VIC 96 What’s all this about a dent?
Update: 3rd March 2012
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Before
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After
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Please look at the photographs and the video
VIC 96 as she was when originally working in the Medway
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These two photographs show the dent from outside and inside and clearly show the difficult nature of the repair with overlapping (joddled) plates rolled to the curve of the stern and then riveted to special 100° angle frames. The plates and rivet lines will be very difficult to line up with the remaining rivet lines around the stern. Also welding to the lower part of the stern (the counter) and to repair parts of the deck will be difficult. The eagle eyed of you will see other tricky jobs such as repairing the riveted ‘D’ plate around the top edge. A more economical repair would involve just welding the new plates, but we would lose the original look in a very conspicuous part of the ship.
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Video taken from the inshore lifeboat the day we left Maryport in Cumbria on our trip back to Kent. Shows why most people remember the dent!
SO, How did it get there? It was there, covered up with tin, when we acquired her in 2003. We did not know then how it happened but were told by some locals that it occurred when it was part of the Museum of ships at Maryport, others said it was before she arrived there. While entertaining visitors at St Katharine’s in 2010 a chap said his boss would have liked to come to the ship but was embarrassed because he said he was the one who, when a trainee at the Museum, accidentally ran one of the other vessels, a tug, into the stern of the VIC. This explanation sounds very likely, so if you read this, please let us know what happened so we can add another good yarn to our history of the VIC (it won’t cost you a penny). |
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AND
Why did it not get repaired during the work to make her seaworthy in Maryport?
With only 12 Trustees and a few brave extra volunteers and very limited resources (apart from generous help already listed on our website, virtually all of the work has been done by or financed by the Trustees), as the dent did not affect our seaworthiness we had to take the decision to leave this repair until
later.
BUT
What will it cost? We have been given an estimate to repair with rolled plates and welded frames in the region of £20,000 with us to carry out our own riveting if required, so we ought to budget between £20,000 to £30,000 if we wish to rivet and with other associated repairs and to clean and
re coat the antifouling and replace the anodes to the bottom.
CAN YOU HELP TO KEEP US STEAMING?
For more information on the dent, or if you wish to discuss details about making a donation, please contact Julian Swift on 07802 453232 or
email him at [email protected]
Why did it not get repaired during the work to make her seaworthy in Maryport?
With only 12 Trustees and a few brave extra volunteers and very limited resources (apart from generous help already listed on our website, virtually all of the work has been done by or financed by the Trustees), as the dent did not affect our seaworthiness we had to take the decision to leave this repair until
later.
BUT
What will it cost? We have been given an estimate to repair with rolled plates and welded frames in the region of £20,000 with us to carry out our own riveting if required, so we ought to budget between £20,000 to £30,000 if we wish to rivet and with other associated repairs and to clean and
re coat the antifouling and replace the anodes to the bottom.
CAN YOU HELP TO KEEP US STEAMING?
For more information on the dent, or if you wish to discuss details about making a donation, please contact Julian Swift on 07802 453232 or
email him at [email protected]
