The Steamboating Forum

I'm going to inquire again with the Ohio DNR Wingfoot office for clarification at some point...

In Ohio the state boiler inspection is done through the Ohio Dept of Commerce. When I was building Nyitra I talked with a state inspector Jerry Delong - now retired I believe. He said they 'did not do boats' at the time I inquired within the last 3? years.

This is one example of why I am not exactly satisfied with the the state law to the best of my understanding. Personally I think steamboats should have to under go independent inspection regularly. In the UK the SBA has inspection services, the Northwest Steam Societies safety guide is good start - but there are way too many cracks as I understand it in the US.

And I don't think I have the solution either, it's a really confusing mess.

-CB

P.S. I think there should be room for proper self fabricated boilers for sure - but it would be safer to have that independent check.

Bart,

Point taken but in a way you validated mine. We have a good safety record in this hobby as compared to boating in general. My guess it's mostly due to the type of person who takes up steam boating, we tend to be a more responsible lot. But due to fact that oddball hobbies like ours aren't generally understood by the public I would bet that an accident involving a boiler would make far more news than the all too common boating accident and would definitely attract the attention from regulators.

Cyberbadger,

While I have great respect for the officers in the field, if Ohio's DNR is anything like Colorado's, they will have no clue on what laws apply outside the ones they enforce for the general boating crowd. Your state boiler inspection department is the proper knowledgeable source. Ohio's boiler code is available online and it doesn't appear, on quick read, to be all that different from most states, apart from an extended section on historic boilers (we all know why). There is no exemption for boats in the code, that doesn't mean that how the code is enforced isn't different. Like other agencies they know what they deal with on a daily basis very well, things outside the norm maybe not so much. Most inspectors are geared toward stationary & industrial installations. If the inspection department says you don't need a state inspection then you don't. I'd get it in writing as the other part of this equation is insurance. If there is any reason an insurance company can find to allow them to not have to make a payment they will find and use it. Failure to follow the rules (law) will certainly be used against you. If you look at the history of the boiler code you'll see that it's really about the insurance.

I know you know this, but even if you don't need a state inspection you still need to do your own inspections with hydro at the suggested intervals and keep proper records.

Cheers

Ken

Quote: "I'm going to inquire again with the Ohio DNR Wingfoot office for clarification at some point..."

Quote: "This is one example of why I am not exactly satisfied with the the state law to the best of my understanding. Personally I think steamboats should have to under go independent inspection regularly."

I seriously misunderstand what you're getting at here. You're disappointed that the local authorities are not checking your boat and boiler. There is an old adage, be careful what you ask for. A proper inspection by a state or federal agency could yield a result you wouldn't like. If they want to, they can find a lot of reasons as to why you or we shouldn't be operating our boats - outboard hull converted to inboard - inadequate structure to support the boiler (Obviously is, but it would be at their discretion), lack of professional certification from a qualified marine architectural firm, lack of safety lines or improper gunwale height under way, you do know that's illegal for a pleasure boat right? sitting in a lawn chair on an open deck under way? unguarded machinery, Distracted skipper, flying a drone while operating the watercraft etc.

I'm happy with the way it is now and I think I speak for a whole bunch of folks, we don't want the authorities breathing down our necks at every interval.

The thing is I hear lots of "I care about safety about steam" - and then when it gets down to brass tacks freedom is what is actually what those same folks want above safety.

Hiding the law by it by quoting it improperly does not help.

-CB

P.S. And listen If you want to talk about my boat do it in the right venue, otherwise it just looks like an ad hominem attack.

I don't stir up trouble and they don't want to have to deal with weird stuff.

In Washington State in the U.S. the subject came up once and when it was pointed out to the legislating people that they would be opening up a giant can of worms over espresso machines they smiled and closed the discussion.

The boating people here must pass our club safety inspection to participate in club events (almost all of the events I know of are club events). The model locomotive people have worked out some arrangement with the State of Washington inspector that involves some simple calculations and a hydro test. This is a new thing.

We have had one case where an owner refused to have his boiler hydrotested as "it would strain it"!
We haven't heard from him since.

I am lucky enough to have a tight system and I often leave the boiler at 1.5 times the safety valve setting as long as overnight and once drove to an event with full hydro pressure. I would not set foot in a boat in which such treatment would cause any concerns.

My most recent contact with anyone in any sort of authority was at a public pier where volunteers from the U.S.C.G. Auxiliary were doing voluntary safety inspections of pleasure vessels. The impressively uniformed lady looked over my open boat with any possible safety equipment out in sight, filled out her form and with a smile, said, "We don't often insect a boat that is already on fire!"

Keep in mind that the sun shining on a cold boiler full of water w/o air could raise the pressure significantly. It's
likely that there is enough air that this doesn't matter, but cold well water can expand by about .5% on a warm
summer day.

"Physics is fun!"

- Bart

Sun? Shining? Where are you talking about?

And wouldn't it expand the boiler too?

Lopez Mike wrote: "We don't often insect a boat that is already on fire!"

We really need a like button

Ken

Lopez Mike wrote:And wouldn't it expand the boiler too?

Yes, it would, but a lot less. Let's see; temp from 50 F to 100 F (handy overestimate).
Steel has a temp coeff. of 7.2 x 10^-6, so volume change would be

(1 + .0000072 * 50) ^3 or 1.00108038884665600000.

So it would reduce the effect by about 20%. More than I expected; I learn something new every day.

- Bart