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[steamshed]

Hi All
I thought you might like to see a couple of photo's of Wide a Wake which I built 10 years or so ago, she was fitted with a Cheddar Proteus and gas attenuator.
Mike

[Bernhard]

woow what a great launch...and that steam plant,,,cant be better,,,,,,,
 

Regards Bernhard

[steamshed]

Once again Bernard thank you 
My next project is African Queen, but using a Kingston Mouldings fibreglass hull, trying to strike up the courage to "weather" it  , will be fitted with Cheddar vertical boiler, not sure on engine yet, have a "Bogs" long stroke also have a Anton Jade on order
Mike

[kiwimodeller]

Great looking launch, especially the finishing and detailing. I have a Kingston River Queen hull which I have built up using the Wide Awake deck plan, cockpit design etc. It is not finished yet but I have sailed her a couple of times. She is fitted with the Gage VR1A single cylinder engine from Graham Industries which has ample power and pushes her along at better than scale speed even at only 30PSI steam pressure. Reversing is by a reversable prop. The engine is not always self starting but that has not been a problem as it will reliably tick over at a low throttle. I think hulls of the size of River Queen and Africa Queen can be powered by a nice simple little single cylinder engine very economically. Cheers, Ian.

[firedup]

This is my Wide A wake  must clear the pond looks like the African Queen . As you can see my deck is a little different and I have set up the rudder on a tiller.
Mike could you explain how you made the water tanks?
Mark

[steamshed]

Hi Mark
I first cut a hardwood block to the shape of the hull, then wrapped thin copper sheet ( about 1mm) round and soft soldered along the join, then with same copper butt end solder these on, first drilling outlet hole. the filler then cut and bit of brass machined to fit.
Hope this helps.
I did ponder the steering linkage, in the end opted for brass chain, got lazy and went for easy route 
Regards
Mike

[steamshed]

Mark
I ment to ask, what plant have u in your boat
Mike

[steamshed]

Hi Kiwi
Thank you, I just been looking at your build thread, looks interesting, but must admit I lack the courage for a single cylinder engine, just in case it stopped out on the pond, how do you stop the boiler running away with you if this happens ???.
Regards
Mike

[firedup]

Hi Mike it's a Borderer 5/8th bore and stroke built using plans by John P Bertinat using stock bar.
First go at a steam engine despite a tough learning curve at times with a lot of help from a friend I have been very pleased with the result to date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNSuMjkFRzM

[gondolier88]

Hi Firedup,

That's an engine to be proud of mate, youv'e done a great job on it.

I'm currently trying my damnedest to get a non-running one of these running for someone- and beginning to lose the will to live- tried everything- total strip down and rebuild, nothing to report, re-timed and re-timed and re-timed again trying different lap and leads, again nothing to report.

On a single revolutuin of the shaft there is a tight spot that if I dissengage one of the valve gears goes away, but there is nothing wrong with the valve gear, it's made very well.

Wondered if you'd had a similar problem when you built yours?

By the way, isn't the engine you built the Marcher? I thought the Borderer was the piston valve version?

Greg

[wideawake]

Hi Greg

I think both Borderer and Marcher are available in both slide valve and piston valve versions.   Borderer is larger and was serialised in ME before Marcher.

Cheers

Guy

[firedup]

Guy is correct Greg this is the slide valve version of the Borderer.
I was looking at an engine which would entertainer as well as push the launch I love all the moving bits .
This was my first build I simply followed the advice from a good mate made the parts if they worked out OK I kept them if not they went into the bin some times lots of them .
I started from the bottom and worked my way up.
When I finished the engine I could not wait to put air into it without all the gaskets in place to my surprise it ran .
I did discover that it ran better in one direction than the other.
I have since stripped down the engine to replace pistons (I had tried to use a type of plastic for the piston rings fine when running on air no good at all on steam). The timing is set by the eccentric setting 0.05 lap and lead 3/32 throw. After the second strip down I found that the slide valve was a the extreme of its travel and was hitting the the inside of the valve chest slight alterations half a turn on the valve rod did the trick now runs much  better. Its worth a look Greg
All the best Mark