New Build - 27' Lake Runner

I just finished sketching up what I hope to build next. I've actually been thinking of this boat for more than a decade and maybe I'll finally get around to building it. When I first imagined this boat the tech to make it was still prohibitively expensive, but now its just starting to get to be a buildable price. The reason is that I want this boat to be electric.

First on the hull. The style is similar to the classic Chris-Craft runabouts, but mine is longer for the beam. By making it long, it should have a very smooth ride, more like its on rails than bouncing though water. Combined with the very low shaft angle, this boat should get on plane with a very minimum of tilt, kind of just push back into your seat and rise out of the water.

On plane? an electric boat? That's right! Most electric boats are dumpy little displacement dingies with a canopy. I love the idea of a silent ride, but I wanted a lot more zip and style. Just now with the interest in electric cars have the kind of motors become available for "reasonable" price. Still about 4-5X an ICE, but it would make the boat in my opinion. Not only would it be very cool, but it would give you access to a lot of lakes where gas boats aren't allowed. Just the thing for swamping a few unsuspecting kayakers.

This drawing is just the concept sketch for now. As I get more serious about it I'll have to come up with a formal lines plan. I'm not convinced about the drive system yet, and am toying with the idea of a jet drive (water jet that is). That would change the bottom a bit but I think I can accommodate it with a minimum of fuss. It will no doubt change a little after I start the buoyancy calcs.

I have some new boiler drawings and things for Mercer Queen but they're not ready for showing yet. Maybe next week.

Oh, and if you read this post, don't tell my wife about it. She'll loose it if she gets wind that I'm planning a new build.

The work continues

Its been a while since the last post and a lot has happened at Trenton Boat Works. For those of you who might have missed it, Mercer Queen officially got her name back in October during an unprecedented double Nor'easter. The event was featured as the headline in the Trenton Times (link to story) that day and we had quite a turnout of friends and strangers alike. Like Odysseus of old, I must have angered Poseidon with my hubris because it has rained every Saturday since then.

In the meantime, work in the yard has come to a screeching halt, mainly because I am now gainfully employed. Just as well because I seem to work in three distinct modes of operation; reading, writing and doing, and they all go in a cycle. I was leaving the "doing" phase and entering the "reading" one just as I put the boat up for the winter. Mercer Queen is up on blocks in a barn in Cream Ridge, her bilge full of salt and the boiler full of anti-freeze. Now reading is winding down and it's time to start the writing again, and that includes new drawings. There's the new engine to finally draw up, and I'm planning on a modification to the boiler in the spring. I'm also wanting to start some new builds, first a new rowboat for my mother to replace the one that was stolen last September, and the other is for a new sailboat.

I'm a little iffy on the sailboat. I know I can design it, but building one is another matter. It would need to be so much more exact then a power boat so its unlikely to get built in the backyard. When we built Mercer Queen it was either level or straight at any given time, but never both together, so close examination would betray some inconsistencies in the build. That wouldn't be acceptable in a sailboat, especially one I would plan to race. So I'm casting around for a place to build it, preferably one with a level floor. We'll see how it turns out.

Yesterday I went to see the re-enactment of the first Battle of Trenton and I must saw it was an emotional experience. To see the formations and hear the muskets and cannon echo through the streets put a lump in my throat to think of the conviction of the men in that battle. We think that all of that happened so very long ago, but it was only 15 years after that battle that the first steamboat sailed from Trenton down the Delaware. Taking pictures with a digital camera only drove home the sensation of how far and how quickly technology has advanced since that day and one cannot think but that our progress owes a great debt to the men that fought on that day. From the water mill that once stood hard by the battle to the networks which make this publication possible, the shots fired from the ranks of musket can still be heard, clear as the day they were fired.

With winter hard upon us here in Trenton, its too cold to work in the machine shop for now. It would take a full 20 lbs of propane for a day's work, but that makes this the perfect time for drawing up new designs and revising the old. I'll be posting the new designs for the engine as soon as they come out. Soon my writing phase will be over and I'll get itchy to start building something again and after yesterday, I feel that it's my patriotic duty to make it a beaut!

All ready for her big day.

After two test sailings, Mercer Queen in scrubbed down ready to go. The first test was to check out the new water pump and engine seals. That trip revealed two things; one that the pump worked and put water in the boiler, and two, the new seals worked so well that they revealed all of the other places that the engine leaked. These new found leaks necessitated the a complete rebuild.

So the engine went on the bench and was re-plumbed, re-sealed, etc... I also took the time to correct some curious geometry that seemed to bind it up at high pressures.

Then the last trip was on Tuesday. The engine worked like a champ. Stoking the boiler on the other hand was quite a challenge. We just couldn't seem to build and hold pressure. It was then that the Earl noticed the valve for the stack venturi was open, and when he went to close it he broke the valve. It was a pretty heavy duty gate valve and the cover for the gate housing sheered off as he tightened it down. That left us dead in the water 300 yds downwind of the launch. I had to hand crank the paddles all the way back.

