If it burns, use it :lol: We did run ours on coal but we are in the middle of converting it to Parafin. Some burn diesel, I don't think theres any reason why you can't use petrol or waste oil (other than the smell). There are the odd few people who use only wood. They say the harder woods burn with more heat. I recon I'd use Parafin on my boat if I ever finnish designing it. Vapourising burner with electronic pressure control. Many people use 240v burners like you have on central heating wnd run them off an inverter. This works fine but you find the burner is constantly stopping and starting as they have no real turn-down ability. My idea would be to use feedback from the pressure and also use a forced draft. The forced draft would most probably be controlled by the oil valve. The oil valve would be controled by the pressure of the boiler. I've got it all designed in my head and the electronics part is very simple in principle. The key factors I am aiming for are: Quietness Userbility (i.e. made so a monkey can drive it, we called him Dad) Reliability - being British it must break down at least once a day but with the ability to ignore it and keep on going Automatic - You can leave it to run all day and night and it'll ensure the water level and pressure is always within tolorance. With the engine's electronic valve timing I can also use it as a govoner. Theres no limit to the designs and methods which can be used. The more complicated they get they become more like a floating -*test*-('") rig. But theres nothing wrong with the simple coal shovel. The only thing I've noticed is the simple methods tend to adapt scrap parts (like car prop shafts) and alter the plant to fit the prop shaft etc, where the complicated ones have everything made to fit the plant.

The only thing I've noticed is the simple methods tend to adapt scrap parts (like car prop shafts) and alter the plant to fit the prop shaft etc, where the complicated ones have everything made to fit the plant. . .Yes thats funny and so true.. I am generally in favor of scrounging parts and fitting together whats on hand but it takes a keen understanding of the requirements for the application..I have good supply of junk so that a clever mechanic could construct most of a functional engine without needing to go outside for supplies...But given my inexperience , I am about embarassed to admit this -- I may have to buy a set of plans and mostly follow'em..:-( ... I looked this up on the net and read that hardwood charcoal gives 13,440 btu s/pound...Thats good heat and the material is easy to get- widely available- at reasonable price..I might go that route...

In the US you have a lot of options for fuel. The tradeoffs are ease of storage and transport, amount of preperation needed before use, cost of fuel, cleanliness, availability and ease of use. I have been looking at fuel choice and have a few ideas as to what I will pursue to fit my criteria. I'll list a few of the fuels and you can look into how they may fit with your needs. Kerosene: (Paraffin to the UK(I believe?) is readily available here in the US in 5 gal pails from home improvement stores. Has the same benefits and drawbacks as diesel. Some smell, spills and needs a vaporizing burner. Wood pellets: Available at home improvement stores, clean and easy to handle, Lightweight pellets will pull off of grate with strong draft and may be pulled up the stack before fully burning, Special grates required as they are small and will fall through bar grates. My be able to be fed with a stoker system (auger or steam jet). Charcoal briquette (ie Kingsford): Most like coal and easily available. May have high cost and are a bit dirty to handle. Wood pellets are at the top of my list with charcoal briquettes second. I'd like to hear some comments from those who have tried these fuels. Also, there has been mention of Lune Valley type boilers being used with solid fuel. Can anyone tell me where I might find plans or design guidelines for this style boiler and how it changes with solid fuel. I intend on having the pressure vessel design checked and welded by an ASME S stamp shop. Ken

Marinesteam A man suggested to me that I consider using corn as fuel.I know nothing about that but that it sounds like a possible option.I leaning in favor of hardwood charcoal.. . Are You building a York compound from a set of castings?

