The Steamboating Forum

Fred,

From what I understand by reading and observation, Gasoline is much easier to deal with in a vaporizing burner. Very easy to vaporize. My burner in it's original configuration was an exact copy of another burner that burned Gasoline just fine. But mine would not burn Kerosene reliably or completely. Now that it burns Kerosene, Gasoline should be no trouble at all. Just refraining from using it because of it's volatility.

Many of the car folks using the Baker type burners mix 50-50 gas to kero. I can write this here without ducking, but the Baker type burners seem to not work too well with straight kerosene. Leading some to say Kerosene isn't what it used to be etc. I would think Kerosene is better than it's ever been with better refinement controls. Kerosene lamps still work as good as they always did..

Ofeldts' (Now the Jenny Products Corporation, as in Steam Jenny which they invented) rise to fame was selling retrofit boilers and burners for steam cars - they were better. Insurance companies of the period would not insure a car burning gasoline. That kept Ofeldt in business.

They also invented the Naptha launch.

-Ron

My little boat has a vaporising burner setup that is fed by air regulated to 8 psi over the fuel. It has 2 tanks, one with kerosene for normal running & a second for varsol (paint thinner) for starting. A simple 3 way fuel valve from an army truck selects the supply tank. The varsol burns much cleaner than kerosene & is used until the burner is hot & working well. This avoids the black smoke that could offend the dock dwelling tree huggers & soot up the internals.
The setup worked for many years for the previous owner & I did run it on land last fall after a complete rebuild of the power plant but have not been able to water test the boat due to weather. If the ice ever goes out of our lakes it will be tried soon.

Jack

I also use paint thinner (unscented mineral spirits), for my Aladdin Kerosene lanterns. It burns much cleaner with no odor. Good Kerosene burners (wick type) are OK, but there is usually at least a slight scent of the Kerosene, which simply does not occur with the mineral spirits as fuel. It is however way too expensive to burn in anything but an indoor lantern, or as a startup fuel.

I burnt coal on the tug one time and one time only. After a few hours there was black grime all over the place. Being a tug it gave it a nice turn of the century industry patina. It was a mess. Can't imagine burning that all of the time. They have another type around here called "Hiawatha" which is supposed to be better. I'm sticking with wood. The thought of having 20 gals or so of fuel in proximity to a raging fire in an enclosed hull is not appealing. I carry a buck saw, if I run out of wood I can always go ashore and find a dead tree and get more fuel. Kerosene is expensive and hard to find anywhere nowadays. Only one gas station has it here that I know of and its about 25 miles away. Can't imagine trying to find it out on the water. Deezel would be available.

-Ron

I steam most of the time on tidal salt waters and when I think I need a bit more fuel I have found that the woody debris above the high tide line is usually quite dry and free of salt. Fir bark seems to generate a lot of heat.

I tried sawing up larger hunks and it wasn't worth the effort as well as sometimes irritating the land owners. When I am fossicking about with a bag for chips with this weird boat beached behind me, I have universally been welcomed with curiosity.

Flipping the switch and having the fire go out is a nice pro. I really don't want to burn up my WT boiler. I kind of like the kerosene smell, am I weird? Filled to the glass it's 15 gallons. I would like to try wood someday, but would have to rack it to the gunwales ("gunnels in these parts) for a 1/2 day trip. Has anyone tried charcoal? At $5.25 a gallon last year kerosene isn't cheap, but it's a steamboat.

asal0312 wrote: I kind of like the kerosene smell, am I weird?

Not in my book. Even though my launch won't be liquid fueled - a lot of oils have strong memories for different people.

Black Cat, White Cat the movie 1998 (no steam, not in English) - has a hilarious scene early in the movie - Some Russians sold watered down diesel. The son informs the father - and he samples the two 55 gallon drums. He samples the Diesel drum - and drinks it - yup thats diesel. He samples the other drum and tastes it and spits it out - that's water! (Technically - if there are no additives petroleum diesel is inert to a human body..)

asal0312 wrote:Has anyone tried charcoal? At $5.25 a gallon last year kerosene isn't cheap, but it's a steamboat.

Kerosene I believe isn't cheap anymore because there is very low demand for it now days in the US/UK. Unless you want RP-1 - but then you aren't talking about gallons - but many thousands of gallons.

Charcoal? There is a steam bike (slow) Roper clone video and they used the stupid barbeque brickets sold as char coal. They aren't really charcoal - compressed sawdust and some chemicals are what they are. In my area Ohio, USA I've found actual lump charcoal - which is nice but not economical for steam boilers.

I think the liquid fuel route is less flexible in the end for a hand fired boiler. You can always drip liquid fuel onto a little bit of stuff - but can you fit coal or wood into your "fancy" burner area.

If it's combustible - whether liquid or solid - it will burn and raise steam - just make sure your boiler is ok with the arrangement. It's good to consider where you will be steaming and what is available.

There is place maybe 20min drive from me and they sell coal (bituminous and anthracite) by the pound. US $0.11/pound. You drive your car - they weigh your car. - Then you go and grab what you want - and weigh your car.

It's a good local deal - but for my launch - I can't expect I will be able to get coal that cheap. Wood will probably be my choice .....

-CB

Have always burned wood on the tug except for the one test on coal. It is the easiest to get along with. In plenty just about wherever one wants to travel inland. It's easier on the boiler, liquid fuels are very hot very fast which can easily overheat and stress the tube joints of a firetube boiler as they expand much more rapidly in the upper portion than the shell in length. No batteries/charging systems. No plumbing, vaporizers or jets to deal with. And if one wants to put forth the effort, it is nearly free.

I've decided since my tug has been running, if I had to positively get somewhere on the water, I'd take the tug. Years ago there was a documentary about a group of young guys who ran the Yukon river on a raft. Their only method of propulsion was a small outboard motor, which they ran out of fuel with in short order. At that point, it was worthless cargo. In a scenario like that, the steam engine would have been the way to go. If I operated a boat in a remote area and my survival could well depend on it, it would be a wood-fired steamboat.

-Ron

The African Queen. Heart of Darkness. Maybe they were fiction but they were based on the reality of appropriate technology in low tech situations. My big concession to personal sloth is a plumber's torch to make it easier to light the fire.

I suppose if things fell apart so badly that I couldn't buy matches and lubricating oil, I would have more important things to worry about.

Lopez Mike wrote:The African Queen. Heart of Darkness. Maybe they were fiction but they were based on the reality of appropriate technology in low tech situations. My big concession to personal sloth is a plumber's torch to make it easier to light the fire.

I suppose if things fell apart so badly that I couldn't buy matches and lubricating oil, I would have more important things to worry about.

Personal sloth hehehe .................... I too use a plumbers torch to encourage the fire. On a side note I told my pastor that I had identified my spiritual gifts as sloth and gluttony and he didnt seem impressed...............