[HN Gopher] Repair a ship's hull still in the river in -50@C (2022)
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Repair a ship's hull still in the river in -50@C (2022)
Author : aziaziazi
Score : 209 points
Date : 2026-01-02 13:21 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (eugene.kaspersky.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (eugene.kaspersky.com)
| throwawayffffas wrote:
| The -50 makes it actually easier, because it's you know on top of
| the river instead on in the river at this point.
| boomlinde wrote:
| That's the crux of it; they aren't.
| ZeroConcerns wrote:
| _Interesting_ choice of tourism destination, but quite cool (no
| pun intended...) regardless.
|
| One of the most annoying things about working with anything metal
| at those temperatures, is that your tools will pretty much
| instantly become stuck to whatever it is you're trying to
| manipulate, making a propane burner an indispensable addition to
| your toolbox.
| netsharc wrote:
| Ewan McGregor and his friend Charley Boorman was also in the
| area, 20 odd years ago, when they did a montorbike trip from
| London to New York, "The Long Way Round" (Crossing Europe,
| Mongolia, Russia, Canada and USA): https://youtu.be/6kajsHTy3hA
|
| Man, looking at the map it feels like one of the last wild
| place on earth. I was wondering if this shipyard is on the
| Arctic Coast, but not really. If it were, it'll be relevant in
| the near near future. At the moment it's connected by a river
| to the Arctic Ocean, it's probably booming with business.
| lostlogin wrote:
| > The Long Way Round
|
| It was a neat series, but the start where they whinge about
| not getting free bikes from their brand of choice was so
| incredibly entitled and such a turn off.
| ahf8Aithaex7Nai wrote:
| That's right. I wonder if the decision-makers at KTM
| regretted that afterwards.
|
| Addendum: Considering that the GS has been a bestseller
| ever since. It feels like every other motorcycle enthusiast
| in Germany rides one. It has been the best-selling
| motorcycle almost every year since then. In Italy, many
| also seem to prefer riding GS bikes over
| Guzzi/Ducati/Aprilia.
| kridsdale1 wrote:
| Similar: During pandemic Ewan and Charlie did an electric
| bike ride from Argentina to the US and the support crew
| were in Rivians along with the Rivian CEO or head of
| engineering or something, as an extended QA run before
| full production. It was my introduction to the brand and
| sufficiently impressed me such that I think it's the only
| option I'd look at for an EV.
| chihuahua wrote:
| What I remember from that show is that they plug in the
| Rivian to charge, and 12 hours later the charge level has
| increased by some miniscule amount. At some point they
| have to bring in a gas-powered support truck with a gas-
| powered generator to charge various electric vehicles. If
| anything, it was a commercial against EVs at the time.
|
| It seems that EVs didn't make much sense in the
| environment of that trip (going through all of South
| America, where fast chargers were rare at the time)
| testing22321 wrote:
| Oh yeah. It's very commonly accepted in ADV circles that
| the GS is THE bike of choice because of long way round.
|
| It could, and probably should have been KTM. The GS is
| stupidly big and heavy.
| cpursley wrote:
| I don't think it was entitlement, but enthusiasm about
| brands (hobbyists tend to get that way).
| lostlogin wrote:
| You're probably right. It seems far more likely to be
| left in of they were trying to show brand enthusiasm.
| chihuahua wrote:
| But given that McGregor has millions in the bank, he
| could have bought 3 KTMs and not even noticed the cost.
| Instead, they insisted that they will only ride bikes
| that someone gives them for free. Because the poor
| millionaire Hollywood actor "I was in a Star Wars movie!"
| couldn't possibly pay for his pet project out of his own
| pocket. Oh how unfair, those evil oppressors at KTM!
| hadlock wrote:
| He was coming off the high of being the "star" of the new
| Star Wars movies. He was a main character in the story
| but not The main character. I recall watching these on
| physical DVD via netflix in ~2008 and wondering why he
| seemed (what we now casually call) entitled; I'd been
| watching the series for ~3-4 episodes before it clicked
| with me that he was one of the actors from star wars,
| despite being a long time star wars fan. He was
| definitely entitled, the blow up was centered around KTM
| not being interested in what a Star Wars actor was doing
| and not taking him seriously. I distinctly recall seeing
| him cry, or almost cry on camera.
|
| That said, ignoring that drama, the rest of the series
| was quite good, when they published "The long way Down"
| from Scotland to South Africa I jumped on that and
| watched it as well. Someone else pointed out they did an
| EV thing from Argentina to... Alaska? with Rivian, I
| might go look at that too.
| barney54 wrote:
| And it really want's Ewan that was put out about the KTM
| rejection--he wanted to ride the BMWs, but Charley
| Boorman was pissed. Charley had dreamed of the KTMs for
| years.
| yobbo wrote:
| They offered KTM a 10 hour advertisement series, which
| would go on to become a classic for motorcycling
| enthusiasts worldwide. KTM's response was "eh no you could
| never pull that off, and will make us look bad". It had
| nothing to do with the cost of the bikes.
| metalman wrote:
| no propane burners. propane freezes solid at minus 60deg, and
| you need heaters to get any flow long before it gets that cold,
| to the point that you can set propane out in a bucket, which I
| have some experience with in useing it, to supper cool
| transmission shafts, so that they shrink, and press fit
| bearings slip right on. so yes they have propane, but they use
| it in other, less well known ways.
| mapt wrote:
| Maybe butane?
