The Steamboating Forum

Hello steamboaters,

recently I smashed my piggy bank, and bought myself a 300mm (12 inch) lathe.
My plan is to build Ray Hasbrouk steam engines with it, and to experiment away wiyh converting petrol gensets (Oh the NOISE)to steam and of course build a steamboat.
I will be lurking a lot in the beginning, but as soon as I start a project I will post about it.

Beernd.

Welcome to the asylum, you've been bitten by the bug, there is no cure, enjoy!

Welcome to the forum. This is the only place I know where people actually operate steam machinery of a few kW size, real information rather than "armchair" engineers.

I built a Domestic Heat-Power Unit, Coal Fired Steam-Electric plant, which supplied house electricity while the exhaust steam heated the house. The steam engine was converted from an industrial IC engine. There is an ASME paperonthe machine if you are interested.

I have most of the parts to build a small power plant. A Stuart #1 and a small automotive alternator.

But I will be doing it for the fun of it rather than any notion that it will be anything but heavy, bulky and terribly inefficient. Quiet though.

Yes, a small generating plant with a traditional engine would be "just for fun". Designing and building a machine to run unattended 24/7 for months continuously is quite another matter!

I was asked if I might take my small wood fired steam boat to Alaska from where I live (about 1500 km.). I answered that if I did, it would be easy to tell where I had gone as there would be no trees left.