Again, another building season is completed on U-1308. It has been a busy 7 months, with almost all the piping completed behind the conning tower/ above deck. There have been the usual problems, the biggest this year happen when the venting pipes for MB and RTO Tanks 2 and 4 were added. This affected all the alignments of the other pipes and the deckworks were forced to redo all the pipes again.
The most significant detail added this years was the exhaust hull valve. The foreman has been researching this for about five years now and it's gone through several revolutions to make it more accurate. The foreman is now very pleased with the latest version and feel externally it’s around 90% accurate to the original German designed. A highlight for the foreman this year was added the accurate internal framing of the saddle tanks, it something he been wanting to do for several years. Next year he wants to start adding all the vents, valves and piping within the saddle tanks.
The dockworker will be taking a rest for the next few months as the foreman has a new job, is moving to a new house and must organise his Ph.D. studies. He will try to visit as much as he can, but it could be quite limited for the next few months.
Wish you all a great summer/ winter, Simon.