As I've written before I'm no expert and am no sort of an engineer , but I think there are some aspects you've all ignored. Perhaps they're so obvious that you felt they didn't bear repeating ; but here are my comments: A boiler will work best burning what it was designed to burn. If designed for a fuel of low calorific value it will need to have a larger heating area and vice-versa. This is particularly true for fire-tube boilers; I believe some agricultural and portable engines were built for the South American market to burn straw, they had HUGE fire boxes and a conveyor belt to feed the straw into the firebox. So by all means "if it burns use it" but be aware that the lower the calorific value the more fuel and bigger heating area you'll need. So a fire-tube boiler designed to burn coal won't produce much steam if burning wood however if designed for wood but burning coal it should steam like a demon! Storage space can be a consideration, especially on a small boat. Liquid fuels can be squeezed in just about anywhere in flexible or custom built tanks, coal and wood can't and with wood you're going to have to carry quite a lot. Liquid fuels are probably going to need some sort of electrics to provide forced air. Even a steam atomizing system will need something to get it going before you raise enough steam for it to be self sustaining, if you're running on salt water you will have to carry a lot of make-up water for it. Other vapourizing systems may not need electrics but can be noisy. In the UK all boats are subject to periodic safety inspections. These are pretty straightforward for solid fuel boats, slightly less so if you have liquid fuel and batteries. But they're easy enough if the system has been designed and installed to conform with the rules. So yet again there is no single simple answer, it's a question of what's available and what you like, But you do need to decide what you want fairly early on in the planning/aquisition process and act accordingly.

I do have a set of York castings. It seems that I am not so much building a York engine as just owning a box of misc. metal bits as I haven't made much progress recently. I'm kidding to some extent as I have made some progress, I just haven't done any machining yet. I have been preparing the castings for machining. Getting rid of the parting lines and flash, also I intend on polishing all of the bronze to a bright finish so I have been doing a lot of sanding to smooth the sand cast finish. It's time consuming work and has been a bit of a learning process figuring out which tools work the best. So far I have found that die grinders and various abrasives (flap wheels and rolls) have been the most efficient due to the curviness of the parts. I did go a bit overboard and brought one of the parts to the final bright finish just to see the whole process at one time and the polished bronze looks really nice. If you take time with the initial steps the later steps go quite quickly. If you are considering the York engine I would become a member of the SBA and get the back issues of the Funnel that cover Paul Eaton's articles on his build of a York compound. If you are looking for a quick project that can get you steaming and on the water don't overlook a Themes style steam canoe. They look like fun small boats that can go a lot of places and are relatively easy to handle from a build and operational stand point. Ken

Ken, Good luck with your build. Happy to answer questions if you have any. At the end of the day like any big project, you just have to bite the bullet and start. It doesn't get easier thinking about it. I'm just an ordinary guy with no machining experience. I've now got a big beautiful York compound waiting for me to finish the hull. Maybe, maybe, maybe by Christmas 2008 I'll have me a steam boat. Cheers Paul Eaton

Paul it's good to hear that your part of the forum. Thanks for the support. I have just up sized my lathe from a 9x20 to a 12x36 for this project and plan on purchasing some of the stock for the valve gear parts this week. Hopefully this will get me out into the shop making some chips. How is your hull coming along? Any chance that you could post some pics of the engine and hull for the group? Thanks Ken

You'll find once the boat is "finnished" you'll take it appart again and redo it with all the problems fixed. Then the same next year, and the year after ...... Thus a steamboat is never finnished, it just has different states of working and non-working.

Look here for an example http://www.storerboatplans.com/Steam/Steam_Canoe.html There are a bunch of steam powered canoes in the SBA and pictures will show up on occasion in the Funnel. This style of canoe actually looks to be quite large and capable of carrying three or four passengers. If your not a member of the SBA, I would really suggest becoming one. The Funnel is a great resource for all aspects of steam boating and the trip reports can be especially entertaining. I decided to finish the bronze castings of the York engine bright as I prefer the refined and polished look. There is no mistaking that these are castings as they are quite complex and curvy, I think the reflection from the polished surface enhances the shapes of the pieces. Just takes a lot of work to get 'em shiny. It's been argued that the size engines that are found in small launches are too small to effectively utilize the efficiencies gained by compounding. I'll leave that subject to members of the group that have more experience than I. I picked the York because it is a traditional looking engine and as a compound it has more moving bits to watch when it turns than a single cylinder engine does. Ken

It's been argued that the size engines that are found in small launches are too small to effectively utilize the efficiencies gained by compounding. Although I suspect this is true, and you're never going to get the efficiency above 5% or so, it looks good which is what it is about.

Just a note that I've moved this topic to the General Steamboat section as it is more relevant here.