The Refit of the Modoc has started
Modoc has come a long way in the last 2 weeks while anchoring outside San Quintin – a small worker’s town in Baja, Mexico. We not only extended our refit crew by 9 Mexican crew members, we also started taking out the big guns (read: exciting power tools) and things are changing at fast pace every day.
In every corner of the boat people are hustling around, grinders are buzzing, welding rods are glowing, saws are hissing… Honestly?! It has been quite a cacophony. Ear muffs and breathing masks are the daily fashion routine.
One of the biggest changes for the refit, is the galley. Before now, we only had a tiny 9 square meter kitchen to cook for a team of up to 20 people – this had to change! First up was cutting out 3×2 meters of solid steal-wall into an unused section of the smoke stack which allows us to almost triple the kitchen space. If you’ve ever handled steal before, you know how heavy it is. We decided to cut it into three pieces – each about 200kg – which we reused for welding closed unwanted doorways to the training room and to the deck.
Speaking of, the deck itself has been under quite a make over the last few days. When starting the conservation missions, the deck will have to be as functional as possible. The big carrying beams on the stern have been cut down. This created much more space and allows for a much more flexible working environment, especially when we’re pulling big fishing nets out of the water. The tiles and concrete have been lifted and the steal chequer deck beneath is being revealed (one slow day of grinding at a time, we’re currently on day 9) – which is much more useful to our working boat than the slippery tiles of bygone days. Access-points to petrol and water tanks emerged, and these might come handy in the future.
Also, the training room is getting custom window frames done. With a carpenter from town our crew quickly made progress on the woodwork and things are starting to look less like a construction site and more like the beauty the Modoc will be soon.
While about 10 people are working on prettying up the joint, our engineers are still slaving away in the engine room. A new hot water system has been installed, and they’re preparing the crane to move it down one whole level.
It is a long journey to make a change in this world. The right gear is essential and takes a lot of thorough preparation. We are expecting our military grade surveillance drone any day now, which will be a big part of the anti-illegal-fishing missions we are preparing the Modoc for.
If you think you (or someone you know) could be part of this dynamic team, send us an email and join us in Mexico! We have about three months of big projects ahead of us and are especially keen to hear from anyone with carpentry, welding, or outstanding cooking skills 😉
Earthrace – over and out.
