Newbie

[johnp]

Hello All

New hear and interested on building my first boat hoping for a 19ish' launch. Interested about what it would cost, and if any used stuff avaliable.

[Maltelec]

The best description of cost I have heard about steam boats is that you make a hull shaped hole in the water and fill it with money.

However, this doesn't mean that it will cost a lot. If you had a hull handy, and a house full of engines, with the odd boiler lying around in the garden, it doesn't take much to put them together.

If you go down the route of having someone build a hull, and a boiler and engine, you would be looking at a very expensive bill.

Buying old stuff is often cheaper, however you may have to employ someone to repair the parts before they can be used.

[piet schuurs]

You can look on
http://www.steamboat.org.uk/smallads.htm
to get the idea.

We are building the boat our selfs, its fun and I've the room for it.
We bought the boiler and engine second hand in England.

We are building started in april this year and we have only to do the decks no.
Hope she steamed the first time in may 2010.

Regards Piet

[fredrosse]

In the USA you can get a good fiberglass sailboat hull, 16 - 20 feet long, with trailer, for about $100 US on ebay. Cutting out the centerboard well and fitting in a propeller tube costs about $100 plus 40 hours work. I have built an all-electric 14 ft launch this way, and it has given satisfactory service for over 5 years now. Any reasonable woodworker can do this work.

A steam engine can be built from a single cylinder mower engine, or from a cast iron two cylinder air compressor. Again, this stuff will cost around $100 US, plus about 100 hours labor, with an amature machinist and some machine tools. I even made such an engine with only hand tools and a brazing torch, although it was a crude one, it worked well. More traditional engines ususlly will cost into the "thousands", unless there is a free machinist nearby.

The boiler is another matter, and one concerning safety. They can be fabricated from pipe fittings, and pipe coils, but should have a high standard of both design as well as construction. Regulations may apply, and you should be sure to adequately investigate your options here. Dependiing on your skill level, the boiler may cost from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

Fitting out the boat with piping and valves, pumps, etc will consume at least a few hundred dollars and another 100 hours of work.

At that point you could have a workable steamboat with minimum capital.

Used steamboats do come up, costing from several thousand to tens of thousands of US dollars.

Having said that, I am presently building a 20 ft steamboat, and I estimate the total costs, including labor, of about $100,000 US. So you see, there is a large range of options to get into steamboating.

[johnp]

some sailboats have inboards already would i be able to mount a steam engine on the same mounts?

[fredrosse]

Sailboats with inboard engines are less appropriate for conversion to a steamboat. Generally they are made to sail, and the inboard setup has a small inefficient propeller to reduce drag while sailing. It is really only intended for maneuvering and emergencies. Most of the inboard sailboats are also heavy deep keel boats rather than the removable centerboard type. They are hard to trailer, and hard to launch.

Steamboats (and electric boats) need to have the high propulsion efficiency that comes with a rather large low speed propeller. My 14 foot electric boat swings a 14 inch diameter prop at 400 RPM, much larger than would normally be found on a boat this size. Because of the high efficiency low speed prop, I can cruise for about 5 hours at full speed, about 5 MPH.

[mcandrew1894]

John,

Are you looking to build a hull or buy one?
They can be bought fairly cheaply...compared to building anyway.
The 21' Truscott compromise is a great design and needs little power
I would avoid going under 20', there just insn't enough room for engine boiler and people

Dave

[johnp]

I think, looking to buy.

[Maltelec]

Sail boats also tend to have a shallow draft, meaning a heavy boiler and engine may make the boat somewhat unstable.

[mcandrew1894]

Where are you located John?

Dave