Nyitra I

[cyberbadger]

Chippewa Lake Test #2

Report:
HTD belt and pulleys worked well. Much more robust.
New launch record of 4.3 knots(13300 f.p.f). Not too shabby.
Many things worked well, Boiler, Engine, Drive, Both Injectors.

Under estimated fuel to bring, we ended up making a few runs with buckets to gather dry wood from the trees surrounding the boat launch before we steamed away.

A lot more traffic on a weekday for such a small lake. There were every major type of vessel including some elegant fan tail hull that looked like a launch with some IC power plant, sailboats, gasoline planning powerboats, jetskis, other pontoon boats, hand power by kayak and maybe canoe?, and of course Nyitra. We had to wait at least 1/2hr (at least) near ramp the ramp dock to clear on the way out. I was not in a rush. The fire gone had 100psi for station keeping and final docking for towing. The lagging works quite well. It can sit for hours and not loose much pressure unless its super busy.

As I was leaving the boat ramp area with my windows down at the end I enjoyed hearing a 20-something say, "That thing is badass"

-CB

[RGSP]

Very few people would claim that the purpose of steamboats was anything other than having fun, and I'm not sure I believe the few anyway. Congratulations on Nyitra and enjoying yourself.

[cyberbadger]

Well yesterday amongst all the boats in my head the sailboats were my completion. Reenacting the "battles" of the 1800s between sail and steam.

For a little bit two smaller sailing boats followed in my wake side by side stalking me and observing my machinery.

-CB

[cyberbadger]

Getting ready to trailer Nyitra to Chautauqua, were it will be moored.

This is fun and exciting, and now we will see how well she does or doesn't take on water on the pontoons for longer periods. So far so good, everytime I have opened the pontoons there is a whoosh which indicates that they are holding air pressure.

-CB

[Mike Rometer]

Getting ready to trailer Nyitra to Chautauqua, were it will be moored.

This is fun and exciting, and now we will see how well she does or doesn't take on water on the pontoons for longer periods. So far so good, everytime I have opened the pontoons there is a whoosh which indicates that they are holding air pressure.

-CB

A mild positive pressure will keep out water. Maintaining same when you do get a leak is a whole other barrel of fish.

Telephone companies used to keep large cables pressurised to 2psi to keep water away from the PAPER insulation! A graph of drop in pressure along a length could be used to help locate a leak.

[cyberbadger]

Well Nyitra is on Chautauqua now.

Not properly moored because I got side tracked. A neighbor is watching her for 2 days because I had to return the towing vehicle to my friend. It'll be fine as long as there isn't a storm. I have no lift for her, or pilings, or mooring set out yet. So she's tied to the dock temporarily, but these are fresh water lake docks with horses that are not supposed to have boats bumping into them or pushing them around.

I'm having an issue right now with a split tapered bushing that goes with the propellor shaft pulley being cracked.

However even if though It's not was not ideal, Nyitra was a champ and steamed the 2 miles from the boat ramp to the docks. I just took a conservative 2knot speed, which was plenty because I was by myself and that was not intended to happen. :/ So ever five minutes I got up added fuel and/or water. In the mean time the tiller would decide we were going somewhere else until I got back to the skippers seat.

Then as I docked I got into a whistle match back and forth with the Chautauqua Belle across the lake.

5 minutes later the Watercraft Sheriff zoomed past our dock but apparently couldn't recognize a smokey boiler that was the culprit.

-CB

[fredrosse]

When there is no proper dock, I have found this method helpful for leaving the boat unattended, and fairly safe from grounging, curious monkeys, etc:

1. Drop and set anchor off the stern, about 100 feet from shore.
2. Steam directly close to the shoreline with your boat still floating (not aground)
3. Tie the anchor line to a stern cleat, with very little to no slack in the line.
4. Hop ashore with a long bow line in hand. On my boat with its flat bottom and no prop to foul, I can usually get ashore without getting my feet wet, most other steamers can get nearly this close, although often having to walk in the water up to their ankles or knees.
5. Walk along the shoreline, swinging your boat with the anchor as the center of rotation, feeding out the long bow line as you go.
6. When you have swung your boat with enough distance from shore, secure the bow line along the shoreline, to a tree, a big rock, etc.

Now your boat is suspended between the two lines, safe from bumping into anything, and fairly secure, you retrieve the boat in reverse of the above listed steps.

One additional step can make this method more secure when the curious monkeys are clever.
They might see how the boat is secured, and might reverse your method to gain access to the bananas, or other stuff on the boat:

When performing step 5, attach a weight to the long bow line, about 30 feet from the bow, then continue further along the shore until you have the boat with enough distance from shore. When performing step 6, secure the bow line to a rock, or other suitable structure, UNDERWATER. Now the line that lets you retrieve the boat is hidden, and hopefully only you know where to find the shoreline tie-in point.

While this method is not entirely foolproof, it can be effective in several situations, and is certainly better than leaving your boat grounded ashore or on an unsuitable dock.

[Lopez Mike]

Very cool.

I have been doing a version of that for years but I had been relying on an elastic cord in my anchor line to retract the boat from shore or a ring at the anchor with a loop of line reaching the shore to pull the boat too and from the anchor.

For obvious reasons (sluggish brains) I had not thought of walking down the shore a ways to pull the boat away from the shore.

[DetroiTug]

This needs to be mentioned.

Docking a steamer in a marina alongside gas engine speedboats is not really a good idea. I have no idea how you're docked, hopefully they've found you a slip away from others. We throw sparks when we fire up and a lot of sparks if we exhaust up the stack, can't see them in the daylight. I won't tie up to or get in unsafe proximity to a fuel dock at all. I've had people try to wave me in to them to look at the tug and I refuse. Lots of gasoline with explosive fumes and a large open fire is a recipe for something bad. I've had situations at busy boat ramps and lots of speedboats around, to fire up, we drifted out and dropped anchor, then fired up and left. Really no point in staying at the boat ramp to fire up. It's an hour of entertainment watching the yokels who can't back up a trailer, or show up with a flat battery, forget the drain plugs, forget to take the transom straps off etc. and other wise polite folks screaming at each other:) They could make a TV show out of that.

-Ron

[Lopez Mike]

Ramps are a total clown show most of the time. I have friends who own a marina with a ramp and they have a local wrecker/tow rig on their telephone speed dial as people regularly get off of the side or end of the ramp or drown their tow vehicle.

For what it's worth, I have an arrangement on my trailer that I heartily recommend. It consists of two padded planks about a couple of feet long running vertically and touching the hull perhaps a foot back from the bow when the boat is on the trailer. They act as sort of a catcher's mitt to center the boat when I approach the trailer. Along with two plastic pipe covered guides amidships with maybe an inch of room on each side, there is no drama when retrieving. I just steam slowly in until the bow pads stop me, leave the engine running in slow ahead, walk to the front of the boat and attach the trailer cable to the bow eye and relax.

These padded stops replace the usual rubber V-pad or bow roller. Not needed any more. I get all sorts of comments from onlookers, typical of which is, "That's just not cricket!"