Engine Dept Daywork at Sea

[lazygenius]

Excuse my ignorance on this matter, but im going to assume that there isn't going to be breakdowns on the engine and auxilary equipment everyday when at sea, so my question is : What does the engine depts daywork routine usualy consist of? Obivioulsy there is going to be routine maintance but is there enough of this to be doing every day?

[The H]

Re: Engine Dept Daywork at Sea

Put simply.. yes

[lazygenius]

Re: Engine Dept Daywork at Sea

hmmm really? How often can you strip things down before it becomes unnecessary and just something to fill in time.

[Chiefy]

Re: Engine Dept Daywork at Sea

hmmm really? How often can you strip things down before it becomes unnecessary and just something to fill in time.

ermmmm lots?

edited post to follow after breakfast when you will be bored silly wiht an answer

[lazygenius]

Re: Engine Dept Daywork at Sea

haha ok I'll look forward to it, im very curious !

[Chiefy]

Re: Engine Dept Daywork at Sea

Right what was the question? Oh yes what do engineers do........sooooo are we sitting comfortabley? Got a brew beer / cider in hand (I have one of the above!)

Lets start with a disclaimer or two, all spelling mistakes are mine cos I cant spell, deal with it, this is written from a chiefs point of view serving on big box boats, cruises and tankers may be similar but different but you should get a general idea, sex is used in the traditional sense cos othewise I would loose the will to live so is not a slight on anyone etc.

My word is not law....however whats the difference between god and an engineer? God dosent think he's an engineer

Typical engine room team
Chief, Second (or First), Third (or second), Fouth (Junior), Electrician, Cadets, Motorman, Wiper/cleaner/painter.

Right day work.
0800-1700 everyday, smoko at 1000 and 1500 (for 30 mins or so) lunch 1200-1300.
Normal routine is there is one duty engineer on duty 0800-->0800 next day, he is the responsible engineering watch keeper, he takes the logs, does the routine stuff and is first point of call for the deck department should stuff needs to be done, like air on deck, water on deck that way he knows whats going on if an alarm happens (low air pressure for instance). He is also responsible for answering the alarms during the day and taking the remedial steps, or calling for others should it be a bigger problem that he cant cope with. At 1700 the duty engineer knocks off with the rest of the team BUT he is still on duty and will still be the first one to answer any alarms overnight, they will also go and have a walk around the engine room at about 2200 before going to bed for the night making sure there is oil where it ought to be and non where it ought not be, bilges are dry and generally that things will be ok for the night, ie they can get a full nights rest.
If there is a port call comming up or a departure, duty engineer is in charge for that as watch keeper and does the required prep and calls the Chief etc. If it's a late one or an early one (seems to be law that arrival departure will hapen at either a meal time or when sensible people are asleep!!) then some time off will be arranged to suit.

So that's 1 engineers day full taken up, leaves us 2 other bodies (engineers) what on earth do they do?
Traditionally the gear is split into areas of responsability, there are variations but as with all this heres a guide:-
Second...Everything, but mainly Main Engine, environmental compliance, Oily Water Seperator, keeping Chiefy happy / quite.
Third.... generators, safety committee, accident / near miss reporting investigation.
Fourth...Air Compressors, Purifiers, Fuel bunkering, dips, tank heating, doing what he's told by Chiefy
Chief (this one) Air Con, heating, ventilation and fridges, getting in the way, turning up in the wrong place at the wrong time (usually after you break the last "somthing" and there are no spares or you just generally break somthing!)

So you have you responsabilities, as Fourth you got what looks like quite a lot and it can get hectic if the purifiers go into melt down, they need serviceing every 1500 hours, which at the very least is a bowl clean and inspection, they traditionally never make it to this service (unless you get lucky!), so you will deal with the breakdowns too, as I say get bad fuel and this can become a full time sport that eats man power. There are other service point too, so you keep records of the hours and usually chiefy or 2nd will keep an eye on you and make sure you get the work done on time and have enough spares etc. Fourth also looks after the bunker tanks, generally this means chief will tell you the burn order and you make sure there is enough for the day (in the bunker tanks) if near the end of a tank then get the heating on the next tank, strip the empty tank and take "dips" go out and actually measure how much is left in the tank (should be empty), when bunkering you become the chiefs right hand man (person) you go down on the barge and whitness thier soundings, you take our sounding, operate the valves and do a compatabilty test if needed, keep chiefy company. When done, you take the shiops own dips for chiefy who then argues with the supplier about how much they have given us compared to the bill they are presenting, this can take forever, you also make sure the samples are drawn correctly and divided up according to chiefs requirements.

For the thirds all the generators are his, he is the point man, and left to his own devices, they need to make sure there is enough spares and that services are carried out on time, they also deal with any immediate breakdowns etc. Overhaul fuel injectors, and do safety area inspections..meaning the ship is split into areas that are inspected (from a safety [point of view) on a routine basis, HOWEVER that dosent mean only the 3rd can report stuff they see that is wrong or unsafe etc. They also make sure the Permit to Work system is being operated correctly and that the filing system is upto date, they are also the ships safety officer, so will run the committee, carry out investigations into accidents, near misses, unsafe practices etc

Second potters around doing odd jobs and making sure everyone else is ok and doing things correctly. He also does the shopping and write the stores / spares orders into the system for chiefy to aprove (or not).

IF everything is running well and there are no major breakdowns / services to be carried out then there is always the routine maintenance to be done on all the other gear, little leaks to be sorted and fixed, pressure guages to be re-secured hundreds of weeee jooobbbiiiieeeeees General cleaning, tidying and stock taking, sorting out your gear like making sre if the computer says you have 10 widgets size 4 there are 10 in the drawer, if not correct the stock level and place orders for chiefy to aprove or otherwise.

In port is the only time (hopefully) the Main Enigne is stopped, so that when it gets it's routines done, injector changes, piston ring exchanges, Bearing surveys, fuel pump service / exchange, scavenge cleaning, and general looking after.

Traditionally cadets get time off to study though this has in the past been revoked when said cadet is found asleep in there bed at 1500 ;p (box clever is all I am saying on that subject)

There is a lot more to do than you might think! The above isnt a complete list and as I say there will be variations on a theme depending which company you are with, I know cruise ships have some specialist officers so thirds might not be doing the safety bits and bobs, second may not be the enviromental officer, however the engineering will be pretty similar.

Ok you can stretch and yawn now...and wake up

[Beef1992]

Re: Engine Dept Daywork at Sea

so i take it you are very busy when in port . Im a good haggler so arguing with the bunker people shall be easy

[MEJG]

Re: Engine Dept Daywork at Sea

"I asked for 12kl of unleaded and you've given me four star!"

that sort of arguing?

[Beef1992]

Re: Engine Dept Daywork at Sea

good old give it me or ill chin yah will do the trick