But now the valve is replaced and everything is set to go. Most of you will know about the christening this Saturday, but for those of you who don't and might like to show up, here's the invite. It should be quite the do, with rides to follow. See you all there and then!

Engine Update

As I said in my last post, the engine is up on the bench for some much needed repairs and upgrades. The first order of business was to fix the pulled out cylinder post. No big deal there, just some drilling and tapping for the bolt and backing plate (essentially a big washer). With that done, it was on to the water pump.

The pump you can see in the bottom left of the picture to the left. It's that long brass thing. Its a positive displacement gear pump, which should mean that no matter the speed, it will still pump water, and put some pressure on it as well. That's the theory anyway. In actual practice it needs to be going around a bit faster than once a second, which is the engine's approximate speed. But how fast?

To figure it out, I took it off and hooked it up to an electric drill, then put a gauge on the outlet end and had it pump water. To get a consistent 30 lbs took about 600 rpm, or ten times around in a second. That was the limit to the gauge I had on hand. Needing 40+ lbs I figured 900 rpm would be more than enough to overcome the pressure and pump water into the boiler. So I built a gearbox out of some sprockets and chain I had around. The result is what you see in the pics.

For those of a mechanical bent, The ratios are 2.4:1, 2.5:1, and 2.5:1 for each linkage giving a total ratio of 15:1. So for each time the main shaft turns, the pump shaft turns 15 times.

The pic on the right is the back side of the gearing and you can see the three linkages. The sprockets on opposite sides of the mounting block are connected to a joining shaft and turn on center together.

There's quite a bit of mechanical loss in doing it this way, but it was quick and relatively easy. I would have preferred to use spur gears, but that would have been a lot more machining than I have time for at present. Perhaps for the new engine.

There and Back Again or Success? Part 3

My apologies to Mr Tolkien, but old Bilbo would have understood. When we last left off, Mercer Queen had finally made it to the shores of Barnegat Bay and was ready to launch. Well, almost ready. I tried to keep her arrival for builder's trials quite, but word got out and we had about 20 people accompany her to the ramp and the same number more in assorted onlookers. So much for stealth.

As the Earl backed her down the ramp, it was the moment of truth as the essence of boat-ness is that it floats and she had never had her keel wet until then. In a previous post, I noted that she held water after a rain storm, but that was only just up past the garboard strakes. This time her entire bottom would be wet and after the trailer misadventures, who knew what kind of damage had been done. To top it off, the design had changed so radically from when I first did the weight calcs that I wasn't sure how it would ride. Too light and she would flop on her chines, too heavy and she'd be at the mercy of even a small swell. There's also a little thing called the metacentric point, which describes the righting moment for the hull. It that point is too high off the center of bouyancy, when the boat starts to lean it will just keep on going until it has turned turtle.

Well, as I was guilding the Earl back down the ramp, my brother, who was helping on the other side from me, called out to stop. My only thought was disaster. Something was caught or broken or something. Instead, I heard "She's clear, I'll walk it around." I couldn't believe it! It looked like it was still on the trailer. Perfectly level athwart, 2 degrees up at the bow, water line 1 inch above the chine amidships, exactly as I had planned it!! It was one of the luckiest things to ever happen to me. With all of the changes in weight and shape, for everything to cancel out and come out exactly as originally planned was one amazing coincedence.

Once she was tied up, I climed on board with my mallet and some cotton wick expecting to see at least a few geysers in the seams, but lo and behold, just a little seeping near the chines. No need to pound in anything as it would tighten up as she swelled (and she did. Dry as a bone on the 3rd day.)

Ok, it floats, and gave all appearances that she would continue to do so, so time to start up the engine. Here was more uncharted territory. I had run the engine with the boiler previously, but that was out of the boat with no load. The wheels were still on the shaft and the shaft in the bearings, but they were the only thing holding it on the trailer the night before, so who knew what to expect from that. Then the gearing was still to be worked out. I had brought 3 different size gears to give a 2:3, a 1:1 and a 3:2 plant to shaft ratio, but I had no idea if any of them would work. I really had no idea if any of it would work, period, since this would be the first time the system would be run all together. I wasn't even convinced that the system would be powerful enough to move the boat.

The most difficult part of this entire evolution was that we had a full cooler of beer, several of which I needed very badly to drink, but the entire time we were getting set to get under way, there was a cop in the parking lot not 10 feet from the beach watching us the entire time. Everyone was grumbling about this for a while before my cousin went up and asked him if something was the matter. It turns out he remembered my last steam boat as was just a fan. Here I thought he put a call in to the marine police and was just waiting for them to take me and my boat into custody. Do you think I was any issues with authority?

Once we got enought steam, I hooked up the 2:3 gears with the chain, figuring that would be the best case scenario. If it worked, she would zip along with the least amount to steam. If not, it gave me some other options. With 40 lbs on the gauge, we cast off, and I opened the throttle.

It was very anti climactic. She bearly made headway. We did manage to go about 2 knots for about a half hour, which got us about half way home. Then we called in one of the chase boats that where milling around, threw a line and got a tow the rest of the way. That's me and Earl enjoying the sun on the foredeck. Notice the line going to the tow boat. That was enough for one day. Time for to take stock and go at it again the next day, when Earl and I planned to take her under her own power a full 2 miles.

