The Steamboating Forum

Greetings All,
My name is Josh, I'm from St Criox Falls Wisconsin, and I'm totally hooked on steam launches.
A little about me- I'm 18. I'm hoping to go to school for mechanical engineering and I've been interested in steam engines and steam power ever since I got to ride in a monstrous Rumley Oil Pull tractor a family friend owned.
My Goal- Is to build a small steam launch using a Ray HasBrouck #10 engine, a VFT boiler, and get it to drive a 14 or 15ft hull
I've creeped on the forum for a couple weeks and finally decided to become a part of a really nice
community.

Dear Josh ,
Welcome .
Several people in this forum have a lot of direct experience of steam boats/launches many others have a lot of engineering know-how and all are only too happy to share their knowledge and give advice ; so don't be scared of asking questions .
The only problem when you ask a question is that you are likely to get several answers , all different but all also correct . So you have to select the answer that you personally prefer .

Best Regards Edward.

Dear Josh ,
Welcome .
Several people in this forum have a lot of direct experience of steam boats/launches many others have a lot of engineering know-how and all are only too happy to share their knowledge and give advice ; so don't be scared of asking questions .
The only problem when you ask a question is that you are likely to get several answers , all different but all also correct . So you have to select the answer that you personally prefer .

Best Regards Edward.

Hello Josh, and welcome to the forum.

I too am totally hooked on steam launches, steam engines and steam power ever since my father showed one to me in 1951!
A Ray HasBrouck engine, a VFT boiler, and a simple 14 or 15ft hull will do very nicely. Currently building a 14 ft fast steamer (15 HP, 15 MPH).
Good luck with your study of Mechanical Engineering, our country needs technical talent.

Welcome Josh.

Sounds like your plan is quite doable, if you have any questions, feel free. Great resource for steamboat information here on the forum.

-Ron

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Right now I'm waiting on delivery of my CAD program and on the $ for my engine plans. I've been doing research on all parts of the steam plant and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to design and at least fabricate the majority of the components. I have my boiler idea on lots of napkins and I'll post it when i have it into Pro-E and let you guys tear it apart.

Welcome Josh It's good you used napkins for your ideas -they are easy to tear apart! I envy you young guys and your CAD programs-I still have a rotary phone and am not at all Hi-tech. Remember it's better to ask dumb questions than to make dumb mistakes.We've all been there and any question no matter how simple is welcome here! Den

Welcome Josh, you'll be in good hands here, the guys are a great help. I just finished my #10 and VFT. Now on to my boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fclAcP7J ... re=related

John

Thanks again. And John... I have something to confess... I've watched those three videos at least a dozen times now. If you don't mind me asking, can you give me your boiler specs? (heating area, overall dimensions, # of tubes ect.) Just so I know if I'm in in the ballpark on my napkin design.

The boiler is 16.5 inches diameter 26.250" tall. Fire box is 12" tall. I have 85 tubes with .750" i.d. It seems to work ok but i've only ran it for a few hours. The safety valve is set at 125psi, i pressure tested to 175psi. I put a 1/2" outlet for mainsteam, 1/2" for the whistle, 3/8" outlet for my penberthy 3/8" injector, 1/4" outlet for my stack blower, 1" outlet bushed down to 1/2" for the safety. The feed water runs up oneside of the boiler around a coil on top of the top tube sheet then down te otherside and into the bottom of the boiler. I have the crosshead driven pump from the Hasbrouck drawings, the injector, and a hand pump.