I hope the great and good on this forum will excuse, or even enjoy, this posting, which is really in response to Wesley Harcourt on the SBA site. I am in the early stages of building a 22' steam launch, with hull built via the cedar strip plant method. Having built several boats in the past, I was t...

Lopez Mike wrote:Aren't these things mentioned in the SALT treaty under Weapons of Mass Destruction?

Along with bagpipes and banjos, of course.

Bagpipes are fine in their proper enviroment: i.e. a Scottish hillside at least a quarter mile away.

Malcolm, I come from the Broads area, which is mostly fresh water, but with a few tidal salty bits, and it's only in these latter that fouling is a problem. Elsewhere, a good gloss paint and an annual pull-out and wipe-down does the business. Paints including tri-butyl-tin were banned in the UK in a...

This is a bit late, but might just be useful. Many steamboat maintainers in England use Wicksteed type E roller expanders, which cost about £100 (~$130) new, full list price for expanding 1/2" tubes (significantly larger expanders cost more). They are workmanlike tools, and might be worth the hassle...

This is very common, on still days with low atmospheric pressure and high humidity it is difficult/impossible to get the fire to draw on natural draft. Lighting a boiler every day for years you get to notice what makes a difference, and days like those you mention were always a killer. High on fuel...

We recently did a 44 mile one day trip in a 23' fairly fine lined, but heavy, launch built in 1899, with a 3" + 5" x 3" twin (Leak design, more or less) compound working mostly at around 150 psi and 60% cut-off. Coal (best Welsh steam coal) consumption for the day was a bit over one 25kg bag, say 3...

We recently did a 44 mile one day trip in a 23' fairly fine lined, but heavy, launch built in 1899, with a 3" + 5" x 3" twin (Leak design, more or less) compound working mostly at around 150 psi and 60% cut-off. Coal (best Welsh steam coal) consumption for the day was a bit over one 25kg bag, say 35...

For a steamlaunch, i'm looking for castings of a compound engine. I know the bore/stroke of the Taylor compound engine, that's perfect for this launch. Last year I saw in this topic the castings of some Taylor engine will soon be available again. But I can't find any information about when it's ava...

The AC type diaphragm pump will pull a good enough vacuum: as Fred says, the actual figure depends on how much air leakage there is in the system, but approaching 0.8 Bar is possible. Don't worry about port size: the 5A has a tiny swept volume , and the port area is big enough for it to run at remar...

More post hijacking but explain about the axles not being coupled? I have a partially machined 2-8-8-2 compound articulated locomotive in 1/8 scale. (Anyone want a project??) The front engine is the low pressure and the rear is high pressure and they run quite well independently. I suppose you migh...