Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

I bought this coal fired Stuart 5A plant almost ten years ago with the intent to install it into a large steam launch that I can drive or fish Barnegat Bay with on calm water days. I finally found a good vintage wooden boat hull to start the project.

Now that is truly a MACHINE. Boiler looks a little small for actually powering a boat, but that is just a by guess and by gosh observation. Perhaps that little boiler has far more grunt than I'm giving it credit for?!?!

Bonjour Maxwell,
Nice plant indeed !
I have several steam plants with coupled pumps and I like having small boilers as soon as the pump is efficient because the burner needs to heat a smaller volume of water, example :

Besides this, I have a very small experience of coal with my Yarrow boiler which I tested only on a table. What I noticed is that coal heats hard and is very difficult to keep the fire going correctly
 
Based on this, I think it is very difficult to manage one boiler in a boat, evoking two is just not realistic.

Your boiler seems quite efficient, without any question of money, installing a larger one would be more weight and, as you would have to constantly look after the fire ot the water level, I would kindly suggest you to keep your plant as is, install a bypass valve if not already done and, during your navigation, have regular glances on the water level and the fire to adjust them if needed.

Besides this, I think that a steam bower is more than useful, it is mandatory, does the exhaust pipe that I see going in the chemney has an impact on the fire ?

Nice engine Mike 😊👍

Hi Everybody, thanks for the kind encouraging comments. Raphael, thanks for your recommendation, and yes, the boiler has a steam injector to help the fire.
I am not planning to go fancy as the beautiful steam launch above, but here is the hull I would like to use with some modifications. I will keep the fresh water tank as Barnegat Bay is Salt water.
Here is a pic of the hull I am thinking of using below [ Guests cannot view attachments ]