Life at sea

The engineroom
My first trip on Atlantic Companion was in the summer 2001, as engineer cadet. When I first saw the engineroom I thought it was really big (I still do) and that I would never be able to find my way around. Today I still keep finding things I haven't seen before...
Companion has a two-stroke crosshead diesel engine as main engine, a Burmeister & Wain. The cylinderdiameter is 900 mm and the stroke is 2180 mm. We run the engine mainly on heavy fuel oil and on heavy load the consumption is almost 100 tons/day.
The diesel generators are four Wärtsilä Vasa, equipped with NEBB generators.
We are six persons in the engine crew; chief engineer, first engineer, two 2nd engineers, fitter and motorman. We often have an engine cadet as well.
As I have mentioned before, the engine department is responsible for lots of thing on the vessel. The diesel engines are just a small part of our job, there are lots of other equipment, both in the engineroom and outside. A big part is the electric systems. After 22 years on the North Atlantic, lots of cables, lights and connection boxes are damaged and/or full of water. We have changed most of the electric equipment on deck, but there are still lots of work with it. Another big part is the hydraulic systems. On a RORO-vessel there are lots of them, since we have ramps, bulkhead doors and fan dampers, all of them hydraulic operated. There are also hydraulic systems for valves, mooring systems, the container cellguides and cargo hatches. Apart from this we also have the accomodation - sewage systems... Not my personal favourite, but it has to be done as well, whenever there is a problem.
All of us in the engine crew are working daytime, we start at 8 in the morning (except the fitter who starts at 7) and work until 4.30 in the afternoon. From 4.30 until 8 the engineroom is unmanned, and one of the engineers are on duty during the night. Being on duty, you don't have to be in the engineroom, we have pagers connected to the engine alarm, as well as alarm boxes placed in the accomodation.

posted by Suss @ 11:10 AM