The Steamboating Forum

Very good day to all of you on the forum, My name is Brent, I am a helicopter pilot based in South Africa working for a survey company. My self and my father in law are both steam nuts, we have a 5 gauge Britannia loco which we are busy finishing off and will be ready to be steamed up shortly. I joined the forum because for my 36th birthday my father in law gave me a boiler which he got off the Congo river some years ago as a birthday gift. The boiler is dated back to 1919. So after much thought, we decided to have the boiler sent for non destructive crack testing at an aviation company and then off to have it pressure tested and inspected for the certificates required.

So now the boiler is to be placed in a 1976 enterprise dinghy hull and turned into my very first steam boat. I have done alot of research and there is no steam boat association of South Africa, So I will be the first to start one with the hopes that many will take interest and we can begin a very rewarding future of steam drivin boats on the lakes and rivers of my beautiful country. I will post images and ask questions as I go along, I am looking forward to meeting he many people on this forum, Thanks for a great site.

Kind regards

Brent

Welcome to the forum Brent, I too used to live on the "Dark Continent" many, many years ago, a little further north than you.

You'll find plenty on here to keep you thinking, and help from all over, all you have to do is ask, someone has the answer.

A very nice start to a good looking little steamer. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome aboard, sir!

Hello Brent ,

I hope your project goes well , it looks as if you have made a promising start .
Although there might not be a South African steamboat association there are four members of the Steamboat Association of Great Britain (SBA) who live in South Africa . I know distances in SA are not quite like British ones where 250 miles is considered a loooong way but it is possible you might be near one or two of them . Even if not I can recommend joining the SBA if only for the quarterly magazine The Funnel which has a mixture of semi technical , historical and social aspects of steamboating .

Regards Edward