Nyitra I

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cyberbadger
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by cyberbadger » Fri Oct 28, 2016 5:35 am

DetroiTug wrote:That is a great family history and interesting pics.

Your plan is similar to a boat here in Michigan. It's a pontoon as well with a VFT boiler and I think a 3 X 3 1/2 Olds steam engine. It is a paddle wheeler, Moves along nice, lots of room. One of the unique features on the boat is the engine mount is actually a tank or the hotwell, he has a float in there with an arm that comes out the side near the flywheel with a small bell on it. There is a pin in the flywheel - when the water level gets low in the hotwell it rings the bell. Also he has no engine or steam driven pumps (or didn't when I was aboard). Rather a large manual pump that he uses about every 3 or 4 minutes to maintain boiler water level.

If I'm not mistaken, he added one short pontoon in the center mostly forward to carry the extra weight of the boiler. It's a great boat, moves easily, trailers well etc.



Image

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-Ron
So what is this name of this steamboater and his launch?

I'd like to call him up and talk to him about Nyitra... :mrgreen:

-CB
http://nyitra.blogspot.com/
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DetroiTug
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by DetroiTug » Fri Oct 28, 2016 5:18 pm

"So what is this name of this steamboater and his launch, I'd like to call him up and talk to him about Nyitra... :mrgreen:?"

The name of the boat is Venture II. The guy that owns it has (as I heard it), sort of mothballed her and moved on to other interests in life. It has an Olds mill engine of Ransom Olds fame. Last time I seen it he had a firetube boiler installed.

I'm not at liberty to provide his name or contact information without his permission. I rarely talk with him, but if/when I do, I'll mention you'd like to contact him.

-Ron
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cyberbadger
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by cyberbadger » Fri Apr 28, 2017 3:07 am

duplicateplate.jpg
Boiler Plate
duplicateplate.jpg (126.03 KiB) Viewed 8283 times
I had a plate to go outside of the lagging laser etched and sent it back to my boiler make Lund Machine Works(Jeff Lund) to stamp. The 'Duplicate" is required so someone doesn't take it and put it on any old kettle. :) The same is stamped into the boiler shell.

ASME clover Stamp,, S - Steam Stamp, National Board stamp.

I put some(too much) clear enamel on it, it will be on the outside of the mahogany lagging - I hope the enamel doesn't crackle - I'll have to see.

-CB
-
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cyberbadger
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by cyberbadger » Fri Apr 28, 2017 3:19 am

I changed the drive to allow better timing belt tensioning, also the final drive ratio has changed.

Looking at my second water trip this Sunday, again at Wingfoot lake.



Bought some wood (2x12) to put over the stern before Sunday. Right now it's a perfect meat grinder if you would walk of the stern. :shock:

In the clips from the video the boiler was between 50-10 psi with the petcocks open, no flywheel other than the inertia of the pulleys, sprockets, and prop. I love the "how slow can you go" game, and with a non condensing single expansion twin that's definitely a perk.

The exhaust now goes below deck to the boiler where it exhausts up the stack - so she is a puffer. (Stainless steel braided steam hose)

-CB
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by dampfspieler » Fri Apr 28, 2017 6:23 am

Hello,

can you change the video-settings from "private" to "not listed"? I doest play.

Best Dietrich
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cyberbadger
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by cyberbadger » Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:38 am

dampfspieler wrote:can you change the video-settings from "private" to "not listed"? I doest play.
Oops! Should be fixed now.
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by cyberbadger » Mon May 01, 2017 3:37 am

Another success.

Report:
1) Successful second Trip to Wingfoot - only minor burns from accidentally touching hot pipes.
2) Achieved ~max of 4.7 knots. No more timing belt skipping, we stopped a few times to tighten and dial in the tension needed.
3) Boiler - Plenty of Steam. Engine really geared down, perhaps the ratio is too much - the Toledo was only doing 60rpm or less the majority of the time.
4) Wingfoot lake has too much seaweed and it clogs up the prop and we had to stop 6 times to clear the prop. Turned off both inline valves off and opened all petcocks when doing this.

We had the Wingfoot Lake Ohio DNR Watercraft Officer come and pay us a visit. He was very reasonable, "I've been working here for 20 years and this is a new one to me! :)"
I just explained that we had all the safety equipment and that it was a steamboat with an old engine and a new boiler.

Wingfoot lake is in Summit County, which is adjacent to Medina County. So we heard the story of the Medina explosion several times today from spectators. Basically when I just explained a few of the many things that went wrong on the day of the Case traction engine explosion and the differences with Nyitra's rig they seemed fine - got smiles and lots of sort of blank stares and several "What is that?".

One man asked me if I was a boilermaker because he was of the understanding that you need to be a boilermaker to run a boiler.

Very positive crowd - and we had people bring out lawn chairs around the lake and watch us.

I think mainly most of the public has no clue, and it helps to be able to (hopefully) give them a more positive view of steam.

Note in the video below right to right of the boiler the yellow dot moving up and down is the cross-head pin of the forward cylinder.


Need bigger rudder, sometimes did not have as much authority as I would have wished.

Probably need to start looking at larger diameter props....

-CB
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by cyberbadger » Tue May 23, 2017 9:52 pm

Went of on Chipewa lake, got up to 3.7knots - then timing belt broke. :( No one hurt.

A very nice gentleman gave us a tow back to the dock.



-CB
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by cyberbadger » Wed May 24, 2017 2:06 am

Trip Report:
1) Nyitra Achieved 3.7 knots (4.25mph) - new max speed
2) Shortly after steaming across 1/3 of Chippewa lake rubber transmission timing belt snapped. This belt is used to transmit motion from the jack(on deck) shaft to propeller shaft.
3) Received a tow from a 50hp internal combustion boat and a very nice man who would no accept a tip and said pay it forward....

* Successfully used penberthy injector using direct from lake water. [penberthy mesh basket style inlet filter + inline cast iron filter.]
* Trailer Lights repaired and on the correct sides (left/right was swapped)
* Initial cold-fill electric pump setup a little more robust

-CB
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Re: Nyitra I

Post by SL Ethel » Thu May 25, 2017 1:30 pm

It sounds like you are getting the bugs sorted out. Next time it'll probably be you giving the broken infernal combustion boat a tow (which is always a VERY satisfying experience).

One striking thing I noticed in your narrative is "plenty of steam". Many, if not most, of our plants, have engines that can swallow more steam than we can produce - essentially we're boiler limited. If you are only turning 60 RPM and can keep steam pressure all the way up, you definitely have room to develop more horsepower and (probably) speed. I would think about 200 rpm as a comfortable slow cruising rpm for your engine, which is probably comfortably capable of at least double that. If you have enough steam for 200 rpm, you'd approximately triple your power output. Something to think about when doing the belt replacement - maybe adjust the ratio a bit at the same time and see if it gives you another knot.

Please keep the updates coming. It's been great getting to watch your boat come to life.

Cheers,
Scott
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