Rushforth

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mcandrew1894
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Re: Rushforth

Post by mcandrew1894 » Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:03 am

Hi Piet,

Cut off is the point in the stroke of the engine when the steam valve stops letting steam into the cylinder. From there it expands until release.
Most small Marine engines are in the 75% stroke on up to 90% with the link in full gear. This means your valve is traveling the furthest ....

If you know when the engine stops letting steam in, you can get a good idea on how much steam she will use.


Another approach used by many with small engines is to assume the engine takes steam FULL stroke. The reason for doing this is that most small engines have significant condensation losses. This method should give you a conservative estimate.

Dave
piet schuurs
Steam on Deck
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Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:32 am
Boat Name: Panatela
Location: Netherlands / Europe
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Re: Rushforth

Post by piet schuurs » Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:17 am

Right,
Iám going to open the steamvalve chest to look for it.
Just becourse Iám interested. The boilers is allreade there, but its handy to know where things go wrong if the are go wrong. I'll let you know.
This morning there was falling some snow in Holland, 2 " only. The whole country, as small as it is, was one traffic jam.
But the looks are beautifull.
Come back to you Dave.

Piet
mcandrew1894
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Re: Rushforth

Post by mcandrew1894 » Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:39 am

I'll run the numbers for you this weekend...

Dave
mcandrew1894
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Re: Rushforth New bow eye

Post by mcandrew1894 » Sun Jun 20, 2010 1:25 am

Hello All,

Last fall I brought my boat out for one last hurra on Halloween day.

The rain was coming and there was a 20-35 knot wind. It was all uneventful, albiet wet, until it came time to put her on the trailer. The result...long story short, the rather stout bow eye was bent beyond all recognition.

Well. I repaired the very minor stem damage and cut what was left of the bow eye off. I decided on an even stouter redesign of the bow eye.

I purchased a 10 cwt manganese bronze shackle and made a shouldered eye bolt for it to mount on. The bolt is made from billet silicon bronze. My numbers say I can hang the whole boat and passengers from this! I came out very nice. I get to put it on tomorrow if the rain holds off.

The ball was turned using the "trig" method. I made a spreadsheet and calculated the sine of the angle for various positions from 0 to about 160 degrees. I then plunge cut to the associated radius. Did every 4 degrees and then smoothed it over with a file.

The material is tough! VERY stringy and difficult. But the turned finish is nice

Dave
Image


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mcandrew1894
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Re: Rushforth

Post by mcandrew1894 » Sun Sep 12, 2010 11:34 pm

Took her out today with a new carrier bearing design and engine coupling.

It worked very well as did the new whistle plumbing....I finally have a whistle that works and sounds good!

I found the vacuum leak (port plug that was loose) and now I have 15" hg at full throttle...thats just fine by me.

I found a company that mills hard wood floors and I bought a truck load of kiln dried oak, maple and ash.....all in pieces the size of a fist by about 3/4 thick, neatly bagged.....burns HOT!

On my first really "high speed" run, I had the blower open, the throttle full and the link out full..and I had 120 and climbing on the clock....she moves!

Very happy...The one casualty was a loose pump bracket that is very hard to tighten up when HOT, and a lost pawl spring on my con rod oil feed pump, so it stopped working....I saw it in time before damage was done and I pumped it manually....I tore it off with the cuff of my pants....my bad.

I'll take care of that.....I'll be at Lee's Mills later this week wooohoo....been waiting a long time to do this... :D

Dave
mcandrew1894
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Starting the layup

Post by mcandrew1894 » Sat Oct 23, 2010 1:52 pm

Well, its been a good year.....but winter is coming.

I will be starting the tear down for the winter, but this year I will be doing it the way I designed it. The engine and boiler will be coming out on their bearer, as a unit.

This will be interesting....I will be making room in my shop for all this, and that will be a challange as I have a lathe rebuild project going on....but you can't stop mother nature....


Dave
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