Boiler Lagged and Cladded

Nigel Dickinson, Mike Colborne and myself spent Wednesday 5th October 2011 at Mendip Steam Restorations' workshop affixing Sentinel 7109's boiler lagging and outer cladding sheets. Previous articles (1, 2) have shown the preparation of the 'duvet' and outer cladding sheets ready for this day.

First of all, the boiler had to be brought inside from where it had lain for some months.

Tight manoeuvres in the yard...

...and a squeeze past obstacles in the doorway

Once set up inside, the two happy-chappies got to work with the lower 'duvet'...

Nigel and Mike clearly enjoying their work!

... followed by the upper 'duvet'.

Self-adhesive Aluminium tape fills the gaps...

... to hold it all together

The apertures in the finished 'duvet', thankfully, really did fit over the fittings as planned.

Snug fit

Then the cladding sheets needed to be fitted and pop-riveted together to hold them in place. The sheets also had to be riveted to a lower ring support on the boiler and an upper ring above. Whilst the 'duvet' had gone on easily, this was a more onerous task requiring the sheets to be attached and then squeezed over the 'duvet'.

Upper ring holes being drilled-out ready to take the rivets

Nigel clearly considering how to drill his left thumb joint!

Things got rather busy and strained in this process so the photographer had to take time out to do some real work!

So we got it done in a day! I have to admit to going home feeling rather smug and relieved that it was ready to install after really quite a long time in preparation.

The finished, painted article ready for installation in 7109

A date is now set for the boiler to be craned into 7109 and it's soon (but secret!).


Spending a day in Mendip Steam Restorations' workshop was an experience in itself. This is a place where real heavy-duty work takes place; I was immensely impressed at the scale of the activities and how things progressed quickly compared to the months we have taken on 7109's activities.

Here's a few photos to illustrate.

Andy Melrose clearly ready to attack the boiler to the right!
(Note the 100HP Sentinel fireboxes in the background)

Fitting the boiler front section with its owner close to hand

This is probably the biggest lathe I've seen. I don't know what the component was but it was about 5 feet in diameter.

Richard Philips (not posing) whilst doing a 'little' turning
(he was actually shoeing the pet dog away!)

Large-scale turning in action (also on YouTube)

Traction-engine boiler currently under construction (1)

Traction-engine boiler currently under construction (2)

Many thanks to MSR for all the help and advice over the months - keep up the good work!