. 

 In the olden days on the oil tanker I worked on, I could consult with the 1st mate, get some eyeball anesthetic drops, and fish out any crap in my eye. These days, if eyewash and a little probing don't do the job, we gotta go ashore, which means a NY clinic or hospital, so you get to spend 8hrs to get seen while 600 illegal aliens are in line before you, getting everything for free. And nobody wants to go to the NY doc-in-the-box and get cholera or smallpox from some foreign mong in the waiting room. 

     But, at any rate, we're deep in the grind here and the days sure all seem the same. 

Happy Birfday America!

 Got a nice view of the NY  fireworks from the HQ tonight, as we were moored on the edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park. 

 For 25 minutes it didn't suck to be in New York. 

 It being a holiday I celebrated with a steak. I have 3 good picanhas in the deep freezer (sirloin cap, or culotte to the French). My metabolism being disordered, sadly it was only 4oz but on the upside it was delicious.  The new reality is that if I wish to see retirement, I should be eating very lightly, so cooked up broccoli and diced a zucchini. 

 And it's been great to have the night off. Back to it tomorrow. Got a pumpoff of some leftover oil, amd then loading more of two different grades.

balances and compromises

 I had a long couple of days but we're off for the night here at the HQ.  

      When nothing goes right, not a single thing beyond that you didn't fall down or crap your pants? No, I guess it wasn't that bad, but there was an unusual aggregation of shit going south this week. 

          The HQ has been modified several times to change how and what it can load and pump off. Originally it was designed to carry two separate grades of oil that didn't need to come in contact with each other- each with it's own pipelines, manifold and  multiple block valves, so that all the tanks *Can* be made common and can be used to carry just one product, or we can subdivide, and where the pipelines meet, we have multiple block valves so there is never less than 2 block valves keeping for example, gasoline and diesel fuel, so if one fails they still can't shake hands. 

 The HQ had a 3rd manifold and pipeline  added so we can carry 3 grades separately.  Loading or emptying the tanks pushes the hull deeper in the water or more shallow, and which tanks we use, and on which side (every tank has a number and the side designation- the bow tanks, called the #1's. have port and starboard sides, divided at the hull's centerline. So filling one and not the other rolls the hull over some. As we move aft, we pass the number 2's, 3's, 4's, etc.  This is important because we usually load two products at a time and often in unequal volumes... and sometimes we load such small volumes that we have to just use one tank, because we need a minimum volume of fuel in the tank in order for the cargo pumps to catch prime. 

  So we have to load our oil with a mind towards list (port and starboard tipping), trim (forward and aft tipping) and hull stress too.

    Tankships are made of steel, which is quite a bit more flexible than you'd think when you're loading tremendous mass on it. Ships MUST be flexible, as the enormous amount of energy the hull is dealing with- gravity, buoyancy, not to mention that the loads aren't static- they change as the hull bobs around, the metal MUST bend a bit to bleed off the forces involved, or it will shatter like a dry stick. So I also gotta load with a mind to not overstress the hull too. It has a limit on how much it wants to bend. If I load, say the aftmost port tank and the forewardmost starboard tank... have you ever snapped a Kitkat bar in half? 

Same reason trees are made to sway in the wind. Good one, God. 

For maximum versatility,  some of our tanks are dedicated to one type of fuel or another. #1's are for ultra low sulfur, #2's, are for low sulfur, 3's are for diesel, etc... each pair of tanks is reserved for one grade of fuel.  This is done because sulfur content is critically important. Plenty of companies have had 7-figure fines for burning the wrong fuel in the wrong place... yeah, the ocean has emissions control schemes. Some countries have more strict regulations than others, and there's a global limit on how high a sulfur content you can burn at all. Sulfur provides lubricity to the parts of the engine that are exposed to the fuel, but it's also a deeply noxious gas in terms of emissions. There's a balancing act there. We don't lump all the like product tanks together because sometimes we load just one product, and we have to distribute that weight evenly for trim, list and stress, too, especially because the other tanks that carry other products will stay empty.  There are plenty of times I will, for example, load tanks towards the midships and fill just one tank on each side- for example, I will fill #2 starboard and #5 port.    Ballast is often used to even out hull stresses, tankers being double hulled, the space between the outer hull and the cargo tanks can be flooded with water to weigh the ship down or even out stress... but the HQ is the right combination of built heavy and built for non-oceangoing service, so we don't need water ballast while bunkering in protected bays, lakes or sounds.  Keeps things simple. 

