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| | Preparation
I bought all
the books and CD's I could get through the internet from Elliot Bay and the SBA,
as well as five binders full of Funnels.
I soon found out that the proper way do proceed is:
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find or build a boat. There are two critical dimensions that determine
the need for steam: length and weight of the hull.
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based on steamrequirements, find (or order) a boiler.
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find a nice engine that can power the boat.
So I had to have a boat first!
With regard to the length of the boaat I was limited to a maximum of 18 feet / 5,50 m and max. weight 1500 kg, but preferably much
less.
Later I found out that it was easily possible to build a wooden launch of less
than half of that weight. Actually, there are many types of boat that will match
this requirements.
 I choose these dimensions because this is the max. I can
handle with my hydraulic crane
before it breaks out of the deck and because I can't store a bigger boat on the
roof of the Zwerver (my house (barge)).
I realised that there could be an other bottle neck: the boiler. There are
only few suppliers of boilers and in the Netherlands there are some stupid
regulations that make it almost impossible to have a boiler with pressure
multiplied by max. content bigger that 200. (e.g., 10 bar and 20 liters)
So I changed the design order to be sure that I could find a boiler to match
the need for steam of my launch:
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boiler: find a boiler that will be accepted by the recpective authorities
(p*V <= 200);
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based on the weight and capacity of the boiler, find a launch;
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the engine;
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details like pumps, hotwell, valves etc., items I have not thought about
yet.
Conclusion:
Hull: 17,9" Indian Runner, weight, empty about 500, worst case
600 kg, drawings provided by Selway
Fisher design.
Engine: everything between 4 and 6 HP would be enough I
thought. Because I would make the hull my self, I decided initially not to
machine the engine my self. I have to find a used one on on the market. I
optimistically planned to machine my own engine in future.
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