Re-powering a riverboat

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mtnman
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Re-powering a riverboat

Post by mtnman » Sun Oct 04, 2015 9:35 pm

Imagine this, 55'x14' displacement steel hull. Sternwheeler powered by a 10'x8' wheel (chain driven) with 12 dippers. Weight about 35,000lbs. Previously powered by a 350 Chevy V8. How big of a steam engine will it require to be river worthy? Would a Navy M be enough?
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Re: Re-powering a riverboat

Post by fredrosse » Mon Oct 05, 2015 4:46 pm

Normal practice will require a minimum of 1 horsepower per ton of displacement, although with a typical riverboat that has lots of wind catching area above the waterline, 2 horsepower per ton will be recommended. So that is 35 horsepower, more or less, to achieve 7 to 10 knots, depending on hull streamline shape, etc.

I am told the Navy M is 50 horsepower, but not sure on this. Note that a sternwheeler should use a long stroke engine directly connected to the wheel, and this arrangement would cost far less than the value of a good Navy M engine.

Note with the data provided, the 35,000 pounds displacement is only about 9 inches draft if it is a flat bottom hull.
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Re: Re-powering a riverboat

Post by Bob Cleek » Mon Oct 05, 2015 6:50 pm

Am I correct that the Federal regulations require any steam powered vessel over 40' LOA to carry a licensed engineer and be subject to inspections, etc.? I was aboard the "Mark Twain" at Disneyland last month and even though she runs on a submerged track at low speed in probably six feet of water, she runs on steam and carries an engineer.
mtnman
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Re: Re-powering a riverboat

Post by mtnman » Mon Oct 05, 2015 8:43 pm

Bob Cleek wrote:Am I correct that the Federal regulations require any steam powered vessel over 40' LOA to carry a licensed engineer and be subject to inspections, etc.? I was aboard the "Mark Twain" at Disneyland last month and even though she runs on a submerged track at low speed in probably six feet of water, she runs on steam and carries an engineer.
From what I can find, that would apply to commercial boats for hire or carrying passengers. This is a private live aboard boat, kinda like a Huge bus turned into a motorhome, no CDL required. If someone knows different please speak up.
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Re: Re-powering a riverboat

Post by mtnman » Mon Oct 05, 2015 9:13 pm

fredrosse wrote:Normal practice will require a minimum of 1 horsepower per ton of displacement, although with a typical riverboat that has lots of wind catching area above the waterline, 2 horsepower per ton will be recommended. So that is 35 horsepower, more or less, to achieve 7 to 10 knots, depending on hull streamline shape, etc.

I am told the Navy M is 50 horsepower, but not sure on this. Note that a sternwheeler should use a long stroke engine directly connected to the wheel, and this arrangement would cost far less than the value of a good Navy M engine.

Note with the data provided, the 35,000 pounds displacement is only about 9 inches draft if it is a flat bottom hull.
What a wealth of knowledge there is here. I have given some thought to a conventional sternwheel setup and as of yet there are no firm unchangeable plans. The info above is from existing craft on the river which I'm using as examples. There's quite a few internal combustion powered live aboard sternwheelers out there.

Heck, I don't have a hull yet but I have talked to the owners of several potential hulls and have already talked to the movers about delivery. This project has been brewing for a l o n g time, I though my little launch would suffice but we want to live aboard and 14' is kinda cramped. The wife and I have already done the motorhome thing, lived as full timers traveling the US. We completely wore out a converted bus in 7 years. We've sat still long enough, now we want to do some river traveling. There will be a used steel riverboat hull in my yard in a couple of months.

Back to the conventional sternwheeler long stroke set up. Are there any plans out there? The only examples I find are the BIG paddlewheelers on the Ohio and Mississippi. More to come and pictures too...
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Re: Re-powering a riverboat

Post by DetroiTug » Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:30 pm

Scripps in Texas was at one time selling castings sets in the 5 X 20 range for largish paddle wheel setups. I am guessing that would be too small for a 55 foot boat and a 10 X 8 wheel. Guessing more like 8 X 36. The boiler would need to have over 100 sq ft of heating surface. Private use or not, I think it would still be subject to USCG inspection over 40 feet and government boiler guidelines if the grate is over 2 sq ft, and it would more than likely be.

I know where there is a set of those engines for a large paddle wheeler at, but there is a line of folks after them, and nobody is getting them from what I understand.

For a live aboard, I would get a tug and a boathouse. These were really popular in northern Canada in early last century. They are becoming popular once again over in Europe and here. I've kicked the idea around myself. The weather is too cold here though.

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Re: Re-powering a riverboat

Post by fredrosse » Tue Oct 06, 2015 2:28 pm

DetroitTug has recommended the best solution in my opinion. "For a live aboard, I would get a tug and a boathouse"

Several arrangements allow a tug to be rigidly fixed behind the housebarge (take a look at large size commercial traffic), and the tug is easily detached from the barge. This would allow pushing your houseboat with an under 40 foot steam tug (legal under 40 feet, probably 25-30 feet would do nicely), and when you anchor the barge, you can move around freely with the tug. The Navy M engine in the tug would be a very excellent application.

Of course, many can get the houseboat requirements into a sternwheeler that is only 40 feet long, that is another option, probably lower overall cost.

As far as a long stroke sternwheel riverboat steam engine goes, these can be made up without castings, for example, look at the walking beam sidewheeler engine on my boat, all made without castings. The walking beam engine is different from a sternwheel engine, but the use of a similar process can easily be applied to a sternwheeler engine.
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