ssMaritime.net
A Vintage Liner Sails into the 21st
Century
MV Doulos
1993 Electrical Project
Having
been in
Photograph
by & © ships photographer, Susanna Burton
Special thanks: This page would have not been possible without the assistance of Stephen Moore who worked on the Doulos as a volunteer on during the “Electrical Project.” Photographs on this page were taken by 1. Stephen Moore, and please note they are © Copyright. 2. By the ships photographer, © Copyright - Susanna Burton. We are most grateful to both Stephen and Susanna for the use these fine photographs!
At the ripe age of 79, it was realised that the Doulos needed significant modifications and urgent repairs. Her owners at first considered scrapping the Doulos and purchasing a suitable second-hand vessel or even building a new ship. It was soon realised that the costs were too great and opted to giving the Doulos a massive refit.
The refit would
cost between 1 and 1.5 million US dollars, which is a great deal of money for a
non-profit organisation. However, with the provision of a massive volunteer
task force from around the world and the help of various generous industries,
the Doulos was saved once again from being scrapped and given a major
"Heart Transplant." OM received the good news that the local harbour
authority of
On
It would be only through the wonderful generosity of many suppliers and the volunteer workers, like electricians, carpenters, plumbers and engineers that this massive project was able to be kept at such a low cost.
The Doulos is welcomed to
Photograph
by & © ships photographer, Susanna Burton
Doulos seen at the repair wharf
Photograph by & © Stephen Moore
Work commenced with the "Electrical Project," removing of some 70 kilometres of old wiring and a hundred plus old DC motors and DC generators. Then, new economical diesel alternator sets were installed along with a main electrical switchboard, which was designed by the Swiss electrical team. Together with new AC motors, a new efficient and superior air-conditioning plant was installed to replace the tired old one, which had been circulating warm air for some time. Another major task was the removal the ancient inefficient oil fired boiler, which is used to generate hot water on board. Its replacement was a waste heat boiler, which receives its heat from the exhaust gasses emanating from the generators. This system provides a superior supply of hot water whilst using energy, which under the old system went straight up and out of the funnel.
Stephen Moore worked mainly in the engine room but spent his lunchtimes wandering around the ship taking the photographs seen on this page, which provides us with a good idea of what was going on. He also took a series of pictures of the ship whilst in dry dock, which are seen at the bottom of the page.
Photographs
With additional notes by Stephen Moore
The main lounge
Photograph by & © Stephen Moore
The Main Lounge was completely rebuilt during the refit with the floor removed, new steel welded in, concrete poured over that and then new flooring added. The walls and ceiling were also completely renewed. In addition, the Lounge received steel ceiling supports during the refit.
The Main Lounge image above shows many cable drums as the wiring was being spliced together there as the room provided the space to do this. We would then haul the cables through to whatever the part of the ship they were to be installed. There were also cable drums on the Port side of Promenade Deck, making the deck a little tricky to traverse. During my time I didn't do much with the cabling but did work on a generator overhaul with an Australian engineer, and generally helped out with muscle where needed and worked with a group of local out of work Africans and scrapped clean the propeller shaft tunnel as well as polished clean the propeller shaft.
Photograph
by & © ships photographer, Susanna Burton
Hauling cables through the ship was hard work and here we see Captain Graeme Bird on the right and Dale Richards on the left, pulling a cable in the Engine Room. Cable movements became for a time one of the most common jobs on the ship, and at times it was a difficult one as it came all the way from the Main Lounge. Below the Captain is seen not working quite as hard, but as always, still smilling!
Photograph by & © Reuben
Goossens
Photograph
by & © ships photographer, Susanna Burton
Here we see “
Photograph by & © Stephen Moore
As the bridge was fully rewired, it had all its
panels removed and later put back over the new wiring. Note that the formwork
holding up the ceiling panels is wooden, just like the ceiling structures throughout
the ship at the time.
Photograph
by & © Stephen Moore
Above and below: The welding shop on board was much like on land, cluttered and a very active area vital to the repair work going on aboard the ship. The welding shop was located on Promenade Deck port and starboard aft.
Photograph
by & © Stephen Moore
Photograph
by & © Stephen Moore
Here we see welding being done at the top of the Engine Room where a new waste heat boiler was being installed sending a shower of sparks down to the area I was standing. Whenever welding happened a fire guard stood close by with a fire extinguisher should anything happen. Safety during the refit was of the very highest of order, as you can well imagine, with so much hot work happening!
Photograph
by & © Stephen Moore
Still in the engine
Room, we see Generator 2, which I (Stephen) helped to overall with Peter, an
Australian Marine Engineer from
An old DC generator is being removed from the ship early in the
refit stage
Photograph
by & © ships photographer, Susanna Burton
Deck images. The image above shows steelwork being renewed up on Boat Deck.
There is also some work being done which may be the radio room receiving new
lower bulkheads. Wooden decking on Boat Deck was in a bad state in certain
places and when removed it was found there were older rotted layers beneath it.
Apparently, the her previous owners, the Italian Linea C (Costa Lines) took the easy road and laid good wood over the bad, rather than
ripping old wood up to lay new wood down. At the time there was a debate
whether
Lunch time out on deck
Photograph by & © Stephen Moore
The shot above shows volunteers out at lunch. Lunch was eaten out on the open decks, or in the bookshop area if it was raining, which was very seldom. More often than not Stephen ate on one of the bridge wings as he enjoyed the view!
