DetroiTug's Tug is going together

[DetroiTug]

Thanks for the compliment. Yes, it is riding a bit high. There is a lot of hardware, windows, doors, bronze parts to add, plus the boiler is empty, boiler water alone will add about 300 pounds. Then a few hundred pounds of wood. Then with a crew and gear aboard, it should be sitting down close to the "Loaded" water line on the drawings. The best I can guesstimate, it's about 2" high at the stern and about 4" high at the stem. Rough calcs say, 500 pounds will bring it down 1". It needs to come down averaging stem and stern, 3 inches, so about 1500 pounds additional weight. Should be very close.

On another hull, heavier plating would not be a problem, even 10 ga keel on up would be fine.

It was quite a thrill to see it float off the trailer, and step aboard from the dock and walk around in it.

I have a hunch, she should move easily, considering the waterline and angle of the plating to the water, it is very streamlined, should be very little drag on the hull. Curious to see how she'll do.

-Ron

[DetroiTug]

Made it out to the Michigan Steamboat meet. A lot of nice boats and good folk there. A lot of fun.

Here is bkueber's boat "Pssst" What a nice runner! Really finished out nice...



Here is Iron Chief. Very satisfied with the way she runs and handles. Bret and others helped out immensely with their steaming knowledge, so I now have a list of tweaks before the next outing. Nothing major, just insulation and a few modifications. It will run all the way down to about 6 psi. Most of the running was on 30 psi. At 100 psi leaving the dock, the whole boat would shudder, and go fast, not sure how fast, but she was moving right along



Here she is with 10 or 11 people aboard, when I looked back all I could see was heads. There were three in the wheelhouse (Man and woman sitting in the starboard door), 2 or 3 in the engine space and 5 on the aft deck. Towards the end of the trip, all the women moved to the wheelhouse, something about my feedwater heater / condenser / scalding hot shower behind the stack they didn't like The exhaust manifold needs a drain. It belches a half cup er so of water every few minutes when the feedpump is engaged.





Thanks for all the input, critique, advice and encouragement from the forum members as well, that helped make this project a resounding success.

There are some videos too, will get them posted as soon as I can.

-Ron

[dhic001]

Well done Ron, glad you had a successful first steam meeting with the boat. Its definitely a big boost to actually have it operating.

One thought that i had on reading your post was the experience i've had running Zeltic at low pressures. I don't know if you use cylinder lubrication (if you haven't done, don't start), but I found that running at low pressures plays havoc with the lubrication of the slide valve. Under 50psi, and definitely under 30, the steam is so wet that it basically washes the lubrication off the valve faces. The result is that the slide valve binds to the face making the engine almost impossible to use. A simple relubing of the valve solved the problem. I've never had this problem when running at higher pressures (usually 60-100 psi). May be worth noting in the memory bank.

Interested in your hot shower issue. Have you worked out what is causing it? To my mind, the feed pump shouldn't have that much effect on the exhaust, and thus shouldn't be sending a shower up the stack. I can understand a shower on initial starting of the engine, but once underway I would expect the exhaust to remain fairly constant. Lagging will definitely help though, as the steam getting to the engine will be that much hotter. Interested to hear yours and other thoughts on this, have no experience of operating a puffer, all our boats being condensing (and even on a lake i'd go the same way).

Daniel

[artemis]

... Towards the end of the trip, all the women moved to the wheelhouse, something about my feedwater heater / condenser / scalding hot shower behind the stack they didn't like The exhaust manifold needs a drain. It belches a half cup er so of water every few minutes when the feedpump is engaged.

The problem is caused by your intermittent use of the feed pump. When cool feedwater (from the lake/river in your case) indirectly encounters the exhaust steam in the feedwater heater, more of the exhaust steam is condensed and enters the "exhaust pipe". Put a steam trap at the bottom of the exhaust steam side of the heater (and discharge this over the side). Steam traps are available at most steam supply houses. As you are using exhaust steam, there is no pressure to speak of so the steam trap need not be rated for more than about 15psi. Use the shortest and straightest discharge possible!

[Johnlanark]

Well done Ron, you only started this thread last March and you have a wonderful boat going already - puts some of us to shame. She looks great - I'm sure you will soon sort the small niggles and have years of fun. Regards, John

[DetroiTug]

Ron, Yes that is what is happening. It was so much water at one point, I thought the feedwater heater was leaking. At the dock I closed the feedwater valve at the boiler and rocked the engine over with the bypass closed and the heater coil held pressure (110 psi) just fine, so that proved it was simply condensate. On the plus side, the feedwater heater works great, as the condensate is evidence of the heat transfer. The line coming out is too hot to touch. Thats one of the things fighting me on steam pressure, the water lands on the top tube sheet and and cools the boiler, only thing worse would be a block of ice.

Daniel, There didn't seem to be any lubrication problems, the engine ran great with oil in the steam line.

John, Thanks, yes I'm looking forward to much steaming ahead. It was a busy project with many late nights, but the first time I walked up from the engine room and felt the wind in my face, it made it all worth it.

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o4_5s8D3zK4?hl=en&fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4_5s8D3zK4

The bearded fellow in the video is Tony Grzyb, of steambike and steamcar fame, he helped me all three days running the boat, we had a blast.

-Ron

[fredrosse]

Congradulations on a job very well done! It looks as if the machinery will easily be able to make hull speed, probably even a little better. A steel hull, and, of course, steam power, suits a tug better than anything else.

[87gn@tahoe]

What a great job Ron

[farmerden]

Ah Ron I really enjoyed the trip in your video.The only thing I didn't get was the smell of the steam and the oil! Something one will never cherish until one actually steams! Job well done .Den

[Aheadslow]

That is a really inspiring sight. a real proper steam tug . congratulations on a great job .