The Steamboating Forum

This item is now SOLD


A set of 16 steam generating coils, 8 left hand and 8 right hand, plus the SBA Blackstaff Wood licence and drawing for the construction of one boiler. The coils are made of 1/2” by 18swg copper and were coiled for me by the late and much lamented David Beale. This was a boiler project that I never managed to get afloat. Also available, optionally, are my CAD sketches for a casing which is not provided for in the SBA documentation.

£300 Currently located in South Cheshire in the UK 1 mile from J17 on the M6. Shipping weight is approximately 20kg. I am hapy to pack for overseas shipping but we would need to check the shipping cost first.

Hello Peter,

i am interested in and send you an email.

Regards
Dietrich

Thanks Dietrich

I am very happy to get these items to you. I will post this up as SOLD.

PM on the way.

Regards

Pete

Just to encourage you, here is a picture of my new Blackstaffe boiler after one test firing.
So far so good, as I tune the oil burner for optimum combustion.
This new boiler is in its original casing from the 1960s.
RussN

And on the subject of boiler casings for those Blackstaffe boilers, here is a picture of the other(!) Blackstaffe power plant I was going to restore until I found the Steam Thistle. This power plant was made by Cliff Blackstaffe and Eric Wood in 1964, according to the engraved builder's plate still attached.
The round boiler casing on my Steam Thistle was a later version of the 32 power plants they produced in the mid-1960s.
I am amazed I ended up with two of them in my Shop!

I sold it to a very happy Boeing Engineer, along with a matching 16' Poulsbo fiberglass hull.
RussN

Hi Russ

Thanks for posting those pictures. It is nice to see the sort of things one can do with the casing for a Blackstaff. I have worked at length on trying to design a casing that allows for easy removal of the cover for tube cleaning. That will be a must for folks using coal, though the 'oilies' will not have that sort of problem. The first version of the casing for Frances Ann's Yarrow pressure vessel was nigh on impossible to undo once all the plumbing was in and the tubes soon got sooted up with dire consequences. The current version has high level removable panels that will come off without touching any pipe connection.

The sharp eyed will notice that I managed to drop a roll of PTFE tape down the funnel stub so the cover had to come off to retrieve it. Doh!

Regards

Pete

Since things look rather rough in that picture, here is a recent one in which everything has been sorted out, visually though not yet tested under pressure.

Once the faffing little jobs left on the list are done, I will be twisting Mike Rometer's arm to see if we can raise steam for a short while.

Regards

Pete

Pete:
Nice to see your steam launch coming together. I'm on a similar timeline to yours.

The round boiler housing for my Blackstaffe boiler has two side panels that are easily removed.
They clip onto the top edging, and simple rotate down to cover the innards.
They are held in place by the two brass bands visible, if you look hard enough at the photo showing the open sides.
So: Remove just the two screws holding the two bands, and the side panels lift out and off.
Really a smart design!

Today I finished making my "kit" of accessories to perform periodic hydrostatic tests. So I'm ready to go.
I did a cold-air pressurization test, knowing that the boiler had been previously hydroed and steamed.
Everything is tight and works as designed. So hydro soon, and then steam tests.

I've been working on cosmetic items today:
Fabricating and installing brass pipe covers for the (ugly) vertical insulted pipe to the whistle, mounted near the top of the stack.
(The 5" diameter stack has insufficient room to internally mount the steam pipe to the whistle.)
Now I'm creating the "company identification" decorations for the stack. So I rolled some brass sheet 7" tall and the diameter of the stack.
Then made the two brass Thistle symbols that will be painted and installed on the white-background rolled sheet.
When assembled, it will all slip down over the top of the stack and get secured in place. Pics will follow, of course.
Attached is a pic of the "Thistle" symbol, signifying the heritage of the hull.
Fun stuff!
RussN

Pete,

I'm working on designing the casing for my future boiler, would you be willing to share some more detail on the construction of your casing? Especially how the panels fit together and how you are retaining the refractory (also what kind of refractory)

Thanks

Ken

The parcels were delivered and all is well.


The cat is watching the paperwork.


Regards Dietrich