We did manage to obtain one photo of Stephen, seen here taking
a short break
He tells me it is the only photo he has of him whilst he was on
board
Photograph © Stephen Moore
Photograph
© Stephen Moore
Above you see one of the fleet of buses that took the
volunteers to and from the ship each day from the Waterfront at
Photograph © Stephen Moore
This image above shows the kind of corrosion there was under floors in various places, such as cabin bathrooms. Here we see corrosion holes going right through the deck. The cabins effected has to be completely stripped, the corroded steel needle gunned (the tool in the foreground.) to clear all corroded metal, and then new steel plating welded into place. The cabin could then be rebuilt, sometimes without its’ former bathroom, thus, it was then back to the future with facilities down the corridor for the rebuilt cabins. The work here was incredibly noisy, as these needle guns were not very quiet to use!
Photograph by & © Stephen Moore
The Captain’s cabin, as seen above, is representative of the many cabins on board that were pulled apart during the refit. Walls had its old cladding removed and replaced with non-combustible materials.
Fibreglass work being carried out in the Dining Room on parts of the lifeboats, the room usually smelled strongly of
polyester resin
Photograph
by & © ships photographer, Susanna Burton
Photograph
by & © Stephen Moore
Here is a photograph of a thanksgiving lunch held in the bookshop area just before we went into dry-dock. It marked the conclusion of most of the rewiring work as well as majority of the onboard steel renewal work, although a great deal of work remained to be done before the Doulos was ready for the sea again!
Photograph
by & © Stephen Moore
Here is a reminder of her Franca C - Linea Costa – days. We used this banner we found to cover the area being used to store parts for the welding shop on Promenade Deck.
Cleaning the
Main Lounge after the steel floor had been replaced. The English Gent in
the middle was my roommate during my stay
Photograph
by & © ships photographer, Susanna Burton
Doulos still
at the repair wharf
Photograph by & © Stephen Moore
I also remember
working on a clean out of the forward hold area which was good fun. The
area was on or below the waterline and there was water constantly entering
through small corrosion holes in the hull plating and each morning the area
needed to be pumped dry. I believe the worn plating was replaced when we went
into dry-dock. However, I left returned home to
This rather weary looking Maltese flag
at her stern would soon be replaced!
Photograph
by & © Stephen Moore
Doulos has
now moved into the Dry-Dock - soon it will be pumped dry
Photograph by & © Stephen Moore
Doulos’ hull is ready for cleaning and repainting
Photograph
by & © Stephen Moore
It is quite obvious that her hull and propeller needs a good
cleaning as it is covered in growth!
I took this
photograph just after we climbed out of the dry-dock
and they started to use the high pressure water hoses to start removing the
marine growth off her hull. It certainly made a big difference. Of course,
then there would be the anti-fouling and corrosion work done and the ship
repainted. She would end up looking like new!
With her hull cleaned and opened up where required further
maintenance work commenced
Photograph
by & © ships photographer, Susanna Burton
Photograph
by & © ships photographer, Susanna Burton
Starting a Fresh and an Invigorated Life at Sea for another 17 years with OM
With all structural
and mechanical work completed MV Doulos finally departed
Many further
improvements took place in 1995, when a new project commenced to equip the
Doulos with a new sprinkler system. Some 900 nozzles and more than 5 kilometre
of piping has been installed. Smoke detectors had
already been fitted to the Doulos at an earlier date. Additional wall panels
were replaced with non-combustible materials, which sadly saw the loss of
several valuable Costa Line murals, such as the blue mural in the aft stair
well up on boat deck. Again later in
Comments from the Chief Engineer in 2008.
During my week on
board the Doulos, including sailing from
The MV Doulos has continued
to sail the globe and serve its original calling to serve and help people in
all the countries where they call, and they do so physically and spiritually.
PS: On
MV Doulos departing
Photograph by Bob Binnell
Go to Chapter 7 - SOLAS via the Index below.
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Keep MV Doulos
Sailing – Give a Gift of Fuel
For
details enter: Give a Gift
of Fuel
MV Doulos Index
Chapters
Introduction A Vintage Liner Sails
into the 21st Century
Chapter One “Hull 176”
– SS Medina – SS Medina -1914 - 1949
Chapter Two From Onions to Passengers – SS Roma 1949 – 1953
Chapter Three A New Beginning – MS Franca C
Chapter Four A New luxury Role – MS Franca C the cruise
ship - 1959, 1970
to 1977
Cabin Plan One - 1959 - 1970
Cabin Plan Two – 1970 – 1977
Chapter Five A New Role for a Grand Old Lady of the Sea
–
MV Doulos
Chapter
Six 1993
Electrical Project - “Heart
Transplant” in
Chapter Seven SOLAS – NEW “Safety Of Life At Sea”
regulations to come in place mid 2010
Chapter Eight Onboard Impressions - My visit
to her in 1999
Chapter Nine Doulos’ Mission
Chapter Ten Doulos Goes High Tech -
2006
Ports Future Ports of Call
Photo Pages Photo Page One
Photo Page Two
NEW - Doulos -
2008
Part One Doulos arrives in
Brisbane –
NEW My voyage to Australia on the SS Roma in 1950 – by Paul Christmann – Aug 2008
Part Five Doulos
at Sea - Page Two
Part Eight Doulos in
Sydney – Aug/Sept 2008 - Including the official opening
& 94th Birthday
Part Nine Doulos in Geelong, Albany & Fremantle – NOW
online
The Doulos
Campaign
Give
a Gift of Fuel
Keep Doulos
Sailing – Give a Gift of Fuel
None of the vital work of Doulos would be able to take place without the fuel needed to keep the ship sailing. Over the last two years, the cost of marine fuel has almost doubled. Each year, Doulos requires 1,400 tonnes of marine fuel to take the ship’s volunteer crew and staff to where they are needed most. Why not give a fuel gift, and help Doulos touch another half a million lives this year! Email GBA Ships for more information on how to make your gift: info@shipsoffice.org.
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Me at
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