In the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, stainless steel is specifically prohibited for the wetted parts of a power boiler. This is because stainless steel suffers from chloride stress corrosion cracking, and there is virtually no way you can keep your boiler water free of small amounts of chlor...

Finally got the sidewheeler into the water 11 June 2011. Changed from 7 paddle floats to 14 on each side, engine runs slower now, and boat goes faster. Lake Noxamixon PA was calm and overcast, very nice since I don’t have the canopy on yet.

Rough Estimates, based on the 19ft - 6 inch plywood sidewheeler I built last year, which is covered in another thread on this forum: Hull, 19ft - 3 in x 5ft beam x 24 inch debth. 1/2 inch mahogany BS 1088 sides, 5/8 inch mahogany BS 1088 bottom, Douflas Fir Frames 16 inches on center. This is probab...

All kinds of motors, low surplus prices: HERBACH & RADEMAN Also, E-Bay usually has a good selection, especially if you shop for a period of time, they will even e-mail you when what you are looking for comes up. For small power and high RPM, consider small timing belt drives, they are really quite t...

How is the turbo configured? I would imagine all the steam engine exhaust going thru the turbocharger turbine, with the turbocharger compressor either blowing into the firebox, or into the stack, to make an injector type draft inducer? How is oil fed to the turbo bearings, and how have they held up ...

The stack causes a slight negative pressure in the furnace, and the stack draft can often be increased by use of a steam jet exhausting into the stack. "Induced Draft" fans are used in large plants to suck flue gas out of the boilers, but these are not a realistic option for a small launch steam pla...

The most simple boiler, a Vertical Firetube (VFT) type. About 24 inch diameter x 24 inch tube length, with a wet furnace about 15 inches high. If an ASME Code boiler is to be built, this is simple enough to not cost a small fortune. Second option, a Gunboat style firetube boiler, lower center of gra...

The short answer to your question: Yes, this can be done. I teach power plant technologies to engineers at my company, so here is a rather "long winded" answer: A boiler or other combustion/energy device would theoretically have 100% efficiency if the combustion process is complete (all the fuel bur...

Something much better than ordinary penetrating oil is the firearm solvent "Hoppe's No 9", available at any gun store, or even WalMart. Many a hopelessly stuck part has be set free with this solvent. There is also a solvent, I think the same stuff, called "Kroil" available in some hardware stores. T...

Due to the previous replies, and thus knowing where to look, I was able to find various references, and some often conflicting name definitions. It meets the definition of a bulawrk, being an extension of the hull sides above the deck, however this definition is not specific to the bow location. As ...