[Shipbuilder]

Does anyone by any chance remember what colour the steel decks were painted on CLAN SHAW? Sister ships were CLAN SINCLAIR & CLAN SUTHERLAND. I really can't remember myself, but I have seen aerial photographs of Clans with both red & black steel decks & even a combination of both i.e. red forecastle & black fore & after decks!
Bob

[Chris Isaac]

Black, definately black

[Shipbuilder]

Hi Chris,
Thanks for info, it came just in time. I had just fitted the decks to the model & was about to paint them red. This was because I had found a photograph of another model with red decks. I have visited a number of Clans of that era during my time with B & C (1965 - 1976), and was half certain in my own mind they were black, but time erases a lot of such details from ones mind. I know the poop was planked, so forecastle, foredeck & after deck will be black in the model. The masts, dericks & posts appear to be grey with top of mainmast black as per usual in steamers. Exceptions being white posts immediately forward of bridge front.
Thanks again.
Bob

[Cisco]

Hola Bob,
They were black but it wasn't paint...it was some evil Clan Line home brew concocted in the focsle and handed down over the ages which may have contained a bit of paint but also contained a lot of oil....took forever to dry and you got curry for walking it into the accomodation....said to protect the steel better than paint...if you ever do Ayrshire /Argyllshire they were teak clad on the upperdeck in way of #5 hatch but nowhere else...I guess that was the only reefer upper tween deck space..memory fails about here..

Laid my little ship up in Pto Williams 2 days ago.

Frank aka Cisco

[Chris Isaac]

Frank stirs up old memories. After the deck was painted with whatever it was I remember the fore deck being roped off so that a walkway could be provided whilst "it" dried. He is also remembers the teack decking (except it was No4 hold...... I was on Ayrshire on her final and fateful voyage.

[Shipbuilder]

Hi Frank & Chris,
Thanks for further info. I remember they used to use a similar concoction on the decks of an iron ore carrioer I sailed in. It was mainly fuel oil at a time when it was cheaper than paint & it made a sticky mess when first applied. When I sailed in RICHMOND CASTLE, we had a permanently soft black deck. It was like walking on a carpet. It was some sort of very thick composition to provide insulation for the refrigerated spaces beneath.
Regards
Bob

[Cisco]

Originally Posted by Chris Isaac

He is also remembers the teak decking (except it was No4 hold...... I was on Ayrshire on her final and fateful voyage.

Maybe Ayrshire was different and I stand guilty of a bold assumption , #4 was on the saloon deck and the surrounding deck was teak ( As I recall by law you couldn't have bare steel over acommodation it had to be either teak or awnings.After about 1960 Clan boats had some composition rather than teak on accomodation decks)

... #5 ( aft off all the midships accomodation ....) on Argyllshire was teak.. I just stuck a pic of it in the gallery and shall try to also post it here. Its a mirror image, that is the starboard side not the port...no door there on the port side nor galley stovepipe.....
.
Edited to add...I think that may be supports for the awning spars that you can see at the head of the ladder and in the stbd aft corner.... photo in the gallery has just been flipped by Steve Woodward....