18th Annual S.S. Meteor Preservation Project
Work Weekend

Saturday and Sunday April 23 - 24, 2022

The S.S. Meteor Preservation Project is ON ONCE AGAIN!



Sunrise on the S.S. Meteor Whaleback Museum Ship in Superior WI
Photo by Nicole M Lind




Photo of the S.S. Meteor Preservation Project Work Weekend Volunteers

To learn more about the Project Work Weekend, please click on this Link.

S.S. Meteor Event Page

2022 SS Meteor Project Main Tasks List

You can also go to the event page through the "Event Calendar" or click on this link 18th Annual S.S. Meteor Preservation Project

If Interested in joining us for the work weekend, please "Register" for the Project to seal your spot.

By order of the State of Wisconsin, we still need to practice Social Distancing and wear masks

We hope to see you at the Work Weekend!!

ATTENTION

MEMBERS and FRIENDS

of the

S.S. Meteor!

All Hands on Deck!!

This year's Annual S.S. Meteor Preservation Project Work Weekend will again need to be Limited to the Amount of Volunteers.

Because of the Pandemic Restrictions Still in Place, 
Masks, Respirators and Social Distancing
Will Be Required!

Please Register for the 2022 S.S. Meteor Project
Work Weekends ASAP!

 

Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society (GLSPS)
Superior Public Museums (SPM)
Lake Superior Marine Museum Association (LSMMA)

Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association (WUAA)

 

 

We will be Sponsoring the "Seventeenth" Annual S.S. Meteor Preservation Project, Saturday and Sunday, April 23 and 24, 2022.   There other that arrive Thursday and Friday April 21 & 22, 2022. 

Everyone is welcome to join us earlier if they so desire.  Please Note:  The special price at the Barkers Inn for lodging is only secured for Friday and Saturday nights.  Any other days are your responsibility.

This is a very worthy cause and if we don't continue to preserve this one-of-a-kind Whale-back ship, it could be lost forever!

Please join us in preserving one of the only "Whale-back Ships" remaining in the world!

 

 

Please Click on Above Pictures to Enlarge

  

 

S.S. Meteor Project 2021 Photos

 

 

Requirements / Recommendations:

 

 

1.You must be 16 years of age or older. (Unless other arrangements are made)

2.Have your own Medical Insurance.

3.This is a project that requires the ability to do both light and heavy physical work.

4.Please bring any of your own safety equipment such as safety glasses, respirators, masks, knee guards, gloves, coveralls, shoes, boots, hats, and warm clothes. Optional: Hardhat.

5.A liability release form from SPM will need to signed and handed into the staff before anyone can start working on their assigned tasks.

6. Please Note:  Some tools will be provided.  Such as, paint scrapers, brushes, wiping rags, cleaners, and some respirator masks (Limited Quantity).  Please bring your own if you prefer a certain brand and are in good shape.

To speed up the process, please click on the link button to print, read, agree, sign and bring with you to hand into the SPM Staff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2022 Main Tasks List

 

Updated April 18, 2022

 

1. Ramp/Walkway:
   1. Paint to preserve what we replaced.
   2. Repair wood Gate to walkway. (See Dale K) 

       

2. Pigeon / Bird Control:
   1. The Starboard side aft deck is working great to keep the pigeons out.  However, now they have taken up residence in the Foaming machinery area which is under the Pilot house.  May need to fill in areas with foam or mechanical wiring?  (see Dara).
3. Cleaning and Preparation for Season of Tours:  (Office and exhibit areas)
   1. Clean staff office and area.
   2. Clean exhibit areas – sweep, dust, vacuum.
   3. Clean exhibit glass inside and out.
   4. Clean glass on all port holes and other windows
   5. Vacuum all areas that need it. 
   6. Clean up paint drippings as much as possible (always be careful when painting!).
   7. Make all beds and install linens (see Megan about other options with no mattresses available). 
   8. Put out props.
   9. Remove Mini Frig from Office to check and see if it still works and if so, clean it.

    

4. Welding: 
   1. Patch lots of small holes. 
   2. Weld hole shut above entrance door – (See Phil)
   3. Weld small plate in rust hole in ceiling of aft turret.
   4. Start welding in new plates starboard side under aft crew quarters as there is rust starting through the floor.
   5. Starboard side welding and railing – Rusted off round railing on stairway.

       

5. Water Control:
   1. Start from aft deck on down to engine room and aft of engine room.
   2. Patch lots of small holes.
   3. Check all air vents suspected of leaking water into ship.
   4. Re-check water flowing in from prop shaft.  May need to dig out area to weld rust holes to keep water from running into ship.
   5. Cement may need to be removed on the outside of ship to control the water going into the port side forward large doors in forward cargo hold (with wooden walkway to forward turret).

