Disaster on the ship - flooding

The ship is currently in dry dock so that the holes in the steel can be repaired.

It's safe there - I thought. On Thursday morning, I received the disaster message by text message from the boat builder Karl:

There was high water during the night. The ship was flooded. We've been pumping for hours, now the water is slowly receding, but we're full up to the front :-( Back to work now. Sorry for the bad news.

There has NEVER been a flood [of this magnitude] at the shipyard! The engine room and seminar room were flooded. 

I just thought: high water at the shipyard...that doesn't really exist...and could hardly believe it. Then Karl's mobile phone fell into the water (not that one too!), so it took a while before I found out more. On Saturday morning I met with Karl and got a more detailed picture of the situation:

During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, there was high water in Hamburg, which also flooded the fish market, according to the Newspapers reported. I'm still not sure why the shipyard was hit so hard. They usually had a maximum flood level of 1.5 metres. This time it was 3.50 metres! The harbour authority had predicted a flood of 1 m in its storm warning.

We were in the process of welding the holes. The water then came into the ship through the open holes and flooded the seminar room and the engine room. The water reached 1 cm below the threshold to the next room - 1 cm higher and all the work of the last few months (derusting, insulating, laying the floor) would have been in vain...we would have had to tear everything out and redo it.

The damage

• The tanks were flooded and burst due to the pressure
• The gearbox and the engine were submerged, the gearbox completely and the engine 1/4 under water.
• Both rooms are covered in rust and dirt.
• The whole ship is damp and wet
• There is still water in the intermediate struts on the floor, which urgently needs to be removed before the next frost.

Necessary repairs:

• The tanks have to be cleaned (horrible work because the entrances are very narrow)
• The tanks need to be repaired
• The engine and gearbox must be removed and overhauled
• The ship must be blown dry.

We can't put a figure on the damage yet. We hope that it will remain in the four-figure range (this is rather unlikely, especially as the fuel tanks are affected). Karl actually wanted to sell the engine...I hope it's still worth something. I've reported the damage to the insurance company. I hope that they will cover it.

What is terrible

• It all costs time and unnecessary money (longer stay at the shipyard) and effort. We didn't really need that.
• Things have been destroyed (the tanks) that are expensive to replace.
• The beautiful ship is now full of Elbe muck.

What I am grateful for

• That the water stopped a centimetre from the threshold to the next room.
• That the ship was not torn from its moorings and drifted away like other ships at the shipyard - then it would certainly have capsized and possibly sunk and the damage would have been far greater.
• That we got a live demo of where the ship still has weak points, but also where it holds up well!
• That Karl, who was naturally affected by this („when I saw it, I almost cried“), is now doing everything necessary to minimise the damage.

What we do now

• The first thing Karl will do tomorrow is buy two dry blowers so that the boat is dry before the next frost. They cost around 600 euros :-(
• I have informed the insurance company. We're not allowed to repair anything until the surveyor has arrived. Then we'll do it as soon as we can.
• I will be in Hamburg on Friday and Saturday to lend a hand (more helpers are very welcome!)
• Thank God for saving us from even worse things and ask him to make something good out of this catastrophe - for me and the project and also for Karl.

Oh yes...Karl Kinsky is also a musician and is currently taking part in a competition - if he wins, he can perform with Eric Clapton at Covent Garden, New York. If you want to encourage him, give him your voice, play his songs, make comments. You can on the page of Ernie Ball do. Thank you!