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| Butane stops vaporizing at -1C (31F), isobutane at about
| -10C (10F). Propane's boiling point is even better, at
| about -40C/-40F, but it self-cools and doesn't develop the
| required pressures to run a torch.
|
| I know this because my otherwise dependable camp stove is a
| 3-season affair. For winter camping, you basically need a
| white gas system (liquid fueled, manually pressurized or
| gravity fed).
|
| I suppose I'd reach for an acetylene torch in a cold
| workshop.
| mapt wrote:
| You're right. I misinterpreted my little butane torch's
| apparent high pressure in relation to my big propane
| torch.
|
| Canned ethane or ethyne ("acetylene") then.
| testing22321 wrote:
| Propane freezes long before -60C.
|
| The recent cold snap in the Yukon had smaller tanks useless
| just past -35c, and bigger ones not doing much past -40c.
|
| We don't take it on winter adventures for that reason.
| febusravenga wrote:
| Interesting observation and I have to relate - today I've
| measured ice thickness with classic stainless caliper - -3
| celsius was enough for it to immediately glue to ice it was
| even barely wet.
|
| Working such temperatures must be real hazard to skin, anything
| metal will glue to it immediately.
| amluto wrote:
| Let the metal cool down to the the temperature of the ice and
| try again. The problem isn't generally that the ice is sticky
| per se; the problem is that the surface of the ice will melt
| if something warm enough touches it and then will freeze
| again and stick.
| aosaigh wrote:
| There is a good YT channel I subscribe to from a person in
| Yakutsk who makes interesting videos on life there:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@KiunB
| giacomoforte wrote:
| I saw a youtube video of a single mother who job it was to cut
| out the ice from underneath the ships to create space to do the
| repairs. Apparently its a very dangerous job because you can
| easily end up frozen to the river if you're not careful. Must be
| the same one mentioned in the article.
|
| youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9P3VaMCho
| mapt wrote:
| I'm reminded of the worker in this bit -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U3g-h1rxQw
|
| Absolutely loves her job. Screams a little bit every time she
| swings the pickaxe below a certain depth though. As one does.
| londons_explore wrote:
| So all these ships are immobilized till summer when the ice
| melts? But winter is the time for repairs etc?
| tessierashpool9 wrote:
| makes sense, doesn't it?
| aziaziazi wrote:
| Unrelated: is there a delay on HN between submission and
| publication? I posted that article a few days ago and the header
| is now "3 hours ago".
| huhkerrf wrote:
| Some postings get a second chance if they're considered
| interesting but didn't get much traction the first time around.
|
| More info: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308
| aziaziazi wrote:
| Thanks! Digging into your link I found the explanation:
|
| > There's one glitch that occasionally confuses people. When
| the software lobs a story, it displays a rolled-back
| timestamp--not the original submission time, but a
| resubmission time relative to other items on the front page.
| If you see a timestamp inconsistency on HN, this is probably
| why. Edit: if this is the kind of detail that interests you,
| see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19774614 for a more
| recent explanation.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11662380
| mothballed wrote:
| HNs system can be hard to figure out. I posted an ~identical
| article to one that hit #1 on top page a few hours before the
| other guy. My own posting only got like 8 votes. I have no idea
| what I did wrong. I think there is some randomness in the
| beginning; if a couple people notice it in the first 15 or 20
| minutes then it stays high enough other people notice it and
| then it snowballs.
|
| If you have a good post though that gets overlooked someone
| will commonly "steal" it and use a slightly different article
| and good chance that one will get traction. Surprised no one
| thought to do that before you got a second chance.
| Brian_K_White wrote:
| There is something slightly with the system if people are
| actually even thinking about posts in terms like this. "The
| other guy stole my spotlight?" Do people somehow make money
| from their HN post stats? I guess somehwere some how some
| people probably do.
|
| I do obvioulsy recognize that at a low level it's fundamental
| human nature to apply those kinds of game/competition
| thoughts to literally everything in life, but still it seems
| like this would be a case where the act of thinking about it
| consciously enough to write it down, is enough to make one
| realize it sounds silly.
| TheCraiggers wrote:
| It seems like human nature that if you attach a number or
| score to something, people are going to try and get the
| most they can.
|
| Which is kinda the point. Nobody wants to lose score, so
| they don't post horrible comments (usually) and they try to
| find the most interesting articles to post. That's good for
| everyone. But it does have the side-effect of people
| complaining that their karma was "stolen".
| mothballed wrote:
| In my case I was glad someone else got it out because it
| was in regards to a civil rights leader being imprisoned.
