Otter's prop can usually be cleared by reversing... I did have to go overboard in Clear Lake, CA in the early 90s to clear the propeller from a giant ball of hydrilla - a really invasive weed. I've only had Rainbow in the water back in 2017 (before moving, pandemic, etc), but the only thing that gav...

Pete, we need a video of you standing on a wind and rain driven bluff over Cardigan Bay singing Men of Harlech! (This request coming from a lazy sod wintering in Baja under sunny skies.) Mike We're supposed to get 65 mph gusts tonight, and 17F (-8C) Thursday night and snow at the end of the week. -...

One scenario is simply going somewhere with no tooting or stack blower action in which case I can steam all day without using up a gallon milk jug of water. The other case is at an event with lots of passenger hauling and the attendant whistle and, all too often, safety valve action. I get by with ...

Hi Bart, On the Sandin we have a 35 gallon tank. With steam atomizing and excessive use of the whistle we could steam a whole weekend+ without refilling. 3+5x4" scripps compound (approximately 200rpm), Semple VFT40 boiler, York/Williams steam atomizing burner. Rainbow also has a 3x5x4 compound, but...

Nice tank! I see you're making it with plywood, epoxy & glass. Will you need a vent? I thought about making a tank like that, but since I can use a rectangular tank a stock poly tank is a lot easier for me. I'd like to feel safe drinking water from the tank as well, so I'd need the right epoxy. I'll...

Back when Rainbow was in the water, one of the more difficult/risky tasks while steaming single handed was going forward, around the windshield and fishing a five gallon ( 40 lbs) water container out of the forward hatch and bringing back to the cockpit and pouring it into the hotwell. Here you can ...

Just saw this on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC5UG6e7Lys

- Bart

Congratulations - excellent results and beautiful work, and enough of a speed boost to win a close race or to :) At this point it looks like making sure the boiler is producing as much steam as possible is in order, so making sure you have sufficient feedwater & economizer surface would be in order,...

This sort of variable performance can be frustrating to track down.... some random thoughts: I'd fit a bbq temp gauge to the stack, or use a thermocouple on a digital voltmeter - many inexpensive units have a temperature option. Excess air is often the cause of low flue gas temperatures. Variable ou...

Nice work... the performance of the boat with the existing prop is nothing to complain about; here's hoping the new one is even better. My (somewhat limited) experience with keyed tapers is that if the key shows wear, it's likely because the key was too tall and prevented the taper from making good ...