    

6. Previsions access Square Cover on Aft Deck & Smokestack
   1.  Remove and reseal after seized bolts are removed (a trip to Menards may be required). 

       

7. Pressure Washing:
   1. Entire hull – bird poop and other debris.
   2. Pilot house/chart room roof.
   3. Aft deck if we are painting it.
   4. Replace scupper holes on aft deck with new rubber expansion plugs (Menards).

       

8. Bulb and Guard Replacement Around Ship:
   1. Replace all burned out bulbs around the ship museum.  Removing and replacing bulb Guards.  (See Megan Meyer or Dara Fillmore to see how they would like it done).

    

9. Re-do/replace Snow Fence Covering Over Lifeboats:
   1. Remove sun faded and damaged orange snow fencing on both lifeboats.
   2. Clean entire insides (Pressure wash).
   3. Replace both Port and Starboard side lifeboats fencing with orange snow fencing again.  The sun faded them, and birds damaged them.  They both need cleaning and replace fencing to keep birds out until Canvas covers are made. 

       

      Painting:

       

10. Air Vents Aft (Red Inside):
    1. Identify all aft vents painted red that are peeling.  Remove peeling paint, clean out calking and reseal with new calking add red paint to air vent scoops. 
    2. Scrape.
    3. Clean.
    4. Reseal.
    5. Two Vents on both port and starboard side need to be able to function for summertime ventilation. (See Dara Fillmore for further Details). 

     

11. Exhibit Area:
    1. Prepare, prime, and paint all red railings inside ship that are used on tour. Railing paint was damaged by using required sanitation cleaning methods on them.
    2. Large public head/restroom by engine room – base board removal and install some other means of a baseboard. Vinyl?  (There are some extra base board tiles on shelf near the shower room).
    3. Paint exhibit area ceiling on starboard side that hasn’t had primer on it. 
    4. Paint final white coat on ceiling on port side in exhibit area.  (That had primer on it).

     

     

12. Paint Pilot House Roof:
    1. Make sure all welding is done first.
    2. Seal, primer, and paint that area around the whole perimeter of the pilot house roof. 

        

13. 4 Pipes Under Water Tanks - On aft deck that are allowing water to get in the ship.  
    1. Clean. 
    2. Caulked. 
    3. Prime.  
    4. Paint. 

        

14. Pilot House/Chart Room:
    1. Re-assess pilot house/chart room water leakage.  How much has it leaked since the roof was welded?
    2. Re-seal with special roofing sealer.
    3. Paint radar mast – before roof is sealed and painted. 
    4. Repair rotten floor below chart room outside door.
    5. If we are confident that the water has been slowed down or completely eliminated, and the above has been completed, start scraping, cleaning, (including blood on port windows from pigeon) prime and paint the chart room (original green historical color.
    6. Polish all brass in Pilot Room and Engine room.
    7. Paint entire aft deck – This is a task for later Sunday or another weekend during the summer. Further discussion is needed as to when this can be performed. Summer 2022?
    8. Pilot House Starboard door corner and ceiling, paint is peeling and needs scraping, cleaning priming and painting.

        

15. Captain Quarters:
    1. Measure brown cushions in quarters for protective covers.
    2. Clean Captains Quarters of pigeon poop and blood on port holes.  Touch up any areas that need painting.

        

16. Crews Quarters
    1. Galley stove vent hood – scrape, clean, prime and paint entire hood. Also, make sure to scrape paint off the window glass used for lighting.
    2. Mess Hall – clean up rust spots on wall with terry cloth first. If it doesn’t work, then sand, prime and add a coat of white paint. 
    3. Re-hang bulletin board on mess hall wall. (Dale K)
    4. Guest room aft crew’s quarters “Guest Room” (Dean S. Room) – finish, clean, prime and paint.
    5. 12 to 4 room – The nasty sheet of plywood behind bed was removed in 2021.  Now it needs scraping, cleaned, primed and painted around the bed area.
    6. 8 – 12 room will need scraping, cleaning, priming and painting.
    7. Scrape, clean, prime and paint grocery/previsions hatchway after opened and resealed in crew’s quarters hallway.
    8. Clean, scrape peeling paint and paint mess hall floor and hallway leading to it tile red. Possibly officers mess as well.  Make signs and gather rope to seal off the area after painting – Please Note: this will need to be performed later on Sunday!
    9. Chester Drawers in crews’ room on the way down the rear turret needs to have it attached to the wall as it is rocking and could fall over on a tour if bumped.  (See Dara Fillmore). 
    10. 2^nd Cook Room – remount life preserver rack.  Falling down, needs to be re-attached to the ceiling.  Possibly scrape, prime and paint room?  Clean mold off Chester Drawers – (Please use respirators not thin masks for this job)!!!
    11. Scrape. Clean primer and paint ceiling in hallway between aft restroom and galley.
    12. Painting Safety Yellow – Entrance of the Meteor, where there is a possible head hit area, trip areas and any work areas that Megan determines as a safety area.
    13. Clean, prep, primer, and paint single spots on expansion deck.  (Battleship gray).
    14. Paint the forward expansion deck machinery with red paint.  They were not painted red yet.  (See Dara F or Megan M).  