 Now, next thing is ensuring I can empty the tanks. Each tank has a sump, a low point, where the suction pipe is.  The sumps are located in an aft corner of the tanks, and closest to the centerline. The tanks have a flat bottom, so the higher the difference between bow and stern draft of the hull, the more that the oil flows 'downhill' so the dregs come off faster... but it's black oil, thick stuff, and it clings to surfaces, so it's impossible to get rid of the last little bit. In winter, when the hull is cold, the cold steel makes the oil solidify, so any sort of downhill difference becomes even more important so as not to end up with 'heavy bottoms,' or a deep sludge of solidified fuel.  By end of February, this is almost inevitable to greater or lesser degrees. 

    Now, we have loading programs that help us calculate hull stress and predict trim and list to help us load and discharge safely... It can also be done by hand using a calculator, pen and paper and some charts the builder gave us when the hull was new, but the truth is that the programs are a backstop against experience and understanding. Now, we MUST use all tools in our toolbox to do our job right- that is, if you have two ways of measuring something, two is one and one is none- that is, you are obligated to use every tool appropriate to the situation... and the present HQ is almost an identical hull to my last HQ, so I have 15 years of experience with this hull and its' idiosyncrasies. I know what load plans work well and what doesn't, off the top of my head... but more important, I know that when I am NOT dealing with a gimme of a cargo load, which is about 15-20% of the time,  I know the process and the parameters that keep things bulletproof in terms of safety...There's still an experience factor though, a point where the computer can tell you stress levels on the hull but it can't tell you if you'll be able to do a job if the volumes change and a ship decides they don't want all the fuel they ordered and now you have, say, 400 more tons of fuel than you had expected, causing a port list, when you had loaded based on the presumption that you'd have an even keel and that tank empty when you started pumping off another tank. 

   Just an example.    Just like my post from last week, my poo writing skills make this sound much more interesting than it is. Ever try to cook in a skillet but you went a little light on the oil and you have to tilt the pan to get some more from the edge of the pan?   Same same. 

      

  

Father, the Sleeper Has Awakened!

 

Double standards

 Well, the ride across NY harbor to go pick up tonight's cargo was done with one of our real A-squad tugs. It was a good chance to catch up a bit with people I really like and the captain absolutely greased the docking. Like buttah. 

       We have some tug captains and mates who I like, who range from the best of the best to... not really very good, lol. 

      Today's move was... no notes. Ideal.  When it's someone who's not a good boathandler, but whom I genuinely like at the wheel and they've absolutely fucked the dog on a job, well, we laugh about it and wait. 

    When it's someone I don't care for, OTOH, I am just with child, waiting to be displeased, lol, even if they're slicker'n goose shit and a pro, I'll give respect readily but grudgingly. If they're hsving a bad day, though, I'll admit to being on stamdby ready with foul language and a show of patience... you know, like an asshole. 

 If it weren't for double standards, after all, I'd have no standards at all. 

Ladies and Gents, just so you know, I'm packin.'

 Well, I'm working nights here on HAWSEPIPER's Afloat Global HQ/ Center for Involuntary Abstinence. Has anything new been going on in the world? 

Crazy days. 

 I was unhappy that while I was at home the first week, we had a completely scratch crew aboard- I did a good handover, taking the time to walk through with the ride over crew, go over the books and my copious notes on what they needed to know. 

