The Steamboating Forum

Thanks Peter, this is a new Mk 3 control system I have developed since you were here and it really works beautifully I have had the boat on the water about 6 times now and have not had to make any adjustments ,I am looking forward to the upcoming summer to do a lot more steaming !

Hi Mike ,some pics of my canopy as requested , I laminated the frame from 2 layers of 1 1/2"X 3/4"hardwood using the boat as a jig the original idea was to follow the coaming however it sprang when I released the clamps so ended up with a bit less curve ! I had several goes at the front se...

And a pic through the fire door (pardon the house keeping but I have not removed any ash for about 12 months)

Hi Mike,Mike,Ron and anyone else interested I have attached a brief video of my pellet burner ramping from low fire to high (please excuse the blower noise I think I had the camera volume too high and some stills of the feeder and engine and pellet bunker and control panel. http://www.youtube.com/wa...

Hi Mike and Ron, I understand the deezel wasn't a typo now , I have my Mk 3 Arduino based pellet control system working now and it works beautifully ,I have fired the boiler about five times over the past two days to make sure there are no bugs (and because its fun to fire it up ) it has worked perf...

Hi Ron, yes I am aware of the brick wall and am not trying to knock it down but just like computerizing IC engines the electronic control doesn't necessarily make the engine more efficient except for cutting down on wasted fuel but it makes it much easier to drive the boat just as it would greatly i...

Hi Mike, been there and done all that ,the reason I use forced draft is to get enough air flow and be able to control the air flow easily and accurately, I tried it with a 1 mm steam jet up the funnel but it used too much steam but I keep a large spoon on board so if the electronics fail I can use t...

Hi Mike, the pellet feeder cycles around every 15 seconds on high fire and about 2.5 minutes on low fire which just keeps the fire burning but does not blow the safety valve if the engine is not running , I adjust high fire so the boiler runs at about 80 psi with the engine full ahead . I have a pre...

Hi Mike, yes all the air passes through the holes some up through the bottom and some through the side ,the boiler is a VFT with 108 X1" copper tubes X 500 mm long and about 45 sq ' heating surface . I have attached a sketch of the boiler and pellet feeder setup. the latest feeder has a 12 mm t...

http://i.imgur.com/2yqdmPmb.jpg Hi Mike, I think that was my fault ,I think there needs to be a Learner plate smilie ? My son reckons Imgur.com is the way to go for posting pics but note it automatically includes the img and brackets so if you use the img button you end up with two sets and it does...