Steam boating with OLY

• Approximate weight empty 700 lb.
• 20' LOA, 5' beam, draws maybe 11".
• Carries 4 or 5 people
• top speed perhaps 5 knots
• fuel capacity 6 gallons, makeup water 2 gallons
• Hull built by Bill Durham, Seattle, Wa., 1970's
• Hull is an early "Rose" fantail
• built of fiberglass with Oak rubrail
• decks are painted canvas over plywood
• Engine is a Blackstaffe-design double steeple compound (approx. 4HP max), boiler is a double Blackstaffe.
• Oly's been to a few neat places, including
• Olympia, Wa. 1998
• Wheeler and Nehalem Bay, Or. 1999
• Port Orchard, Wa. 2000
• Nanaimo, BC 2001
• Columbia River, OR. 2001
• Willamette River, OR.
• Boiler is a water tube including:
• 20 coils (6-turns or so, each) of 1/2" copper tubing, silver soldered into
• 40 nipples welded into
• mud drums and risers welded
• also about a 3" pipe on top for a steam dome.
• The boiler uses a 120 psi safety.
• Boiler receives yearly hydrotest to 300 psi.
• Fueled with BIODIESEL in a steam vaporizing burner.
• boiler is started using charcoal fuel lighter to vaporize the biodiesel for approx. 3 minutes.
• Burns 1 to 1.5 gallons/hour of biodiesel at 5 knots.
• Engine is a double-acting, double steeple-compound of Cliff Blackstaffe design.
• Pistons, crossheads, steam chest and engine base all aluminum. Rings, cylinders and important stuff iron.
• bore and stroke "1.5" & "2.5" x 2", FOUR cylinder double acting
• Single D-valve, 80% cut-off (?) per compound pair, eccentric for reverse.
• Water and Vacuum pumps crosshead driven. No cylinder oil used.
• Engine pictures are here soon.

Steamboat information

•  Northwest Steam Society
•  www.steamboating.com
•  The Steam Boat Association of Great Britain (SBA)
•  Rainer Radow's Steam Boat Page, Since 1994