Translate Blog

Search This Blog

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Boilermaking Secrets - In Antarctica

For all you budding boilermakers, home handymen and women, welders, and anyone else who is curious about what the hell does a boilermaker such as myself do in Antarctica, well here it is. Without going into liquid metal transfer technology(welding) and metal displacement techniques (oxy cutting and basic beating the hell out of metal), there are no secrets to convey. If you want to know how to weld or build stuff, go to a technical college or google it. But,I can tell you that I have the pleasure of repairing excavator buckets, building sleds, fabricating bollards for the wharf, reshaping  bent up fire stairs and rails, fabricating boat lifting bars, pump stands,wood racks,  welding aluminium castings,stainless steel stirring stick for the brewery(most important job to date), handrails, trusses for the westwing, and the list goes on and on. I also drive the Mack Tonka truck(see previous blog on resupply) ,forklifts, front end loaders and my favourite, the skidder and container trailer.  It's a bit of a beast, and although it's designed for hauling out logs in the forest, its a great piece of kit to have down here to haul containers over terrain that is, well, bloody inaccessible to your toyota. Its articulation takes a little to get used to especially when backing a forty foot trailer. Also, no steering wheel. Just a weird little push pull bar to steer. I also help the other trades when their short handed, and as a member of the Casey community, I do kitchen duties, help bottle the beer(another story), drink the beer (another story), and supply a constant amount of eloquent insults to the electricians (which most heavy construction workers will know about) , plumbers and carpenters...! So there you have it, everything you need to know  about boilermaking in Antarctica. A multiskilled job description if I ever heard one...! 

For more boilermaking work in Antarctica see Building a Wharf in Antarctica.

If your looking for an Antarctic Image in Print,Framed Print,Canvas or Acrylic,
go to my online store at Rockin' Horse Photography

1 comment:

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.