Small Paddler , steam.

[victor vector]

Someone may be interested.
Wooden Boat Show 2015 , Mystic Seaport in Mystic Connetticut.
 No other details unfortunately. 







http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?194032-WBS-2015-Picture-Thread

[DamienG]

I like the Paddle wheel built around a car wheel rim very ingenious. 

[victor vector]

Ha ha , I noticed that too Damien.

[Hankwilliams]

Hi all,
Here another interesting paddler, the sternwheeler "Joseph Conrad" named after the famous novel "Heart of darkness".
The boat was built by Christian von Burg, a swiss steam enthusiast. Special about his sternwheeler is, that he used almost only parts which are usual in trade and one can buy in merchant markets and tool shops.
The boiler he made from heating radiatiors, the cylinder of the engine is a usual in trade compressed air cylinder.
Christian`s boat makes an adventurous impression - like the name - but the functions are very well. The speed was 5 - 8 km/h in calm water, the boiler fuel is wood, occasionally cole and cokes mixed with propane gas.
He made many trips with his steamer on the Lake Constance, Lake Zürich, Lake Murtensee and also on the upper Rhine and in French Canals and rivers. I made a trip with him on Lake Titisee and he spoke about some strange situations he got in - for example on the upper Rhine river. The boat sat on a sandbank and it was impossible to move with its own power. So Christian jumped into the water to moved the boat by his muscle power in deeper water, while his daughter attendet boiler an engine - this may happen, if you made a trip with him.
Here the dimensions of boat and engine: Lenght inclusive paddlewheel 8,5 m, breadth 1,6 m, the draught ist only 15 cm or 1/2 ft. As I wrote, boiler is a watertube typ, made by heating radiators, it contents only 20 litres of water, steam pressure 3 - 5 bar. The engine with single cylinder has 125 mm bore and 350 mm stroke with Stephenson gear. Like American riverboats there is no condensor, the steam exhausts to the air.
I will put some pictures (quality isn`t very good, because I have to made duplicates from the pc) but I hope you will enjoy it!

Thomas

[fredrosse]

That sidewheeler is the Margaret S.  from the Beckersville Steam Engineering Co, owner fredrosse, a member of this forum.  19ft-3 inches length, a little over 1 tonne displacement.