| I used "steal" in quotes for a reason, but of course, I
| will admit, I am a lowly ape. When I see other ape get
| huge points for same action I wonder what I did wrong,
| even though I happy for other ape, the best simple word I
| can come up for it is "steal" as lowly ape brain
| understand and convey this easily.
|
| Brian is much higher ape, free from these low-level ape
| impulses so long as he writes them out. I hope to be
| higher ape someday. Ape work harder to get higher thought
| like Brian.
| huflungdung wrote:
| Diddums
| zhrvoj wrote:
| Coming back from warm and cozy Oman Al Hajar mountains and Wahiba
| crossing, this makes my cry. So beautiful and interesting planet
| we live on !!
| yuppiepuppie wrote:
| Thanks for the story!
|
| The pictures of this technique triggers my submechanophobia -
| especially the photo of the two people working underneath the
| ship.
| foobarian wrote:
| Huh, that actually seems pretty convenient. It's like a
| subtractive scaffold
| bombcar wrote:
| I once was extremely proud of myself when I had to change a
| tire without a jack; realizing that I could move the car so the
| tire was over dirt/sand, brace the car, and dig out underneath
| the tire.
| nubskr wrote:
| Skip the dry dock, just chainsaw the river until it freezes deep
| enough, peak yakutsk engineering
| stivatron wrote:
| hahaha.
| bombcar wrote:
| I don't see the wheels on the boat with wheels - is it the
| "paddle wheel in the next shot?
| throwaway5752 wrote:
| It's not okay to casually appreciate the vacation pictures of a
| corrupt Russian oligarch, even if they overlap with an area of
| technical interest.
|
| Kapersky is part of a corrupt regime that has killed tens of
| thousands of innocent Ukrainian civilians and murdered leaders of
| rival political parties. You can get numb to it, but it is a
| horrible, historic war crime. He is complicit and his boat
| pictures can go to hell.
| lo_zamoyski wrote:
| > It's not okay to casually appreciate the vacation pictures of
| a corrupt Russian oligarch
|
| This is totally incoherent and nonsensical. There is no moral
| case for this and you are making a purely emotional remark.
| samothrace wrote:
| I don't think either of you have made your point very well.
| "It's not okay to ... appreciate ... pictures..." Isn't
| nonsensical, but it doesn't really convey the meaning that
| I'm assuming was intended (so I guess it's incoherent to some
| degree). That assumed meaning being that it's not okay to
| support people that support evil regimes. Even if that
| support is minimal and indirect.
|
| Would you buy an art book by a Nazi officer in 1942? After
| all, the officer would only receive a very small portion of
| the proceeds of the book, in reality providing an
| infinitesimal benefit to the Nazi party itself. Would you
| recommend said book to people you know? After all, you
| wouldn't be providing even that tiny amount of material
| support. And after all, it's simply the creative work of
| another human, unrelated to the war or atrocities, not
| representing the interests of the Nazi party itself.
|
| I'm sure that there are plenty of people that will show up to
| argue that actually, yes, they would gladly buy the book if
| they liked it and they would recommend it. And some will have
| the logical devices to show that there are no moral
| obligations involved. I disagree. Generally speaking, each of
| us only have tiny levers to pull, and we should pull them.
| proprietario wrote:
| I feel like this an interesting angle and I want to approach
| the discussion in good faith..
|
| So why should it be morally ok to show support/better the
| public image/engage with a party that is
| supporting/purporting some huge morally bad things?
|
| My reasoning is as follows, I wonder where you wouldn't
| agree:
|
| A: You shouldn't support people doing morally bad stuff
|
| B: Someone supporting morally bad things is morally bad
|
| B.2: Sharing/Engaging with them shows support and betters
| their public image
|
| C: Kaspersky is an oligarch supporting stuff that is morally
| wrong
|
| D: So you shouldn't support him by driving engagement to his
| site
| axus wrote:
| Ooh, are we holding Larry Ellison and Elon Musk accountable for
| US actions now?
| samothrace wrote:
| Whataboutism.
|
| Are you implying that OP hypocritically supports Larry
| Ellison and Elon Musk? Are you implying that not supporting
| Larry Ellison and Elon Musk by not promoting their media or
| avoiding their products is absurd? Are you implying that
| people should hold Larry Ellison and Elon Musk accountable
| for US actions, but don't, and therefore doing it to other
| oligarchs is unfair or unreasonable?
| axus wrote:
| I'm OK with anyone expressing their feelings on Kapersky,
| Ellison, Musk, their boats, and their politics. My guess is
| that throwaway has similar feelings about all three.
|
| Personally I do feel that we share guilt proportional to
| our contributions to the ones hurting others; and I'd be
| interested in the calculus of their respective moral
| burdens. My tax payments mean I bear 0.0000001 % of the
| responsibility for US government behavior.
| throw-the-towel wrote:
| Why not?
| rkagerer wrote:
| How bad is it for a ship's hull to get frozen in ice? Are these
| ships all reinforced? Are there clever mitigations this "drydock"
| undertakes?
| tintor wrote:
| This looks like real life MineCraft.
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