The Steamboating Forum

Hello Steamboating forum...

This is just the requested "initial post to say hello"!

I have joined as having run into the Steamboat association at a couple of events, and being a model engineer and generally mechanically obsessed, I suddenly found myself reading every thing I could on steamboats and endlessly browsing the copy of "The Register"...

So the (now well recognised) symptoms suggest that I am about to embark on building a steamboat...

The current plan

Having reviewed lots of stuff I think I really like the smaller of the two AA Leak compound design being sold now by Camden Books - I think I will start with this... it will be a bit bigger than the 5-inch Steam loco I recently completed, but familiar territory - if anybody has any comments on this choiice, I am all ears...

Then I think the boiler will come next, not being a coded welder, and not being a fan of vertical fire-tube boilers, I fancy a horizontal water tube design, I was thinking a Yarrow-like design, but see that the Steamboat association seems to publish some suitable designs - I am (now desperatly) waiting for my membership there to get processed, so that I can look into these a bit deeper.

For the Hull, I really think a strip-plank-built design from Selway fisher looks the way to go... Living in Hampshire I wanted to build something which would be happy in Poole Harbour or the solent, and was trailable behind the LandRover, and Paul is recommending the Ijssel or Golden Bay in 26-foot form might be appropriate

Any comments on the suitability of this combination or other approaches would be welcome...

Welcome to the Steamboating Forum, and best wishes on your steamboat project.

I have built models and larger (several horsepower) steam engines, and for me, the larger engines are easier to work with. Boilers, the smaller ones (for models) are much less work than the steamboat sized boilers.

It appears that you are taking on a big project, but all of it can be a rewarding experience. Cruising along the water in a boat with an engine you built, that is moving by fire, is a treasure for most of this group.

Yes, I think this is a major project, although I am rather hoping that it will take less than the 25 years the steam loco took - I am counting on the fact that I effectivly served my apprentiship on that, and am faster now, and have built/aquired most of the tooling needed!

Malxolm

From a previous post on this Forum, you may find informative:

In the USA you can get a good fiberglass sailboat hull, 16 - 20 feet long, with trailer, for about $100 US on ebay. Cutting out the centerboard well and fitting in a propeller tube costs about $100 plus 40 hours work. I have built an all-electric 14 ft launch this way, and it has given satisfactory service for over 5 years now. Any reasonable woodworker can do this work.

A steam engine can be built from a single cylinder mower engine, or from a cast iron two cylinder air compressor. Again, this stuff will cost around $100 US, plus about 100 hours labor, with an amature machinist and some machine tools. I even made such an engine with only hand tools and a brazing torch, although it was a crude one, it worked well. More traditional engines ususlly will cost into the "thousands", unless there is a free machinist nearby.

The boiler is another matter, and one concerning safety. They can be fabricated from pipe fittings, and pipe coils, but should have a high standard of both design as well as construction. Regulations may apply, and you should be sure to adequately investigate your options here. Dependiing on your skill level, the boiler may cost from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

Fitting out the boat with piping and valves, pumps, etc will consume at least a few hundred dollars and another 100 hours of work.

At that point you could have a workable steamboat with minimum capital.

Used steamboats do come up, costing from several thousand to tens of thousands of US dollars.

Having said that, I am presently building a 20 ft steamboat, and I estimate the total costs, including labor, of about $100,000 US. So you see, there is a large range of options to get into steamboating.