This past week we have seen a second team from our church in Edinburgh here on board.
First we had Nigel and Lindsay arrive with Nigel's parents Maurice and Maureen. They came on Sunday and were straight into the work Monday morning.
Lindsay discovered the delights of the angle grinder as she prepared the steel bulkheads for painting.
Maureen has helped out all week in the laundry where later in the week she was joined by Ali Dyer.
For most of the week, Nigel and his dad worked together on a challenging job on a cabin that will be a dormatory for teams coming to the ship. Nigel also got to make losts of sparks
On Wednesday, Heather and I headed off to Lubeck airport to surprise the Dyer family who were expecting to have to get a bus to Kiel. For Colin it was a return trip but for Ali and Emma it was the first time seeing the ship.
Emma was happy to help out wherever she was needed onboard.
On Friday, I joined Nigel and Colin in doing one of the worst jobs onboard. Cleaning out the heavy oil fuel tank which is located below the generator room. In order to prepare for welding work that has to be done for the new generator, the whole tank has to be thoroughly cleaned of the thick sludge that coats all the compartments. The tank is made up of about 60 small boxes - about 1m high, 1 m wide and 1.5m long. Each compartment has holes that you climb through to get into the tank.
So once we were fully kitted out, we climbed down through the tiny hole into the darkness with our headlamps, buckets and scrapers.
Once in the tank, you loose all sense of time. You can't stand up, scratch your noise or even get out until someone bangs on the side with a hammer to tell you it's lunch time. There are no tea breaks or toilet breaks down the tank.
In the words of Colin Dyer " needle gunning is for wimps, this is real mans work!"
He was also quoted as saying " you go into the tank a boy and come out a man." Which is a bit tough on all the girls who have been down.
Let the pictures speak for themselves - this was the toughest day I've had yet on the ship. But we actually got a certificate of achievement at the end of the day, so it was all worthwhile.
It has been great having friends onboard again this week and seeing them contribute to getting this ship ready to sail.
