The work on the hull painting and rust prevention soon began, and although the test in the bucket had a certain reference value, in fact this reference value was not very large.

Because the two use environments are completely different, the reference to the final data is not of much value.

Of course, the experiment started with small boats, and in fact they didn't have steel battleships of too much size other than small boats.

Although the splicing problem is solved at the moment, the biggest problem is that this method is too labor-intensive and material-intensive.

Just the two small iron boats that were built had hundreds of craftsmen take turns to go into battle, and it took four days of non-stop work day and night to complete, and this was just a small boat with a load of only a few dozen stones.

If it is a large ship that carries thousands of stones, can it be completed in a year according to this efficiency?

This question is still a big question mark in Wang Li's heart, they are accustomed to the industrial production model, and now they are facing the human production model, and they always feel that whether it is efficiency or quality, they are a little unable to keep up.

But at the moment, there is no suitable way to solve it, and it can only be beaten in the oldest human way.

The ship is not a knife, and it is difficult to carry those equipment, so Wang Li can even imagine that they can only do this until the new suitable equipment is researched.

However, small boats also have the benefits of small boats, and the speed of painting is particularly fast, as if to prevent problems, Wang Li even made people paint three layers of paint on the outside of the hull one after another.

Of course, the work that must be done before painting is naturally to remove rust, rust removal is very simple, that is, to brush with a steel brush, continuous friction, to wipe off the rust, and then rinse with clean water, put it in the sun exposure, and wait for the water to dry, while the new rust has not yet generated this time, quickly brush the raw lacquer.

Then it's a matter of setting up a shed, avoiding direct sunlight, drying it, and then waiting a few more days for the paint to dry completely.

At this time, the exterior of the hull has become a dark brown color, which is a paint that has not been added to the raw paint, and after it is dried, it will naturally change color.

But it doesn't matter if the color changes or doesn't change color, what matters is the effect.

The two ships were not equipped with steam engines, and relied on manual paddling to propulsion, and although it was possible to test whether the lacquer could play a certain role in the corrosion of seawater, it was not possible to test the effect of fast travel on the paint surface.

However, this is also a helpless thing, the problem of the steam engine has always existed, and the Academy of Sciences has even sent additional manpower over, but the progress is still very slow, and several experiments have ended in failure.

The reason is simple, the propeller needs to rotate constantly, and the propeller rotates, which needs to be powered by a steam engine to drive the rotation of the propeller through the connecting rod.

Since the propeller is rotating, it means that the connecting rod cannot be completely sealed, because sealing also means that the connecting rod cannot rotate, and the power disappears completely, but if it is not sealed, it means that the seawater will continue to enter.

However, this is not something that Wang Li should worry about, but a problem that the steam engine team and shipyard engineers should worry about.

Compared with the problem on the other side, the problem on Wang Li's side does not seem to be a problem now.

The lacquer is there, and the imperial court will also send experts in this area to assist, so the next thing will be smoother, the only headache is how to improve the efficiency of splicing.

Of course, it is impossible to go smoothly, how can there be so many smooth sailing things in the world?

"Wang Gong, it's not good...... Wang Li's subordinates walked in in a panic, the two small boats have been on trial voyage for half a month, during which the boat is pulled out every seven days, and a hole is cut in the bottom of the boat to observe the degree of rust inside, and then it is filled with raw paint.

Of course, the first cut is made with two openings, but only one is filled, and after that, all the cuts will be opened except for the first one that was not filled, and in addition to this, a new cut will be made in the place that has not been cut.

The damage to the hull steel is significant, but this is a test, and the longer the ship lasts, the better their chances of success.

As for how long it lasts? At least in Wang Li's opinion, being able to persist for half a year is considered qualified.

In the previous half month, the results of the test were very good and satisfactory.

And Wang Li also began to focus on splicing technology, but at this time, his subordinates brought a piece of news that made him anxious.

"What's wrong?" Wang Li was stunned, and instantly put down the classics in his hand, he was looking up all the techniques about iron splicing to see if he could find some improved experience from them.

"There is no problem with the ship for the time being, the problem is the steel plate brought from the north of the town!"

Wang Li frowned tightly, there was a problem with those few steel plates, and it was almost two months now, does that mean that their ship will also have problems in about two months?

