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Author Topic: Stuart D10 Steam Plant  (Read 128 times)

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Stuart D10 Steam Plant
« on: January 12, 2026, 01:34:28 pm »
Thought I'd share my Stuart D10 steam plant with its' HB4 boiler that I just mounted on a walnut base. It has been slated to go into a four foot Diana steam launch for the last five or six years but still hasn't made it for one reason or another. I finally gave up and got it set up to go on display but still have high hopes of using in the boat minus makeup water tank and hand pump. I do see what my next learning experience should be though. The piping is what was already made up and really doesn't work that well so I definitely need to learn silver soldering so I can make up a custom layout which would work better.  Maybe someone on the forum would give an in depth lesson on that especially in relation to piping. I did contact Stuart to see if their made up copper piping was annealed and they said "...no it isn't.....we just carefully bend it." Interesting, but it didn't work for me. Maybe this summer I'll get the urge and bring down that great big hull and get started - hope so. [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]
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Larry

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Re: Stuart D10 Steam Plant
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2026, 03:30:34 pm »
Bonjour Larry,

The Stuart D10 is my favorite steam machine, I have five of them and "only" three in 1,20m - 1,40 m boats (see my videos on "Côte d'Emeraude", "JAN" and "Ulysse Max").

My concern about your one is that it has no reverse, difficult to maneuver a boat without, except if you also have a variable pitch propeller.

As example Here is my smallest D10 equipped boat (Jan, 1,20 m, +/- 20 kg) :


As I silver braze my pipes, here is my method :


I hope this will help you.
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Re: Stuart D10 Steam Plant
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2026, 03:58:13 pm »
While desirable in general, Silver brazing is not really required for most plumbing fittings, unless they will be directly exposed to flame.

I mostly just use a somewhat higher temperature, low Silver content, slightly harder than regular soft solder, for most of my steam line plumbing needs.
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Re: Stuart D10 Steam Plant
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2026, 04:19:13 pm »
Quote from: Raphael on January 12, 2026, 03:30:34 pm
Bonjour Larry,

The Stuart D10 is my favorite steam machine, I have five of them and "only" three in 1,20m - 1,40 m boats (see my videos on "Côte d'Emeraude", "JAN" and "Ulysse Max").

My concern about your one is that it has no reverse, difficult to maneuver a boat without, except if you also have a variable pitch propeller.

As example Here is my smallest D10 equipped boat (Jan, 1,20 m, +/- 20 kg) :


As I silver braze my pipes, here is my method :


I hope this will help you.

I agree that the D10 is a great engine and was one of the first that I bought.  As for reversing the boat I do have a second variable pitch propeller that I hope to use with this steam plant eventually.
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Larry

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Re: Stuart D10 Steam Plant
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2026, 04:24:10 pm »
Quote from: Stoker on January 12, 2026, 03:58:13 pm
While desirable in general, Silver brazing is not really required for most plumbing fittings, unless they will be directly exposed to flame.

I mostly just use a somewhat higher temperature, low Silver content, slightly harder than regular soft solder, for most of my steam line plumbing needs.

I didn't realize that I could go with basically regular solder on piping. I thought over the years that almost everything needed to be silver soldered to be safe even though my Oatey 22002 solder has a melting point of 430 degrees which is hotter than you would normally find except, like you said, in contact with a flame or close to it. Thanks for the info - it'll help in the future.
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Regards,
Larry
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