Hello from Louisville Kentucky!

Read this first then introduce yourself here.
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steamchief
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Boat Name: Belle of Louisville

Hello from Louisville Kentucky!

Post by steamchief » Sat Jul 16, 2016 1:02 am

Hello from Louisville, Kentucky! I am a licensed chief engineer on the Steamer Belle of Louisville. I started as an engineer on the Belle 22 years ago and have been licensed since 2003. The Belle is the oldest Mississippi style sternwheeler operating in the United States.
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fredrosse
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Boat Name: Margaret S.
Location: Phila PA USA
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Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!

Post by fredrosse » Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:33 am

Good to have you aboard. Could you tell us some technical information about the ship, and it's power plant?
johngriffiths
Warming the Engine
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Boat Name: Tenacity

Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!

Post by johngriffiths » Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:34 am

Welcome to the forum, that is quite some ship you look after. Double beat valves on the inlets?
steamchief
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Boat Name: Belle of Louisville

Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!

Post by steamchief » Tue Jul 19, 2016 2:16 am

The Belle has a set of "high pressure" non-condensing steam engines with double poppet inlet valves, rated at 500 HP. Steam is supplied from a battery of three fire tube boilers, using raw water from the Ohio River. There is no distillation plant, nor does the steam return to the boiler from any of the equipment--very typical for boats of its day. This makes for less equipment to run and maintain, but the maintenance is very labor intensive. The Belle is 102 years old, but much of her equipment (including the main engines) was salvaged from older boats. She has no bow or stern thrusters, so she relies on the use of a steam-powered capstan on the bow and steam-assisted steering of three rudders forward of her stern wheel as she was originally built for landings and departures. The boiler is fired with #2 fuel oil through for natural draft burners operated manually by an engineer while underway. She has been fired with oil since 1954 and was coal prior to that. The Belle runs 2-3 hour excursions from spring until fall and is shut down during the winter as she stays at her moorings in Louisville. While underway, we carry a striker/oiler, fireman, and one licensed engineer. On deck we carry a captain, pilot, mate, and four deckhands. We also have to carry a purser along with varying numbers of food service crew. The Belle is owned by the city of Louisville and managed as a non-for-profit.
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DetroiTug
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Boat Name: Iron Chief
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Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!

Post by DetroiTug » Tue Jul 19, 2016 12:18 pm

Chief, Welcome to the forum.

Thank you for participating and the info on the operation of the Belle. I run my little tug much the same way. Water straight out of the river, non-condensing.

A few questions if you don't mind:

I don't use any water treatment and the dry stored boiler which is used intermittently is holding up just fine, Is any water treatment used on the Belle?

How are the boilers holding up? How often are they hydro'd, ultrasounded, replaced etc?

Hydrostatic oiling of the steam?

What type of feedwater heaters and how many? What injection temperature is sought?

Thanks, Ron
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cyberbadger
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Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!

Post by cyberbadger » Wed Jul 20, 2016 3:40 am

steamchief,

Very cool. I'm from Ohio and my aluminum pontoon launch has an engine about the same vintage as the Belle, it's a 1902 Toledo Steam Car Engine. But a lot less HP, 6. :)

Love it when someone who has first hand experience with ship-size steam posts here! Neat technical information!

-CB
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