I suppose one of us close to the zero degree meridian ought to say that the steaming season here is optional. Quite a lot of people do steam their boats for the summer months only, but some of us carry on all winter, and very pleasant it is too. The rivers and lakes are relatively quiet, and if it g...

A couple of days ago I had an hour out in "Falcon", an 1890s steamboat now giving short tours from Stalham in North Norfolk. Falcon was given a new compound twin engine last winter, built by Steamboat Jack of this forum, and I'm pleased to say it's running nicely, and quietly. The previous engine wa...

Lining up engine and prop shaft accurately is obviously a nice thing to do, and congratulations on doing it. However, having suffered seriously from the effect several decades ago, I have to rather reluctantly point out that all hulls distort when put into water, particularly normal open launch hull...

...... I have reservations about using phosphoric acid as it supposedly leaves an iron phosphate layer on the steel. I'm doubtful about the thermal properties of such a layer. Don't worry about the thermal properties of the iron phosphate layer: most of these chemically grown layers only get to a m...

For those of you who have an electrical system, what are you using to charge it and how much battery capacity do you run? An automotive alternator seems like an option, but given the low speed and reversing nature of our engines, is this workable? As a good rule of thumb, electrical generators work...

Quote: "On a related subject, how do we think that total boat weight is related to fuel consumption? My reflexive response is that is should be directly related." "Falcon", a late Victorian launch that many of us know, used to have a quadruple steeple compound engine, which was certainly not the ri...

Quote: "On a related subject, how do we think that total boat weight is related to fuel consumption? My reflexive response is that is should be directly related." "Falcon", a late Victorian launch that many of us know, used to have a quadruple steeple compound engine, which was certainly not the ri...

"The Clyde puffers were very successful little craft, for about a century, and the great majority had single cylinder engines with absolutely no frills, not even a superheater in most cases. "... However, they were all condensing engines.... Up to a point Lord Duckett. The VICs were, I believe, all...

Good thoughts. My engine is a 3 x 4 single and moved the old hull along quite nicely at around five knots. More power wasn't needed and going for a smaller compound seemed like more trouble than it would be worth. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! The Clyde puffers were very successful little craft,...

Which supports my long standing assertion that pursuing efficiency at the expense of simplicity doesn't make sense, at least for me. Our steam boats are floating energy crime scenes. So what? When I'm moving silently along at five knots or so, I care not about entropy/enthalpy diagrams. Yes mostly....