Hello from Louisville Kentucky!
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- Just Starting Out
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 3:30 pm
- Boat Name: Belle of Louisville
Hello from Louisville Kentucky!
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.
- fredrosse
- Full Steam Ahead
- Posts: 1906
- Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:34 am
- Boat Name: Margaret S.
- Location: Phila PA USA
- Contact:
Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!
Good to have you aboard. Could you tell us some technical information about the ship, and it's power plant?
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- Warming the Engine
- Posts: 86
- Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:13 pm
- Boat Name: Tenacity
Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!
Welcome to the forum, that is quite some ship you look after. Double beat valves on the inlets?
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- Just Starting Out
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 3:30 pm
- Boat Name: Belle of Louisville
Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!
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.
- DetroiTug
- Full Steam Ahead
- Posts: 1863
- Joined: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:56 pm
- Boat Name: Iron Chief
- Location: Northwest Detroit
Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!
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
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
- cyberbadger
- Full Steam Ahead
- Posts: 1123
- Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:16 pm
- Boat Name: SL Nyitra
- Location: Northeast Ohio, USA
Re: Hello from Louisville Kentucky!
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
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