Although two months is already long-lasting, there are still four months left from the lowest goal in Wang Li's heart, and this result is unacceptable to him no matter what.

Fishing boats can go back to the dock once every two months for repairs, but battleships cannot, two months is too short, and they can't even sail far, and even many warships can only wait in line to maintain and paint, and the work of painting each time is very complicated.

Especially those warships that have been put into use, they need to brush off the paint on their hulls first, in rust removal, in painting, back and forth, according to the current speed, it is a small boat, and it will take at least five days for a ship, because it will take at least five days to launch after the paint surface is completely dry, otherwise it will greatly shorten the life of the lacquer.

If it were those big ships, it would have taken longer, and at that time, how many docks would they have built to be enough?

Putting down the books in his hand, Wang Li quickly ran outside and came to the place where the steel plate was placed.

Several subordinates were constantly observing around the steel plate, and when they saw Wang Li coming, several people also let out a passage.

And when Wang Li approached the steel plate, he realized what the problem was just now.

The steel plate, which was originally relatively flat on the surface, was faintly cracked at this moment, and some places began to bulge, although not all, but this was enough for Wang Li to be shocked.

"Bring the hammer!" Wang Li immediately commanded.

After a short time, a small hammer was taken, Wang Li took the hammer and smashed it directly on the steel plate, and there was no special reaction at first.

But after a few blows, there are more and more cracks on the steel plate, and some powdery objects can be clearly seen, and later, you can see that these powders begin to jump, and those cracks begin to gradually fall off.

What is exposed is the appearance of the steel plate itself.

Wang Li picked up this steel plate, probed carefully, looked at it with his eyes, reached out to touch it, and even took a steel brush and a cloth to wipe it.

It can be clearly seen that the most ruthless rust is the place where the cracks have appeared before, and the rust in other places is not particularly bad.

But even so, Wang Li still saw the problem at a glance, and the rust on this steel plate at this moment was more rusty than when it was taken out of the water.

Although the speed of rust is slow enough compared to the previous test, it is too fast compared to when it is in the water.

"When will those experts from the Ministry of Industry arrive?" After a simple experiment, Wang Li came up with the reason for this incident, but he had no way to solve this problem, so he could only put his expectations on the experts in the Ministry of Industry.

Those people put a lot of energy into the research of lacquer, after all, there is a specialization in the art industry, just like the steam engine team cannot meddle in the research of steel, Wang Li also has no way to meddle in other industries other than steel.

"I don't know, but judging from the distance, it seems that it is almost time to arrive, but I don't know how long the Ministry of Industry will need to prepare to release them." Without detailed information, it is only a matter of guess when reinforcements will come.

"Wang Gong, could the problem be something else?" Huang Qi felt that this was a little strange and couldn't help asking.

"What do you think?" Wang Li thought for a moment and asked.

"We have been testing the hull, two inspections, six cuts, the steel is almost not rusty, but we have been checking the bottom part of the ship, that part has been soaked in the water, just like these steel plates, when we first looked, they were just taken out of the water, but now it has been placed here for more than half a month, so this problem has arisen, I think we should also conduct a detailed inspection of the part of the hull that is not soaked in water, to see if it is because of this cause of the problem?" Astragalus told his guess.

"That makes sense, go and pull those two boats out and check them out immediately." Wang Li thought about it and felt that what Astragalus said was very reasonable, although he didn't understand it, why was there no problem with the parts that had been soaked in water, but there were problems with those parts that were not soaked in water? But as for whether it is for this reason, it is only necessary to check it to be clear.

The most important thing is that the problem has come out, and they must conduct a comprehensive examination, introspection, and solve the problem.

So, on the third day of the third launch, the two small boats were pulled out again, and a group of people carefully probed around the hull several times, trying to find out some problems, but in the end they still did not find any problems.

Eventually, they began to take the steel brush and directly brush off all the paint on the ship, wanting to see what it would look like after the paint was removed.

As a result, naturally, they were shocked.

A watershed line that is not regular, but it is easy to see appears in their sight, although it is not obvious, ordinary people may not be able to see the problem without looking carefully, but they are experts in the study of steel, and they have a thorough understanding of steel, and this problem is still seen at a glance.