    I mean, nobody drives the car like the owner, of course some things aren't going to go smoothly, and I assume there'd be a learning curve and some sequelae I'd deal with on coming back to work, but we're professionals, sorta, and the senior of the fill-in guys is no spring chicken, and jumps around a lot working over on his time off. Guy would know a few things about a few things, and did. But not everything, and of course he's got no vessel-specific experience, which is a very valuable thing. No matter, he arrived behind the 8 ball at some level, which is what happens on your first time on a new vessel. You do your best and your past experience gets you through. I knew the guy wasn't going to  sink my HQ. Still, one of my biggest concerns was that no matter how experienced a tankerman is, many guys lack the experience and patience to properly 'run in' a new deepwell cargo pump, at least to what my standard (and that of the guys who taught me) is. 

 So we have 3 different cargo pumps on the HQ, segregated within 3 separate piping systems so that we can carry 3 different grades of noncompatible fuel at the same time without the need to flush and wash the tanks and piping when we change products. specific tanks on board ONLY carry specific types of fuel. 

For our cargo pumps, essentially we have large diesel engines mounted on a platform, with a transmission and reduction gear bolted to it, that is connected by a 6' stub shaft to a right-angle drive, which is bolted to the top of a pump shaft that runs deep in the tanks. 

  I'm not showing you pictures of my setup, because I didn't ask my employer if I could. It's a respect thing, even though they'd probably be cool with it. 

Similar to this, just much bigger. 

The pump shaft is a steel cylinder that runs from deck level to the bottom of the cargo tank piping. The piping sits about 2 1/2 feet above the bottom of the tanks and runs through all the tanks with t-connections to sumps in the individual tanks- We have two pipelines that run fore and aft down the whole hull, and each branches to each tank, and one set of tanks midships that have their own pump sitting on deck above them.  At the base of the pump shaft is a 3-stage impeller that forces oil upwards, where it hits the top of the pump shaft and exits into the above-deck pipelines. 

close enough. This actually shows a mechanically-sealed pump, whereas I have a stuffing-box seal, seen below.

     The shaft seal at the top of the pump shaft is a packing gland, AKA a stuffing box.  I work with diesel and heavy fuel oil, which thankfully have not-so-explosive vapors compared to gasoline or naptha or other nastiness.  Those fuels use mechanical shaft seals with similar pump setups. very different animal. 

The packing is fine-woven teflon-impregnated synthetic material (used to be greased cotton), cut into ring shapes, and compressed by a bronze collar down to the bottom of the stuffing box by bolts. The tighter you compress the packing down, the more it expands outward.  This generates heat by friction. Now, working with oil, heat is bad when there is a lot of it, of course. My big concern is that not all tankermen have experience in running-in or repacking worn out packing in a stuffing box. Many just call and ask for an engineer to take care of it.  On the HQ we only get an engineer on-scene if we make a phone call, and being handy guys, can do many tasks ourselves (which used to be required), and like many old-school tankermen, we've all fucked around with stuffing boxes much much more than we'd like... but we weren't there. The riding-over guys were there. 

    Now, 'running in' a stuffing box isn't rocket science. When the pump is first used (and not run dry, actually pumping fluid), at low pressure you have the collar that pushes down the packing set fairly loose, and wait for the fluid to work it's way up through the packing material as pressure rises inside the pump. when it starts dripping (if it starts dripping. It might not until the pressure gets higher), you tighten down on the bolts that force the collar deeper to slow the seep, 1/8 or 1/4 turn at a time on the nuts. When the seep slows, you sit back and wait. After a few minutes, as friction builds, the packing material now has oil soaking in it too, and the oil is getting hot, along with the teflon-impregnated fibers and the heat will transfer to the stuffing box and shaft too. After a few minutes it will start to smoke a bit, at which point you shut down the pump, and let it cool for 20 or so minutes. 

     Now, you want the collar that compresses the packing to be made of bronze, because it's more ductile and wears easier than steel. Going back and forth tightening and loosening the nuts that force the collar down  isn't' a precise process and the collar is fitted closely to the drive shaft. It WILL rub against the shaft at some point, and being made of bronze, the bronze will heat up and start to wear away a bit (and there being oil seeping out, will smoke too. It will melt if you let the heat build, but in my experience it's not unusual to see some fine powdered bronze around the collar after it's worn in. 

