When I can, I will make a bushing of virgin Teflon on the lathe, and disassemble the rod as needed to install it, and forget about rope packing. As Bert says, virtually every packing gland needs to be tightened from time to time. If yours is constantly in need of being tightened, some things to look...

Fewer blades are more efficient in that each blade is cutting into water that is less disturbed from the passage of the previous blade. Supposedly a single bladed prop is the most efficient, but awfully hard to balance. On the other side of the scale, a two bladed propeller often needs to be a littl...

P2050004.JPG Here is a photo of Reciproca's propeller, made of free machining brass. The very small developed blade area (about 1/3 of the area of my first propeller) is a result on calculations available in Propeller Handbook . I was very doubtful as to whether it would work, so I whipped up the f...

In an edit to my post above, after rereading your first post saying that you have a Hasbrook #1 engine, and finding this video of it in operation, I'll modify my statement to say that the tunnel crosshead will allow the engine to run equally well in either direction. If it was mine, I would reset th...

That depends on the engine. Many designs have a definite forward direction built in, and that should be respected. For example, some crossheads are designed with only half the bearing area when turning counterclockwise (when viewed from astern) as they do when turning clockwise. 20230618_141720.jpg ...

A rule of thumb for steam launch propellers is to make the pitch 1.5 times the diameter, or 18" in your case. That may not be exactly right for your boat, but it is almost certain to be satisfactory. Do you have a pressure gauge on your engine's steam chest? That can be very helpful in determining h...

Not from this year, but this is a good shot of the ABM's docks at sunset. Commercial traffic travels right past the museum on the St. Lawrence.

20230608_112737.jpg Here is Iron Butterfly passing Pemigewasset , westbound on the St. Lawrence River. 20230608_105059.jpg Phoenix on the same trip. 20230607_115256.jpg Here is the fleet pulled in to the docks at Canoe Point State Park on Grindstone Island, amid the smoke from the Canadian wild fir...

This week, six steamboats converged on the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY to enjoy navigating the Scenic St. Lawrence River. In this photo, a seagull performs an important public service.

In addition to performing an annual hydrostatic test, I make a point of lifting the safety valve during the driveway test steam up. Another worthwhile spring ritual is to go around the engine and propeller shaft with a selection of wrenches to confirm that all of the fasteners are tight. The last it...