S.S. Meteor Preservation and Stabilization Project 2011
"Upper Aft Deck of the S.S. Meteor"
The GLSPS, (Great Lakes Shipwreck
Preservation Society), WUAA, (Wisconsin Underwater Archeology
Association), LSMMA, (Lake Superior Maritime Museum Association), and
(SPM), Superior Public Museums, will be Sponsoring the "Seventh" Annual
S.S. Meteor Stabilization and Preservation Project.
Saturday and Sunday April 30 and May 1st, 2011
The last six years the GLSPS put this Project together, we had a great
turn out. We had 52 plus people helping out on this event! The folks
from the Superior's Public Museum's Board of Directors were very
appreciative with the efforts of all the organizations that helped with
this event and to complete another successful Project. Let’s try doing
the same or better this year!
This is a very worthy cause and if we don't attempt to preserve this one-of-a-kind Whale-back ship, it could be lost forever!
Please come join us in preserving one of the only "Whale-back Ships" remaining in the world.
We are looking for a few good men and women to help preserve the S.S. Meteor.
You do not need to be a member of the GLSPS to help on this project.
Please Click on link below for more details and to Register for the project.
A Saturday Night program will be held at the Fire House Museum with a Buffet Dinner.
The presentation this year will be given
by Phil Kerber President of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation
Society and Chairman of the Meteor Preservation Project. He will be
talking about the "Six Year Face Lift of the S.S. Meteor" and the
progress that all the volunteers have made on the Meteor in that time.
It will be exciting. Please come join us, you will not want to miss
it..!!
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S.S. Meteor Preservation and Stabilization Project 2011
Closing Report
April 30 and May 1st 2011
S.S. Meteor Project 2011- Photos
The S.S.
Meteor project was a huge success once again. This year was the seventh
Annual Meteor Project that I've been Chairman. This year we had 52
volunteers and 28 tasks to complete. The weather was a factor with
heavy rain on Saturday and very cold on Sunday.
Tasks Started and Completed:
1. House Keeping - cleaning Museum areas, cleaning the display cabinet
glass, preparing all the bedding for the beds in the crews cabins which
tourist will see on the tour of the ship during the summer months.
2. Power washed outside the ship of debris. Bird and other animal droppings.
3. Cleaned Jacking machine gear and measure to attempt to find another gear around the Great lakes region.
4. Pilot House inside window sill repairs and repaint.
5. Build Railing in front of work shop in front cargo hold.
6. Role up mooring lines and prepare for display in a different area.
7. Remove rust on Main steam engines valve rods and reseal with mineral oil.
8. Start cleaning, scraping old paint and priming rudder gear room.
9. Start cleaning, scraping old paint and priming lower engine room.
10. Paint port hole sills of crews cabins and mess hall on port side of ship.
11. Paint double exit doors on starboard side of ship in Museum Area.
12. Paint small areas in engine room that were omitted from previous years.
13. Weld steel plating under port side cabin areas where water rusted a huge hole though floor.
14. Weld two holes in forward cargo hold where restrooms use to be. The concrete and eight feet of sand was removed and is now a big hole. When it rains, water runs into ship like a leaking water pipe that just broke off.
15. Cleaned rust off Main Steam Engines Valve Rods and retreat with Mineral oil.
16. Paint Ceilings / overheads in two levels of the rear Turret transfer steps.
Fourteen outside Projects were not started because of the weather! I guess we will have a lot of tasks to start and finish next year!
The Saturday Night Program and Dinner was well received this year. We had twenty eight of the fifty two volunteers join us. The presentation was given by Phil Kerber, the GLSPS President and Chairman of the S.S. Meteor Project. His presentation was called, "The Six Year Face Lift of the S.S. Meteor". He first presented a special thanks to the Craig David family that has helped for the last fours years and has traveled up to work on the Meteor more than just the weekend of the Project. They spend an unbelievable amount of time and effort on this project. Almost more than the people planning the project. The GLSPS and SPM presented them with a comp membership and apparel to thank them for their extreme efforts.
Phil Kerber talked about the last six years of change the GLSPS, SPM, LSMMA and WUAA has made. "I have hundreds and hundreds of pictures showing the amazing changes that have took place over the last six years, but only have time for sixty to show you", said Phil.
The volunteers joined in on the talk about the Meteor and reflected on each slide presented. The volunteers also made some great suggestions and comments on what they thought could be done on the Meteor in the future.
Sunday was another productive day despite the cold weather conditions. The wind was howling and it was very cold. Even Craig the welder had to come in and stand in front of the heaters a few more times that day. I never saw him do that during past projects. He must have gotten pretty cold! It kind of like diving in Lake superior water that's 38 to 42 degrees.
It was even colder inside the ship but, it didn't stop the volunteers from completing their tasks.
By 4:00 PM, most of the projects were complete enough to have to quite for the weekend project. They had to wait for all that paint to dry before proceeding to apply another coat of gloss white paint over the primer.
So that concludes another S.S. Meteor Project for the year. There is still a lot of final coat painting that needs to be completed. If you would like to volunteer to paint during the summer, please contact Phil Kerber. His contact information is under the "Contact Us" field on the left side of the website front page.
I would also like to thank all of the volunteers that helped and made this Project another success.
If you were on this year's S.S. Meteor Project and liked it, please come join us again next year. If you or a friend or companion would like to join us, please check back with the GLSPS website from time to time. I'm sure we will be contacting those that have been on the Project and have given us their email address. If you haven't given us your email address and would like to be involved next year, please take a minute to send me your information so that we can contact you before the project next year. Please use my contact information below.
Next years project will be Saturday and Sunday, April 28 - 29, 2012. So mark you computer calendars now and have it remind you well in advance so you don't forget.
Please Note: During the Meteor project we had a lot of publicity. The Minneapolis Star and Tribune reporters came up to interview most of us and gather information for a great story about the volunteer efforts of the Meteor Project.
The Star and Tribune released a story in the MPLS Saturday Paper May 14, 2011, in the variety section. The articles name is "Old Boat is a Whale of a Project". They also edited a small video for people to view . The link to their news article and short video is, http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/121794809.html
Here is the link to the Fox 21 News in Duluth. Fox 21 News Duluth - S.S. Meteor Project 2011 . Please enjoy!
Thank you again to all the volunteers. A special thanks to Sara Blanck from SPM, Counsel Members from the City of Superior WI, Ellen from LSMMA, Russel Leitz from WUAA, Eric from Grandma's Corp for supplying Lunch for the volunteers, and Barkers Island Inn for supplying three free rooms for Saturday night volunteers.
I hope to see you there at the next Meteor Project.
Phil Kerber
GLSPS President
S.S. Meteor Preservation Project Chairman.
pkerber@glsps.org
Please Click Here For More Meteor Pictures