  The takeaway here is that the heat has to be managed, and it's necessary. I WANT to see the heat build, as everything wears in. I'm hanging out with an infrared thermometer or a Mark 1 Index Finger, and when it gets hot and smokes or just starts feeling hot hot, the pump is stopped and it's time to let it cool. 

     When the pump is stopped, the oil in the shaft falls down to the same height as the oil in the cargo tanks, and the heat dissapates rapidly, as the heat was limited to a very small area. Before the heat dissapates, though, the friction actually bakes the shaft packing material, hardening it at its' surfaces, and making it less permeable. After the whole works cools to the point that it's merely warm to the touch, the pump can be restarted, and the  oil will usually seep at a much lower rate or not at all... if it still seeps at a high rate, the nuts on the collar can be tightened down a bit more, and then if all is well, I watch the heat again. Ideally, the heat will not rise to anywhere near what it did the first time. If it does, the pump must be shut down again and the box allowed to cool, rinse and repeat until satisfied. 

       Now, that was a lot of typing to describe, badly, a VERY simple process...which the fill-in-guys emphatically didn't do. They didn't blow up my barge, thankfully, the system is more retard-proof than that, but the fill-in guys sure  made a mess, which they should have known how to avoid. Without airing laindry publicly, knowing what I know about the people involved, I guess I shouldn't be surprised... but in a stroke of good luck, my partner B arrived a week before I came back to work, and found that the engineers had been called to unfuck things and the fill-in guys tidied up halfassedly at least... and B is a guy who abhors disorder. I arrived to find everything suspiciously as good as new, which is odd in a not-so-clean process, and got the 411, and all is well without my having had to do squat. Which I like very much. 

   Anyhow, that took way longer to write about than the download I got from B over what happened. 

"What happened here?" 

"That shithead _________ guy fucked up and killed the packing on the port pump.. He had the engineers unfuck it 'n repacked 'afore I got here." 

"Well I told the guy the pump ain't been run-in yet, before I went home. How bad was it?"

"Bad enough."

"Damn."

"Damn." 

We're coming up on 15 years of working together, B and I. We don't have to talk much to understand each other on multiple levels. Benefits of working with a good guy for a long time. 

Big Box Race Relations and other deep things.

'Tis the day before crew change and so I have arrived to NY and as always it's a gray, foggy, shitty day. Appropriate. I feel... funereal.   Had a great 2 weeks and other than still having a second asshole on the back of my hand courtesy of the cancer fairy and my dermatologist, it was a good 2 weeks. Restful. 

Tomorrow early I retun to the HQ to see how bad the fill-in-crew fucked it up. I heard bad things. 

 But that isn't why I am writing. 

 So I changed my big box store membership from Cosco to BJ's about 5 years ago. Both have stores in Brooklyn, where sadly the HQ is homeported.

 Cosco has more of what I want and is much closer to the office and lay beths... but Cosco Brooklyn is a hell on earth.  Overrun by ultrarude elderly asians, the women especially, as they love to stare at you and yell when you're, God Forbid, eyeing the same selections as them. Waiting politely is not a thing.  To be fair, to a lesser extent the Jewish grandmothers also can be a handful, and they shop in groups, taking great joy in harassing the register clerks and causing delays. 

   BJ's while not as matched to my interest, is further out, close to JFK Airport, and going there means stacking up butts-to-nuts with surly and kinda rude assorted Slavs who also don't jive with waiting politely but do so in a more passive-aggressive manner than the Wrinkled Yellow Menace, and who yell a whole lot less, sharing the Use-Your-Indoor-Voice values I enjoy. 

 Today something was off at the BJ's. Not one shopping cart to be found in the parking garage... and an unusual number of very short very dried up-looking ladies loading things into minivans while slightly less short old men smoked and made gestures and pointed at where the old ladies were to put their bulky shit in the minivan, all without helping.  

 Asia has invaded my Bohunk BJ's. Inside?  Thunderdome Rules. 

 Well, I've been here before. My Cosco days taught me a lot. Male eye contact. Do not slow down and try never to let the cart roll to a full stop or gridlock happens and 5 old prunes will start throwing gang signs and caterwauling a mile a minute in foreign, while staring out from under little hats with unusually long brims.