         

17. Food Storage Locker/Shower Room Hallway Area:
    1. Scrape, clean, primer and paint hallway by shower, laundry and large restrooms.
    2. Concrete floor may need to be removed as it is breaking apart and causing a trip hazard.

        

18. Engine Room and Area
    1. Entire Engine room needs the rust streaks and stains touched up by cleaning them with rust removal solution (possible rubbing compound in hard to remove areas) and using terrycloth. Then applying wax after done.   
    2. Make sure all oil is soaked up with oil absorbent pads and dispose of properly. 
    3. Make sure water is drained from bilge with supplied bilge/sump pumps. 
    4. Re-seal cover on vent pipe/post on starboard side mid deck by manual steering pulley mechanism.  It may be causing water to leak in food storage shelving area (red shelves). 
    5. Check both starboard vent (by bench in main engine deck) and port vents for water leakage. The water coming down them may just be condensation. 
    6. A thorough cleaning and vacuuming of the main deck of engine room. 
    7. Please Note: ceiling of upper engine room is forming some surface rust again.  May need touch up for now and repaint again during a future work weekend and after the scaffolding is out back up????
    8. Inspect paint top of metal bench on starboard side in engine room that's gray. to see if it needs another coat?  
    9. Install original barrier behind large main fuse panel to keep small kids/people out from going behind it. (See Megan)
    10. Drill two small holes in oil catch pans (by machines and oil/lube tank with pumps) to drain water that is collecting n them over the winter.
    11. Remove as much debris in lower engine room and crankshaft areas. Seems to be a lot of debris from previous work weekends. 
    12. Polish all brass in engine room.

         

         

19. Food Storage Locker: (By Shower room)
    1. Find where water is coming from and pooling on the floor.  Clean out water, clean floor primer and paint floor, clean primer and paint shelving and other parts in the food room.

     

20. Steering Gear Room:
    1. The sign in the steering room needs to be removed and restored later.  A temporary sign will be installed to the time being.
    2. The steering room will need to be cleaned and possibly repainted.  If there is enough help in 2022, we can start on it.  Otherwise, 2023 might be better.  Unless someone want to make it there only project this year at the work weekend and finish over the summer?  Please let Phil Kerber or Megan Meyer know if interested.

        

21. Entire Rear Turret:
    1. Paint has been scraped but may still need more scraping.  It needs to be painted from the upper deck to the lower deck.

        

22. Main Whistle:
    1. Whistle is not blowing very well again.  Water may be trapped or…...
    2. Air compressor seems to be running all the time and may be leaking somewhere.  Inspection of the compressor and check for leaks.  It was also reported that the compressor was over heating as well.

     

23. Ventilation:
    1. Create better air flow.  Two scoop vents need to be functional on both the port and starboard sides.  See Dara Fill more for the two that are being referred to.

 

 

      24. Misc. Tasks:

1. Media Room Proposed – Has been discussed and plans are being mad to create the room (Theater).
   1. Start cleanup discussion on what will need to be done to create a media room
   2. What artifacts will remain and what needs to be removed. 
   3. A discussion will need to be started as to what is needed for videos.
   4. Proposed videos
   5. SS Meteor Documentary
   6. Whaleback historical videos and presentations
   7. Underwater videos of sunken whaleback ships
   8. Narrated presentation on the 20 years when the SS Meteor Preservation Project started in 2001 by WUAA and continued in 2005 in collaboration with the Superior Public Museums, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society and the many volunteers, which is now celebrating its 16th plus years.

Please Note:  Any cargo holds and other areas that need cleanup, will not take place without SPM Personnel Present!! 

*If you are a leader of a task during the project work weekend and, you were assigned to bring supplies and equipment, please let Phil K or Megan Meyer know who you are and what you were assigned to. 

The large list of tasks continues to grow as the project draws near.

More will be added, please check back later.

Masks/respirators are highly recommended - Although most of the the time you will need to be wearing a safety respirator during the work weekend inside the Meteor while working because of the dust and paint smell.  Please be aware of your environment and if you need to step out for a breath of fresh air, please do so as many times as you need.

