Here are a couple of pix of my boat "Light-er-up"

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wsmcycle
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Boat Name: FEARLESS,l'il steamy
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Here are a couple of pix of my boat "Light-er-up"

Post by wsmcycle » Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:45 pm

As you can see in the pix, I took out the Stuart6 and put the Semple single back in it. The Semple is not nearly as cool but it is "more smiles per mile" as Ron says. I bought the boat in Tyler Texas about a year ago and it had the Semple boiler and engine in it. The transom had some rotted boards and a few of the ribs had to be replaced. I don't know what kind of boat it is. The Bow has a place for some kind of removable vertical pole,(you can see it in the second pic) maybe a sail but that doesn't make sense because it is a flat bottom boat. Maybe something military. Anyway, it is lot of fun on the Arkansas river. We have a series of locks that you can traverse all the way accross Arkansas to the Mississippi river. I am planning to take that slow trip. I burn local free coal but man it is dirty business. I simply inject river water into the boiler to make steam and I have no recovery system. I am going to install some tubing for an economizer. I wonder if i could just install a counterflow heat exchanger to the exhaust to preheat the makeup water. I enjoy the lively discussions and knowledge to be gained here on the forum. The boat is 17 X 7 and 2 foot draft.

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Last edited by wsmcycle on Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SteamGuy
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Re: Here are a couple of pix of my boat "Light-er-up"

Post by SteamGuy » Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:25 pm

I am in Memphis, so if you want to stop by I can meet you at Mud Island Marina and bring you supplies, or just chat.

I have been down the River in my Whaler to Helena, and on my Dad's boat up the Mississippi to the Ohio, then the Tennessee to Chattanoga, and back to Memphis.

My dad took his houseboat several times down the Tombigby waterway to the Gulf.

We have a long history of boating in the family.

I don't have a steamboat at the present, but know what I want, and hope to change that some day.

Pat J
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fredrosse
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Re: Here are a couple of pix of my boat "Light-er-up"

Post by fredrosse » Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:24 am

Nice boat setup, and glad you are going to take some distant trips. As to the coal mess, try packaging your coal in ordinary paper lunch bags. You can spend some time making up a few hundred of them (and then take a shower), loaded into milk crates or similar containers. Then you just open the fire door and toss in another bag, a little less mess in handling the coal. If you can find some low ash coal, even less mess.
wsmcycle
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Boat Name: FEARLESS,l'il steamy
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Re: Here are a couple of pix of my boat "Light-er-up"

Post by wsmcycle » Wed Mar 21, 2012 1:55 pm

brown paper bags! A small heavy wall bag like they used to put half gallon ice cream carton in would be great.
What a great idea. I will try that this weekend. The weather here is supposed to be in the high 70's. Do you buy coal?
How do you receive it? bags, boxes, pallets..... If I could find a place to buy it, perhaps I could buy a big pallet load and have it shipped here.
I have a loading dock. My business is a pretty large production machine company so I have fork lifts and such.
Thanks

Pat J
The arkansas runs into the mississippi way south of helena, so I wont be coming through memphis. I wish I were though. It would be nice to meet you. I have been to many concerts out on mud island. Maybe a trip from memphis down to the arkansas would be fun. How fast does the Misssissippi flow? I might not be able to go up stream. I can only make about 6-7mph. The Arkansas is like a series of lakes. It usually flows quite slowly.
Thanks for the offer.
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SteamGuy
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Re: Here are a couple of pix of my boat "Light-er-up"

Post by SteamGuy » Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:11 pm

WSM-

The Mississippi often flows at 7.5 to 8.0 mph, measured on a Garmin, so you will be headed towards New Orleans.

You can use a trick that the old river guys use if you know the river and its dike system, which is to find where the river is swirling around the dikes and things, and stay on the slack side of the river at all times. Since the Mississippi constantly bends, this is not difficult, and often you can actually see an upstream current from the eddys in many places.

Good luck on your trip, sounds like fun.

Pat J
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Richard Orr
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Re: Here are a couple of pix of my boat "Light-er-up"

Post by Richard Orr » Sun May 20, 2012 5:21 pm

Hello, LIGHTENING THE BOAT, I live in Fayetteville and am building a large sternwheeler. Not too manyy steamers in this area. Perhaps we shold get ntogether and compare notes.

Regards Richard
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