We got to check out the Fram’s engine room yesterday and are happy to report all seems to be in order. Deep in the bowels of the ship, it all looked a bit complicated at first but then I found a board with a few dials that looked familiar and I could see we had plenty of fuel for the rest of the journey and that we had enough oil so all well I think. Pictures coming up on Gallery page.
The Chief Engineer who showed us around has been with Fram since the first piece of steel was cut in 2007. He admits being quite attached to her. She is powered by a diesal electric system.
Some Numbers:
Engines: 4 (housed in two separate areas)
Maximum speed: 16.5 knots
Fuel capacity: 500,000 litres
Average fuel consumption: 890 litres / hour
Under normal operating conditions only 2 engines are in use giving a max speed of 13 knots. With all four engaged maximum speed is 16.5 knots. This is very rarely necessary and the cost implications are clear. She runs on light marine oil not unlike the deisel in a car and it costs about 1 Euro a litre. The rate of fuel consumption quoted above converts to about 56 litres per mile!
A back up generator and batteries give emergency capacity in the very unlikely event of all engines being lost. The Fram can be refuelled at sea.
We also learned that during the Force 11 storm some nights ago, the autopilot was unable to maintain course and so the Captain remained on the Bridge throughout the night steering the ship manually.
All you ‘would be’ mechanics out there would love the ‘workshop’. There was any amount of tools to play with including an anvil and brick plate. And it wasn’t just the women on the tour took pictures so they could show people how a workshop could be kept. Spanners, hammers, nuts, bolts, washers, screws, rings and things unknown were all stored in size order, facing the same way (like hangers in a well kept wardrobe) and clearly labelled (in alphabetical order). Some members of The FF found that quite soothing. No chance here of finding the mechanic trawling through rusty old biscuit tins or tuppperware boxes muttering ” I’m sure I had some 6mm washers in here “!
It was an entirely reassuring experience as is the crew drill that is going on as I write.