TFA: A Very Dirty Job

Each member of the Weatherbird had a specific reason why they were hired with Planktos. I was obviously hired to install a computer infrastructure, but being the IT guy wouldn’t be the only hat I would wear while I was there.

Let me elaborate.

Planktos is just like any other start-up company when it comes to a budget. A purchasing priority needed to be set, and in the beginning, IT was not at the top of the list.

I would end up being recruited on a wide variety of projects that mostly included the needs of a boat that had been in drydock for a while. I knew when signing up with Planktos that their mission was to restore the ecology of the seas, but I didn’t realize the boat herself would turn into a restoration project.

Painting would become the Weatherbird’s primary need.

Now, let me say this right now – I hate to paint. To me, it’s tedious, boring and downright awful. As it would turn out (and just my luck), every damn thing on that boat needed to be painted from the deck to sections of engineering.

One of the many restoration projects in which the Weatherbird needed was the cleaning and painting of the two main water tanks.

These tanks were only accessible through engineering which rested below the decks of the boat. If there was a word to describe the constant temperature of the engine and generator rooms that comprised the engineering deck, hell would be my word of choice.

When working inside these tanks, it was hot and damp like a sauna on steroids. The tanks were the size of a large closet, but divided into sections by steal dividers. There was an opening in the center of these dividers which allowed you to reach each section, but the further away from the entrance you went, the less fresh air you received. Granted, these entrances led to the hot, stuffy air in the engine room, but it was ten times better then the environment of those tanks.

Those surroundings are what I imagine Dante’s sixth circle of hell to be like, minus the heretics. They were nothing more then an oven, courtesy of the mid day sun beating down on the deck above our heads.

I can’t describe how dirty that particular job really was, and it’s a job that Mike Rowe and crew needed to be present at. A Dirty Jobs video would probably give the water tank job the dirty title it deserves, but my blog will have to do for now.

Either way, it’s a job I hope to never do again.

ER