The QE2's Funnel

[Louis De Sousa]

One more of the funnel

[TDM99]

Here a view of the Funnel in July 2006 in Cherbourg , but i have a question :
You can see they " distorsions " in they steel plates of the funnel !
What that

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Friendly Noel
http://tdm99.skyrock.com/

[Scott Ebersold]

That section of the "new" funnel was part of the original funnel.  There was a fire which caused the buckling.  There's more info somewhere here on the sight.  Maybe someone can find it and post a link here?

-Scott

[TDM99]

Thank You Scott !

And here one of my favorite photo of the funnel ... 

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Friendly Noel
http://tdm99.skyrock.com/

[Waverley]

Another unusual funnel photo

https://www.flickr.com/photos/12212674@N00/1413950199

[Bob C.]

That section of the "new" funnel was part of the original funnel.  There was a fire which caused the buckling.  There's more info somewhere here on the sight.  Maybe someone can find it and post a link here?

-Scott

I may be wrong but I've read the discussions on the funnel wrinkles on both the old and new and find it difficult to believe that old wrinkled metal would be taken off the old funnel and used on the new.  A new funnel is just that - new!  Plus I think the original funnel fire caused distortions on the port side and the above photo shows them on the opposite side.

Unless there was some tradition or nostalgia of using the original metal included in the process, I think the new wrinkles were caused by an incident with the new funnel installed.

Willing to debate further and will continue to research. 

This is sort of the same difference of opinion we had about the notch at John Brown's being made for QE2 and makes this forum fun!

[Kathy M.]

Here's my favorite funnel shot, as she departed Boston Harbor for the last time in September, 2008.

[Rob Lightbody]

A new funnel is just that - new!  

Ahh, but its NOT a new funnel. It is definitely the old funnel casing, modified and expanded for its new use... I think we discussed this before - I'll try to hunt down the earlier conversation about it.

Later edit : It's right here in this topic, from reply 3 onwards.

[Bob C.]

The link is correct but I just can't wrap my mind around the concept of a recycled funnel.  Again, not saying anyone is wrong but I need to reserach the issue for myself which is one of my favorite things to do - researching QE2!!!

[KEV]

Bob-I understand your quest for knowledge on this entirely-me too!. It does seem strange  that with all the money spent on the 87 refit an area of such iconic focus such as the funnel would be accepted by Cunard with effectively a 'bodge job' unless their was a time/technical/serious cost constraint. Having said that of course she must have ran with the 1976 fire damage until the new funnel was fitted in 87 but the effect I see on photos in the period 76-87 doesn't look too obvious to me. Perhaps someone from the refit can explain what really happened.Close up photos from the immediate period before/after the refit would help.

[Rob Lightbody]

It does seem strange  that with all the money spent on the 87 refit an area of such iconic focus such as the funnel would be accepted by Cunard with effectively a 'bodge job'

Maybe it was a PR concern - maybe they thought there would be a negative reaction to the big fat funnel on the nation's flagship?  In fact I bet they were worried about this.  So, to be able to say that it wasn't a new funnel, just the original, modified, would help the PR department deal with flak about it.  However don't undersestimate the large sheets of metalwork involved in the funnel... the entire project was all about saving money!

[Chris]

The old funnel was modified to allow for the 9 diesel exhaust pipes - it is simply a matter of functionality. The funnel they had wasn't wide enough, so they modified it. If you inspected the funnel you could quite easily see what panels were taken from the original.

[Bob C.]

Thanks Chris, I'm beginning to see how this could have happened.  Would you happen to have any photos of some of the recycled panels?

[highlander0108]

The old funnel was modified to allow for the 9 diesel exhaust pipes - it is simply a matter of functionality. The funnel they had wasn't wide enough, so they modified it. If you inspected the funnel you could quite easily see what panels were taken from the original.

There must have been a Scotsman involved in the shipyard in Germany for the conversion who could not see junking the entire structure, even if some of the plates were warped and had some "character".

[cunardqueen]

There must have been a Scotsman involved in the shipyard in Germany for the conversion who could not see junking the entire structure, even if some of the plates were warped and had some "character".

Now Ken are you saying that all Scotsmen are tight