The original steam propulsion plant MUST be replaced. You have been
warned.


Maxprop wrote:
A great uncle used to own and skipper a steam-powered tug in NY Harbor back
in the Twenties and Thirties.

That must have been an oldie. While there were steam tugs in
service up thru the 1940s (and steam trains up thru the
early 1960s) the business was going to diesel not long after
1900. I've read about a number of tugs & pilot boats
converted from steam to diesel in 19-teens.

OTOH a lot of companies were very fond of steam power and
clung to it, possibly your uncle was in one.

.... According to him, steam was far more reliable
than any old "POS diesel" ("Ever had a steam engine quit on ya at a critical
time, kid?")

Yes. Several times. Of course, that was on much bigger &
more complicated plants. But for such a simple device, a
steam engine has many things that can shut it down...
furthermore everything affects everything else... lift
safeties & run low water; lose feed pressure & run high
water; burner drops out (or lose fuel pressure) & lose
boiler pressure & run high water; blah blah blah.


... and the power output could be regulated over a far greater
range than any gas or diesel engine.

That part may be true, especially for a single-expansion
engine with an advanced valve train such as would have been
common in the 1920s onward.

http://www.carferries.com/triple/page13.jpg

Actually this whole web page is great
http://www.carferries.com/triple/

... We took him out on our first sailboat
when he was approaching 95 and fairly uncommunicative. The boat's Perkins
4-107 ran like a well-oiled sewing machine and was flawless that day, but
Uncle Guy, who'd remained silent all day, couldn't contain himself as we
came in to dock. "Wouldn't give you a pile of dog **** wrapped in brown
paper for that POS engine. You should repower with steam, kid."

Your comment reminded me of that occasion.


I hope he was having fun anyway.

There are a surprising number of small steamers running
around, but it's not practical for a sailboat if you want to
have anything else in the cabin. Steam engines and all the
associated boilers & pumps are bulky.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King