Baragoola Week Ending 20th November ‘11 In attendance this week: Nick, Lance, Peter, Gary, Glen, Graham, Geoff, Charlie, Ross & Bob Visitors: Three One new member this week and a short week in raising cash – only $10, but no outgoings. We did however receive a donation of a new portable air compressor which was put into service pretty much immediately. Don’t forget that all donations over $2 are tax deductible – why not do what some of our donors have and set up an automatic payment once a week, fortnight or month ? Last week we had outgoings of $0 and we made $90. We are still chasing our target of $63,200 and have already raised $35,826 so please keep those tax deductible donations rolling in! Even more important with our auditors bill (around $1500) due soon – these sorts of things take a huge bite out of our available finances. This time last year we ran a series of very successful charity auctions on eBay raising several thousand dollars for the boat thanks to the generosity of our members. So, a year later we are going to do it again. Can you help with our fundraising efforts by donating items that you no longer need? We will take any item – old furniture, knick knacks, electrical and consumer goods, old computer equipment (especially form the early to mid eighties), books, tapes & DVD’s – in fact anything you’ve got laying around causing clutter and can spare us. Contact [email protected] We are also urgently looking for more volunteers with some specific skills – in particular welders and woodworkers, so if you know of anyone who can help out give them an invite. On Saturday the 12th of December we’ll be at Bunnings Belrose running a sausage sizzle – good chance to drop by and meet some of the crew if you’re on the middle north and buy a sausage sanger to help us out! Special thanks to Mark and Janelle for organising this one and it should raise a goodly amount of money for us especially as it’ll be Christmas shopping time. 3rd of December from midday is our volunteer Christmas part – you do need to let us know if you are coming though so that we can plan food. All volunteers past and present are welcome to come along for this one. This week’s anniversaries (Manly ferry related): 24th November 1958 – Narrabeen II (last purpose built PJ&MSS Co cargo vessel) was wrecked in Victoria 25th November 1958 – Curl Curl arrives in Sydney 25th November 1912 – Balgowlah (4th of the sisters) undergoes sea trials Balgowlah (Baragoola is on the opposite side of the wharf) A busy weekend with a great turnout just passed. Glen was back after three weeks off due to illness and we missed out on Peter H this weekend who (apparently) contracted “Melbourne germs” and was off sick. The new air compressor unpacked and ready to go! As mentioned, the compressor was put to work immediately – the bulwarks on both sides of the vessel in parts getting attacked. Geoff at work with the needlegun A new tender arrived yesterday as well, we now have a fleet of four and the newest is also the smallest (very small!). It also needs repairs and these were commenced yesterday and continued today. Not really sure exactly what we are going to do with it however, it is very small! A slightly smaller restoration job than Baragoola! Some weeks ago work was commenced on the restoration of the forward wheelhouse, this continued this week with Ross stripping out the old wiring preparatory to the rewiring with modern materials and to modern standards. Ross at work in the forward wheelhouse Charlie and Graham pitched in with cleaning duties – Graham did all the windows on the boat (a task somewhat like the painting of the Harbour Bridge) and Charlie cleaned the polished deck downstairs – this seriously needed doing as several months of boots and all had left it looking rather grubby! With Glen back there were a few more photos this week, although not as many as normal – his birthday was a few days ago and he received a new video camera as a gift – there are however LOTS of new videos on our YouTube page..... New member Bob was aboard and was given the grand tour – little does he realise that the first day is the easiest one – next time he’s on board he’ll be worked to the bone! (Just kidding!). Bob is from Coffs Harbour and used to work for the Port Jackson company on their Pittwater boats so he had some useful info from those days to share with us. We look forward to having him aboard again in a few months when next he is in Sydney. With Peter arriving at midday Gary was able to corner him and get into a rather detailed conversation about alternative energy supplies for Baragoola – we are quite seriously looking at other forms for the future and are currently gathering weather data to determine the viability of renewable energy such as wind and solar to supply emergency power for the vessel. The guys also plan on raising the aft flagpole next weekend and Peter took off the struts for it (and the forward one) to prepare for this. Hopefully this time next week our house flag will be up! An opportunity was also taken to run the number one English Electric and at the same time solve an annoying problem that was causing the alarm horn to go off (wretchedly noisy thing too). This was traced to a piece of the kit tripping and is, I believe, now solved. Troubleshooting in the generator flat Although Baragoola’s equipment looks quite complex it is rather elegantly simple, however there is a strictly define process for starting up, operating and shutting down her equipment. Although we have some manuals, much (such as wiring diagrams) is missing and it has been very much a learning experience for our engineering crew to get her equipment operational again. This is compounded by the fact that only three boats on Sydney Harbour had this system – and Baragoola is the last extant example. Goola’s equipment is a microcosm of 1940’s marine technology and an industrial archaeologist would have a field day documenting it. It is inconceivable that this technological gem was very nearly lost forever! It really is a treat to be downstairs when the engines are humming along and it is something that has to be experienced “in the flesh”; videos, words and photos just don’t quite describe it. I really do strongly urge all of our members to come along and experience it firsthand! One of the four British Thomson-Houston propulsion motors Graham chipping floor plates Saturday afternoon saw five of us remaining for dinner before departing – one of the things we do for our volunteers is provide dinner if they wish to stay; thanks to Glen for the preparation of this. Unlike a certain other (nearby) group that charges for dinner we provide it for free – we want to keep our guys well fed and happy! Sunday saw Nick, Charlie, Glen and I back on board. Sundays are the days that usually have the little fiddly things being done about the ship and although a couple of the loading gates were painted and a little extra painting and cleaning was done, this week was to prove rather different with Baragoola coming to the assistance of a yacht. The yachties had been dismasted and Goola’s lifeboat davit was at just the right height to provide a useful piece of equipment to help right matters. Not the usual work undertaken on board! After an hour or so’s work the guys were ready to proceed again – after of course receiving a tour of our (slightly bigger) boat. Many photos and much video was shot and one of the Gardner’s was “demoed” which went down well. Perhaps we can have a new business plan drawn up for Baragoola – yacht repair! Somewhat unusual as Goola is known to have run down at least two yachts in her past life! Next workday is on Saturday the 26th November and there will be crew aboard every day this week so you are welcome to drop down and lend a hand or just come over and have a look at what’s been happening. Call 0405 945 465 or email [email protected] If you are on Facebook you can follow us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Baragoola-Preservation- Association-Incorporated/122851477818947 - we have also launched a fundraiser through this and would appreciate if the link can be shared out to everyone, so far we’ve received several donations that can be tracked back to this. That post is at https://www.facebook.com/ajax/sharer/?s=99&appid=2309869772&p%5B0%5D=122851477818947&p %5B1%5D=302633779749988 We’re also on Twitter as #MVBaragoola – updates are posted fairly regularly. Our main website is now www.baragoola.com.au and if you have Google Talk installed you can chat to us if anyone is online and nearby the computer – add [email protected] as a friend. And, last but not least, we also have a flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/65669741@N08/ That’s it for this week –you can keep up with all the latest on our forums and you can see our old newsletters at http://www.baragoola.com.au Show your support! All items can be ordered by sending an email to [email protected] with the following details: Your name Postal address Size (for clothing) and quantity Your contact phone number All items will be sent with an invoice payable within 30 days.