Progress Report from Robbins Reef
Robbins Reef Trip Report Trip Report, Thursday, May 5, 2022
Noble Crew: Annie Frangipane and Erin Urban
Weather: Sunny and windy, with scattered cloud coverings, temperatures in the 50s.
Access: Left Miller’s at 2 PM and returned at 3:45 PM on the Nicholas Miller, captained by Dave Steckly.
Purpose of the trip: The purpose of the trip was to haul out supplies, prepare for the tasks ahead, and check on the lighthouse. It’s light, tight, and bright.
Tasks accomplished: There was some water on the Watch Gallery floor from the place where some of the ceiling boards had been removed when the Coast Guard set up its solar power. We tightened the plastic covering over it. We swept up the kitchen, where we are keeping the painting platforms.
We re-checked the measurements of the kitchen door fixtures, the lock plate, door handle, mortice and hinges; we will photograph samples of appropriate fixtures, based on the hinges, the only parts we have, and purchase new fixtures with funds from our generous donors.
Carmen Campo, Kenny Johnson, and Leslie Petosa restored the kitchen door; Miller’s cleaned up the brass door plate, which is original, and we got great windows from Staten Island Plate Glass.
On to hanging! What a sensation! To look out to the Bayonne Bridge from the windows in
Robbins Reef Lighthouse front door
We painted the door based on sanding off the many different-colored layers of paint it has had in the last 100 years.
We photographed the remnants of the iron fixtures embedded in the promenade. Salt water is seeping into the fractured areas around them, damaging the promenade and caisson. We are organizing a crew to go out with jackhammers and cement to get them out and close up the holes with cement. Later we will re-cement the entire surface of the promenade. You’re invited; this project will take place on a weekday afternoon
In the meantime, as soon as wind and weather allow it, we will paint the exterior. Again, weekday afternoons are the best time for Angus McCamy, and he needs help and spotters.
Experience with ropes and rigging are a plus.
To volunteer, please email Erin Urban.
Glen Miller and his staff make all this possible and we thank them!