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| Bow-on shot taken Monday, December 1st, by Rich Ellefson |
Detroit Harbor, Washington Island -
Heavy rain, sleet and high winds from the ENE on Wednesday did little to slow construction on the Madonna, nor did the blizzard that followed, Saturday, Nov. 30 into late Sunday, Dec. 1 that dropped between 12 and 15 inches of wet snow on much of Door County. Shown above in one of several photos taken by Rich Ellefson on his weekly visit to the Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding facility, all bow plates are now tacked in place, awaiting welds to fill gaps and connect the plating.
A view of the Madonna engine room (in the still-inverted position) shows scale of worker in the soon-to-be machinery space. He stands on what appears to be the through-bulkhead section of the port main engine exhaust pipe. This would be the port side of the engine room looking aft, if I have it right.
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| Overhead photo shows substantial car deck overhang, port and starboard, with scaffolding set up that allows welders to begin stitching hull plating together. |
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| If it seems confusing enough interpreting such a photo, real credit goes to shipyard work force who construct the entire hull in the upside-down orientation, with close tolerances using pre-cut plates. Exhaust piping beneath worker shown above runs through aft engine room buklhead and the void space below car deck, eventually exiting the shell plating just forward of the transom. - Dick Purinton |
