"STEAMBOATING FOR DUMMIES"

[quinten1231]

Hi

I am totally new to the entire steam engined machinery and would like to build a boat, boiler, and possibly engine in the far future, I am 23 years old and spontaneously became obsessed with the idea of building and owning a steam boat. I have read every subject in the technical section on this forum, plus some wikipedia sites, however many questions are left open.
i have quite alot of technical knowledge about IC engines and ships in general, however Steam power is like starting all over again.
anyway I am going off-topic. I was hoping to make this post (with your help) a quick guide to the introduction of steam boilers, engines, and other important topics directly related to these, such as feedwater, pumps, piping etc (basically a detailled description of the a steam boat layout), especially because i am already drawing designs of boilers and hulls etc, but I have grinded to a halt because basic knowledge is missing.

I know it is too much to cover in one go, however my goal is not to get in depth technical advice (other posts cover that very well), but more some well drawn diagrams to describe the main parts. for example I am confused about the feedwater system and hotwells, aswell as economizers and condensers, and the countless pipes going all over the place. basically I am asking a sort of "Steamboating for Dummies" but all the threads i have read are very detailed (which is good, but too good at this stage) and nearly impossible to understand if you dont even know what part is what and where they are located in the boat, boiler, engine. the rest we can figure out ourselves, aslong as we understand what we are reading about in the other posts. So if you have any drawings, pics, good links please post them here.
please do not start posting complicated questions in this thread because otherwise it might become cluttered and confusing for beginners.
Sorry for asking such basic stuff, normally wikipedia does the job or books, however Steam is a dying art and not much info can be found online or even books about them (as far as i know), compared to modern engines there are beraly books available on amazon or other sites, so if you know of some good literature related to technical things of steam engines and boilers please post the name and isbn number if available.

Thank you

Quinten

[DetroiTug]

Elliot bay books sells "Steamboats and modern steam launches" by Bill Durham. It is considered the Bible of Modern steamboating. It's a collection of magazines that ran in the early 60's. Lots of good information.

Keep in mind, boats like mine (Iron Chief)are more complex than necessary. I enjoy adding devices and tweaking it. The plant can be as simple as boiler, engine and boiler water feedpump. Beyond that, additional features are added to make it more efficient, safer and easier to use. Although, there should always be at least two ways to get water in to the boiler. I've seen two boats that only had a manual pump.

Feedwater heaters, economizers, superheaters etc are all performance enhancements.

Condensing systems are for capturing spent exhaust steam and recirculating, they are more complex systems, comprising of a condenser and hotwell, and more complex when vaccum pumps, condensate pumps are added.

As far as piping goes, I doubt there are two boats that are piped identically. One of the nice things about the hobby, everyone seems to have their own vision on how their boat should be. Keeps it interesting.

-Ron

[farmerden]

It wasn't that many years ago when looking at my newly purchased boat I might as well have been looking at a nuclear reactor!! Really! Get on a boat. Ask ,push or force yourself on board! I've never seen a steamboater refuse a dedicated beginner.I owe a lot to alot of people and all we can do is pass it down the line And remember there is no such thing as a stupid question. And don't get complicated [yet!] keep it simple. Boilers are simple -we need to get water in and steam out-See -nothing to it! Some details have been omitted for clarity. But get on a boat! Den

[quinten1231]

Thank you Ron, i know that steam engines can become as complex as one wishes, however it never hurts to at least be able to understand everything so that I basically have all options open.

Den, I would like to do that, however i am located in Vienna (Austria) and the steam boat scene is non existent here as far as i know, so the nearest would be somewhere in germany i suppose.
I have looked already at dates for meetings etc, however they are still far away. And i am really looking forward to a event in the netherlands called "Dordt in stoom" but it is every two years only and the next is in 2014.

So yeah, I am kind of dependent on books and internet.

[Lopez Mike]

I forget how we are used to traveling over such long distances here in the U.S.

Vienna to Berlin is 690 km by road. I drove that far yesterday to take care of some rental property. On the other hand, it was all on limited access highway (autobahn) so I just turned up the classical music and watched people drive crazy.

Rainer? Do you know of any steamers closer to him?

Mike

[quinten1231]

well driving 690 km is nothing special to me neither especially on mostly unlimited highway speeds in germany, i used to drive from the netherlands to Switzerland almost every weekend a couple years ago, however those were in times where i didnt mind spending hundreds on fuel. now howerver I dont really want to spend that much money on fuel (and snacks for on the way), especially since i am nowhere near actualy building the boat, its more about getting information and making plans for the future, and it cant get more cost effective than learning at home.
besides that i would rather save up some money for a proper steam event in the future so that i can go there and see multiple ships, engine, and maybe buy something if it is an offer i cant refuse, plus actually understanding what i am looking at

[Lopez Mike]

This is probably the best place I know of to gather information.

At some point I will be putting together a video of starting up my boat. Probably I'll edit out the half an hour of waiting for the pressure to rise!

Mike

[Oilking]

Quinten,
When calculating the cost of building a boat, boiler, and engine, don't forget to include the table saw, planer, bandsaw, welder, cutting toarch, lathe, and mill/drill plus all the tooling and attachments that make them all work. Jump in guys if I forgot something?

Is there room to park your car in the driveway or on the street? There won't be room in the garage for it ! Not to scare you, but if you look closely at pictures posted of someones DIY project you'll see most of the above somewhere in the background.

I was a Navy Boilerman in the early 70's and was given a copy or "Steamboates & Modern Steam Launches" for Christman in 74. It's a true treasure trove for anyone espesially for the novice.

Dream on & Steam on

Dave

[JonRiley56]

Hello and Welcome !

I am new to the activity as well. The Steamboating association of Great Britain has an online version of the Steamboating guide that they make avalable to their members. I would strongly recommend joining so that you can have access to that along with their members and their magazine, The Funnel.

The guide in particular was very useful to me.

Here is their website http://www.steamboatassociation.org.uk/

jon

[quinten1231]

Dave

tools are the least of the problem, before I got into this steam mania I was all about cars. me and my father rebuilt cars and customized them, besides that we also drove a few rally's nothing big or so, but still.
my father has countless tools (except for a milling machine, i keep telling him we need one).
anyway my father owns two oil tankers on the river rhine and yeah, that combined with cars as a hobby requires alot of tools but most of the tools we have are more heavy duty.
we have all the welding equipment, mig/mag, TIG, oxy welding, electrode, we also have a plasma cutter, aswell as a lathe. so that part saves me a ton of money. plus we have good connections with shipyards and other boat related stuff.
my moms garden is huge, so place enough

but like I mentioned before, the boat project is still many years away..........I think

for now its more a daydream rather than a goal.

Jon: thank you, I will register sometime soon