 

 

(Saturday: 9:15 AM Project Briefing)!! Please be present for the briefing!! (The briefing will be Outside).

 

 

Breakfast:   You will be on your own.  However, anyone that wants to meet for breakfast at the barkers Inn at 7:00 AM, we will be there.

Lunch: Lunch will be provided by Bellisio's. (Breakfast you will be on your own).

Please Note: If you are staying in any of the campers or boats, please bring your sleeping bag, pillow, and other sleeping accommodations. If you are staying at a marina, the showers are most likely open for use.  Please bring your own towel.

If you prefer to stay in another Hotel, there are a few smaller and inexpensive Hotels in the local area. Please Google “Hotels Superior Wisconsin” Mention you are there for the Whale-back Project. Some hotels will give you a discount.

This year’s Saturday night Get-Together still being determined.  This will be held at the Fairlawn Mansion (Not far from the Meteor).  Please bring your own beverages.

 

 

You can also ask the SPM staff of the Museum for a custom tour of the Whale-back Ship you normally don't see on a regular summer tour!

 

Please confirm your attendance ASAP!

 

Thank you very much for your time.

 

Phil Kerber

meganm@superiorpublicmuseums.org
715-394-5712

Closing Report:


The S.S Meteor Preservation Work Weekend is over and it was another successful project.

Here are some photos that project participants shared.

S.S. Meteor Project 2022 Photos

Because of the rain, we were not able to do any painting or updating outside the ship on Saturday.  Although the one thing great about the pouring rain is that we were able to successfully find over 32 water leaks into the ship thanks to the team of Randy Beebe and Tim Pranke.  

The project seemed to give me the sense of daja vu' where we finished the painting in a room from last year and when we arrived at the room again this year, the paint had fallen off and had to be repainted again.  I had it written on the large formatted lists we hang up it the ship that we painted that room last year!  Or did we?  The evidence shows on the sheet of paper but it wasn't painted.  The team that painted it said they absolutely painted it last year.     

Further research indicated that we in fact painted it.  That means that we probably did not paint it properly or didn't go through the proper procedure of preparation before painting.  The temperature is also a very critical condition I was told.  Being someone that doesn't know a lot about painting I would not know the total procedure but I do at least know that there is more preparation than the actual painting.

That all said we need to stop and back up the truck!  We had to revisit our procedures in the preparation before we paint procedures.  So, the team of Russel Leitz and his Daughter Beth came up with a few super ideas to make sure we are a bit more organized especially when it comes to painting the inside metal walls of the ship.  We needed to actually write a procedure for the volunteers that were painting.  Plus we needed to experiment with different products that would work better to make the paint stick to the metal walls.  The other very important factor is the fact that we need to heat up the walls to a temperature above 50 degrees to have the paint dry properly.  So, they grabbed an extra heater to heat up the room before any primer or paint was added.

Now it seems as if the paint was drying better and would have half of a change to dry and stay on the metal walls for a long time.  However, Russel and his Daughter Beth came up with another idea to use a produce they found to help seal the walls before the primer and paint was applied. They purchased a smaller quart can of it to try it this year and see how it weathers next year when we come back to the project.

Forty two (42) tasks out of the eighty five (85) tasks listed were completed.  GREAT JOB volunteers for making the time sacrifice to join us for the project this year. Because of the rain, many of the outside projects were put on hold.  Therefore the number of tasks completed was only about 1/2 of what we normally complete.

Other projects that were completed was several holes were welded shut by the Welder Craig David, followed by his Wife with cleaner primer and paint to make sure it got painted and no further rust will form.

The list of tasks completed is large and I will post the results soon.

Thank you all so much for joining us for the S.S. Meteor Preservation Project to help preserve the ole whaleback ship Museum.  This ship museum is a very valuable piece of history to preserve and all you volunteers have made a difference in preserving maritime history!  The Superior Public Museums Executive Director, her staff and the City of Superior really appreciate our volunteer  efforts to help prepare the S.S. Meteor each year for the upcoming season of tourism and all that a historical one of a kind whaleback ship has to offer.  

Please check back to this closing report for additional information, photos to view and the final report on the list of tasks we completed along with any tasks that we are asking to help finish during the summer of 2022.

If you are still interested in joining this project every year or have time during the summer months to get involved with any of the painting or other maintenance associated with the S.S. Meteor, please contact Megan Meyer, or Phil Kerber.  Our contact information is above and below or throughout this closing report.

If you have any comment or question please feel free to give us a call or email. 

Have a great summer and hope to see all of you again on the S.S. Meteor Preservation Project in 2023.

Phil Kerber

meganm@superiorpublicmuseums.org
715-394-5712