1. Kanangra Restoration Committee (KRC)

The KRC met aboard Kanangra on Thursday 5th July 2007. It was great to see a large number of interested members / volunteers turn up to lend their support to the project.
The minutes for this meeting will be distributed shortly.
The main item to come out of the meeting was the need to start putting together a vessel utilisation plan from which can be drawn up a Master plan for restoration.

There will be a meeting aboard Kanangra on Saturday 1st September at 1000hrs to put in place a structure by which the restoration of the vessel can continue. At this meeting the Terms of Reference for the KRC as approved by the SHF Board will be presented to the volunteers, and then interested members will be asked to nominate for positions on the new KRC. Once formed, the new KRC will have a short planning meeting to discuss where to go from here & begin to put together a Vessel Utilisation Plan.

So, if you are interested in the future of the Kanangra project, come along and have your say.

2. OH&S

• Tim has reviewed vessel voids, and organised construction of a mesh cover for the No 2 fwd void (enables air to circulate), and adjustment to access ladder for safety compliance. Thanks to Tim and Phil.
• A number of items raised by the Safety Committee were addressed, eg removal of paint and other flammable materials on the vessel, fire extinguishers replaced in their set positions, odd materials "dumped" from the Waratah refurbishment relocated and stacked in an orderly fashion thus clearing the required access ways.
• General clean up of Kanangra workshop and Ladies Lounge - bench tops, disused materials, rubbish, etc. Tim Drinkwater to consider matter of Waratah items stored on Kanangra.

3. HULL

Monitoring of the hull, water levels, and pumping equipment continues on a regular basis. There is no evidence of sea water ingress at this time. The recommendation laid down from the May 2006 KRC meeting that an in water survey be carried out no later than the end of 2007 is still current.

• With thanks to our reinvigorated engineering team, & especially Nigel Hobbs, the 110V DC ships general service pump has been overhauled & is ready to operate once the electrics have been hooked back up.
• Automatic Bilge pumps have been checked, and base supports welded to pumps in 2 voids to ensure pumps remain in an upright position. Thanks to Tim and Phil at Rozelle for their assistance.

4. DECK TEAM REPORT - Michael Brock

For’d wheelhouse

• Still awaiting replacement of necessary wooden supports

Aft wheelhouse

• Replacement of outer steps - continuing
• Plywood panels installed, and inter-panel strips refitted. All undercoated.

Interior – Upper Level

• Restoration work temporarily suspended. Area now being used for selected social functions, eg Fleet Hospitality Group get-together, Certificate presentation for Fleet courses etc.

Interior - Main deck Midships

• Continued paint scraping of deckead above the old engine viewing area.
• Continued scraping of paint on port side “cavity” area between stairwells.
• Protective rails and panelling around old engine viewing area has been removed. This was originally fitted during the days when Kanangra was open for inspection in Cockle Bay & in use as the SHF office to give visitors a birds eye look at the engine room. The engine room maintenance hatches have hence been put back in place.

Exterior

• Future exterior work to be considered over the next few months.

5. ENGINEERING

Our engineering team is moving from strength to strength. We would like to officially welcome Nigel Hobbs & Allan Pashby to Kanangra’s engineering team. Both Nigel & Allan have been sea going engineers, and bring a wealth of knowledge & experience to the engineering team. John Marsden is very pleased to have them aboard, and is looking forward to his own imminent retirement which will allow him to get down to Kanangra on a regular basis. So we now have 3 keen and enthusiastic engineers ready to bring the old girl back to life.

The following is a report from Nigel on the state of play in Kanangra’s engine room:

Main Engine:

• Cylinder heads loose with fuel injectors removed.
• No8 head removed and piston hung up.
• Cylinder lubricators removed.
• Propeller shafts fwd, aft disconnected.
• The engine is very stiff to bar over.
• Any access door left off was put back in place.

Aux Air Compressor:

• This machine has been stripped down. (All the parts have been collected and placed at the compressor).

General Service Pump:

• This machine was stripped down, but now has been refurbished, and is ready to be tested.
• The bilge pipeline system to this pump was traced and defects noted. The aft strainer box was cleaned, ready for testing.
• The electricians are wiring in a separate 110VDC cable to run the pump.
• To test the pump, the ME FW header tank will be used to prime the pump, but the interior of the tank is badly scaled (by treatment chemicals and rust). Descaling, cleaning and rust converting of the tank is in progress.

General:

• There are some bad rain leaks.
• No3 Generator heat exchanger has been refurbished (by others) and needs reinstalling.
• All three generators turn freely.

I would like to get the ME cylinder lube system working and pump some clean engine oil into the engine, then proceed onto the manual ME LO priming system working which would hopefully free up the barring over of the engine.

6. ELECTRICS

David Logie & Graeme Regan have also been busy in the electrical department:

• New interior lighting has been fitted to the Upper Deck interior on both sides of the vessel.
• The main 240V switchboard in the Engine Room is now RCD protected.
• Planning is underway for the fitting of lighting to the main deck midships section.
• The 110V transformer under the stairs in the crew mess has been temporarily disconnected.
• A review of Void space lighting is underway.

7. VOLUNTEERS

Our volunteers are moving from strength to strength. One of our short term challenges is to keep everyone busy with our current limited resources. The KRC will be set to identify short term priority work over the next few months.

IN GENERAL..........

A reminder to all volunteers that OH&S needs to be given your full attention at all times. Prior to initially commencing work as a Kanangra volunteer you need to go through an induction for the vessel. If you haven't been through the induction then please contact Tim Drinkwater, Col Tooher, Michael Brock or myself ASAP.

Anyone wishing to get involved in the project please contact me at any time. If we all continue to plug away, it is not a matter of 'if, but 'when' we will see Kanangra cruising on magnificent Sydney harbour once again.

Stay Tuned!

Brett Smith - Ship’s Executive :MV KANANGRA

Below are some photos of work carried out during the July period:

Safety railing and panelling removed from engine viewing cavity and deck hatches replaced - view aft from Engineer's control platform.	Aft wheelhouse undercoated and joining strips replaced.
Reassembled vessel bilge pump - thanks to Tim and Nigel.	Cover mesh installed on No. 2 fwd void to allow circulation - Ladies Lounge.
Main Deck - companionway to Ladies Toilets - awaiting restoration.
Gentlemen's Saloon - cleanup to allow access to voids.	Ray scraping Deck Head - Main Deck midships.
No 1 void bilge pump - maintains attitude on welded supports.	Some of the attendees at Restoration Committee Meeting.
Extended lighting - upper deck - stbd side.	Col Tooher displaying new larger lights to be used in specific areas on Kanangra - note other installed lighting on upper deck behind Col (smaller unit).