Monday, May 23, 2016

Sailors and ironworkers know about this

Needle gun season is in high gear! We're already making inroads on killing off last years' rust. Ah, metal chips in the eye, black snot, and the energizing feeling of grit, paint chips and dirt between one's butt cheeks as you dream of the shower at the end of the watch, capped off by NO FUCKING CHANCE whatsoever that anyone  within 500 feet will be resting or able to hear anything.





10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dry ice blasting works better.

Exile1981

jon spencer said...

Way back when (74-76) been known to wrap a rag around the handle of a needle gun, lay the gun in the bilges, then put a wrench on the spaces closed hatch wheel and take a nap right next to the gun.
Anybody that wanted you had to spin the wheel and the wrench would fall and hit the deck waking one up.
6 and 6 watches plus stuff for days on end will make you do about anything for a little sleep.

Paul, Dammit! said...

Hahahahaha, we were DEEP under the bull gear and turbines of a steam ship, in the double bottoms of an engine room, this was 2001, I think. We got absolutely shitfaced at a titty bar in Houston the night before, crawled into the double bottoms at 0700ish, the next day, horrifically hung over, 75 feet from the nearest manhole, and crawled 15-20 subdivisions down, through the lightening holes of 4x5 baffles, wrapped rags around the triggers of the needle guns, threw them in the next baffle, and slept. I woke up at 1800, got everyone out. It was too far in for anyone to go looking for us. It was the perfect crime!

Anonymous said...

So Paul,

Do you build back up the corroded areas prior to repainting? Just wondering.

Exile1981

John in Philly said...

Standing on the upper level, and a painter working below me begins to scale the deck plate I was standing on. Remember the old football games with the vibrating metal table and the little guys that moved around? I know how those little guys felt.

Comrade Misfit said...

Anon 1500, yeah, and dry ice is really easy to get in the middle of the ocean. Plus, if you're using it in an interior compartment, then there's more safety concerns.

Real fun is standing two-section watches, getting off the seven-hour long midshitter and then trying to get some sleep while some guy is using a needle gun in the next space. But if you're tired enough and you've got ear-plugs, it won't even matter.

Paul, Dammit! said...

No, we didn't do cosmetic artistry. Just needle gunned, swept up, primed and painted in the double bottoms. On deck, we'd buff with a grinder before coating with ospho, sometimes, then painting a couple of coats of self-priming paint.

JayNola said...

Unless the needle gun goes through the plate you just slap paint on it. And remember, "runs don't rust", but they will piss off a certain percentage of captains.

Anonymous said...

The reason I asked is for on shore pressure tanks after corrosion removal by regulation we have to weld build the base metal up back to above code required thickness. Hence why dry ice vs abbrasive sand blasting is prefered as it removes no parent metal. Also we tend not to use needle scalers because of the issues with local work hardening.

Exile1981

Jill said...

oh yeah, an AB's job is never done! There is ALWAYS plenty of chipping/painting to do.