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Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:23 am
by TahoeSteam
Thank you. I really appreciate your kind words.

There is quite a lag... The walk-around was in May I believe and the transport was in late August.

The problem with the lag is because I'm a Fire Apparatus Engineer, and unlike other departments we're usually the lone company officer on our engine. Essentially that translates into during our fire season, which as you're probably aware is wayyyyy longer than normal, the only time I KNOW I'm going home is when I see the station in the rearview mirror of my truck. Ive had several 30day straight stints on strike teams or in unit...

Needless to say, it makes it hard to get to the computer to edit the latest footage. Winter is usually when I finally get the time to edit and post the past season's steaming events.

Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:34 am
by cyberbadger
TahoeSteam wrote:The problem with the lag is because I'm a Fire Apparatus Engineer with Cal Fire, and unlike other departments we're usually the lone company officer on our engine (a "captain" without the Captain's pay, depending on the captain a the station) , and we rarely have relief due to staffing shortages or "staffing patterns"... Essentially that translates into during our fire season, which as you're probably aware is wayyyyy longer than normal, the only time I KNOW I'm going home is when I see the station in the rearview mirror of my truck. Ive had several 30day straight stints on strike teams or in unit...
Ahh, Thanks for your service as a Fire Apparatus Engineer! I have not been following the fire situation closely, but the news says the Thompson fire is now the largest fire you've ever had in California! :(

-CB

Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2017 12:57 am
by TahoeSteam
Thanks for the opportunity.its fun, but trying on my personal life.

Yep! Largest fire in state history... Crazy it started in December!!! Yet in the mountains in the northern part of the state there are feet of snow and barely 30°f during the day.

Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:16 am
by TahoeSteam
The launch and maiden voyage of the Steam Yacht "Persistance"



In this episode of the Steam Yacht “Persistance” saga we witness her launching and incredibly successful maiden voyage from Stockton, California, to Tower Park Marina in Lodi, CA. A voyage of nearly 20 miles after only an hour long “shakedown” run.

The voyage was a complete success with ZERO mechanical issues other than some noisy loose bearings and new piston rings breaking in. A testament to the time and care taken in ensuring all systems were more than adequate for the task and redundancies built into every system. No small undertaking for the maiden voyage of any boat, much less a hobby steamboat built in someone's backyard.

Crew for the day was;

Avril Harcourt
Bob Wright
Bruce Heppler
Joe Butterman
Leif Larsen
Milo Harcourt
Steven Harcourt
Welsey Harcourt

A very special thanks to my mother Avril Harcourt for her patience, love, understanding, and support over the 13 years of building the boat and the additional 20 years prior supporting our hobby of steamboating. Dad says, “Thank you Bibs, couldn't have done it without you!!”

Thank you for watching!

Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:39 am
by cyberbadger
Congratulations to Persistance and all her crew, watched the whole video and well worth it.

Fantastic!!! :mrgreen:

She looks beautiful and fast!

-CB

Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 8:27 pm
by swedtug
congratulations! well done, an maiden voyage without any leaks or trubble. almost unheard of :)

Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 11:02 am
by dhic001
Congratulations guys. That is quite some achievement. Putting any steamboat into action is quite some job, doing a full size one with all the duplicate systems is even more of an achievement. Glad it went so well, even without any extra work it wouldn't likely go for years as it is, so I hope your dad is getting out and enjoying it.
Daniel

Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 4:46 am
by TahoeSteam
Thank you very much glentlmen! We were truly blessed with good weather, a good crew, and how well everything ran. We originally intended to keep her on Stockton a few days to work any bugs out, but after the hour long shakedown we got back to the marina and were told to look elsewhere for a birth (even though we had arranged with them prior to launching). So the consensus was there were no glaring problems and we had more than 100years of steamboating experience amongst the cew, so we just set off and steamed her to her berth.

Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:15 am
by dampfspieler
Hi Wesley,

congratulations also - the video looks very impressive.

Can you give some technical specifications like steam consumption, steam production, fuel consumption, crusing speed, prop dimensions and so on?

Best Dietrich

Re: Next Weekend II

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 7:37 pm
by TahoeSteam
Hi Detrich. Thank you very much!

She's 40' long and 11'6" wide and weighs about 13 tons. At full throttle she'll consume about 7gallons of really really old vegetable oil ;) an hour. At that rate she is making about 7mph with a 40"x40" 3-bladed propeller. The engine is a Doty compound with conventional slide valves 5"+10"x6" turning about 240rpm.