Yeah.
When I arrived at the ship this past Saturday, I noticed the she was listing to starboard a little bit more than usual. Most people passing by probably wouldn’t even notice the difference.
A check of the laser set-up we are using as a clinometer on board the ship confirmed the increase. (She was steady at 1.2° to starboard for a long time, then recently up to 1.8°.)
I also measured the tank ullages, which showed changes in the ballast water levels in some of the tanks.
I made a phone call to our naval architect, who said it was time to do some pumping.
Uh oh. My next call was to a friend to provide help and moral support.
While I had managed the pumping system project, helped put it together, and observed other people run it, I had never started it up myself.
“It’s not rocket science,” said our naval architect.
Okay…
You know what? He was right.
It was quite satisfying to see something I worked hard on, functioning well.
We transferred ballast water from starboard tank #4 to port tank #2.
Ballast water in starboard tank #4:
While we were waiting, we constructed a tool to help (short people like me) open and close the overhead discharge line valves.
It took us just over an hour to get her back to 1.0°. Not blazing fast, but the pump did it’s job.
Yes, a satisfying day.
Now we have to figure out what caused the change.
The weekend before last, there was a swell in the harbor:
The old girl was rolling. Could that motion have contributed to the shift between tanks (through holes in the tank bulkheads)?
So do you have to run calculations to work out how many pounds of water need to be shifted or is it a more empirical job – watch the level and stop when it’s back to zero? Good work, either way!
I’m leaving the calculations up to our naval architects!