The next day dawned warm and sunny. A perfect day for a steam! The first order of business was to change the gearing. I took it down all the way to 3:2, just to see. After getting up steam, we pushed off the beach and started on our way. Our destination was the Seaside Park Yacht Club, where it was bay day, were all of the yachties from around barnegat bay converge for a day of sailing and alcohol abuse, mostly the latter. I had swore to a bunch of people that I would have the boat there, and damn if I wouldn't.

Before we had gone 100 yds, I noticed two things. The first was the the gearing was just right. She moved along just fine, even at only 20 lbs of steam. The other was that the water pump wasn't pumping water. This turned out to be a big hassle, because the only other way to put water into the boiler was a little foot pump that couldn't work against more than 5 lbs. That meant that about every 20 minutes we had to blow down the boiler, stopping dead in the water, and the pump it full again. No biggie, just a hassle.

Everything was going great untill we were no more than 100 ft from the dock. There are two neoprene gaskets on the cylinder posts that literally melted. This caused the cylinders to go loose from the frame and we lost all power. I flagged down a boat that was watching the races nearby and once again got towed in. We spent the rest of the day drowning our sorrows, which we did most successfully. Oh, and we also broke the tiller off trying to skull in. But we got there. And we had many admirers. I didn't spend much time on the boat, but took to standing on the dock nearby. Almost no one knew that the boat was mine, but plenty of people stopped, pointed, and took quite a few pictures. When the sun went down, we got towed home.

The next day, I replace the seals and tried to go for one last steam that weekend. I fixed the tiller with vicegrips and duct tape, got on steam and shoved off. My brother jumped on board at the last second and we tried to go around the cove a few times. The new seals did the trick! In fact it worked flawlessly. She held 40 lbs of steam and went at a jog, around 6 knots. It was actually throwing a wake! It also reveiled a new problem. The engine puts out so much torque, that it was bending the shaft enough to make the chain slip. The only was to get it to stop was for me to hold up the chain with a piece of pipe I had onboard while my brother drove. Still, that's a simple fix.

The ride stopped when all of a sudden one of the cylinders started to leak steam uncontrolably. Later when I took it apart to fix it I discovered what had cut short our fine steam. The cylinder posts are press fit into the cylinder body and I had put so much steam into it that I actually pulled out the pressing. I have since secured it with a backing plate and screw so it shouldn't be a problem any more.

Well, that was enough. I left her in the water as I took the kids back to Trenton to start school. Two weeks later, I put her back on the trailer and pulled her back home to the boatyard. She's in the driveway now getting ready for her big day on the 17th. I've been working on the engine lately, but more on that later.

Success!!...part 2

In our last installment, all the parts (except the new engine, but more on that later) were built and it was time for the installation. The first thing that had to happen was that the boat had to come out of the shed where it had lived its entire life so far. This was no mean feat as she weighed close to 1500 pounds once all the decking was installed and the yard is on a slight incline. Moving her one way was easy. Stopping, turning and going back up hill, well... not so much. Not only did it have to come out, but it then had to fit under the swing set where there was only 3 inches to spare on either side. And did I mention the tongue of the trailer weighed about 200 lbs, so it wasn't like we could just pick it up and swing it around. Needless to say everything happened very slowly.

After about two hours of maneuvering, she was finally in place. The final few feet was accomplished with the help of a block and tackle which we used to haul it back up the hill. In the picture to the right you can make out the line attached to the back of the trailer that we used to pull it. Once it was in place it was time to put the boiler in.

Installing the boiler was the reason for the complicated move in the first place. My yard lacks and large trees that would have limbs large enough to lift the boiler in place, as I had cut them all down to make room for the boat. The only structure that was high enough and sturdy enough to lift the boiler in was the beam off of the treehouse that holds the kid's swings. Why not just lift it in? Mostly because the assembled boiler weighs ~520 lbs; too much for even two people to lift. So we possitioned the boiler under the swings, tied a come-along to the beam and rigged a harness for the boiler and started to lift. The feet you see on the ladder are mine as I'm operating the lift, one ratchet click at a time. We had to two-block the come-along to get the enough lift. Even then we only had about an inch of clearance between the boiler and the deck. Then we slid it in and bolted it down. Well, actually we pulled the boat back under the boiler.

With the boiler in, the only thing left was to install the engine and hook it all together. Simple, right? Well, it turned out to be mostly so, but it deserves a little technical background. The new engine wasn't (and still isn't) ready, so I was using the old one. The reason I wasn't waiting was because I was anxious to see if the boat would float, the missus was more than ready to have her back yard back, and I just had to have it in the water before labor day. The original launch date was Memorial day, so at least one day before the end of summer, she had to float and go. So the old engine was the only option.

Now the old engine was built for the old boiler. That boiler was high volume, but low pressure. The new boiler was lower volume, but was designed for much higher pressure. That meant that it would need to operate slower than before but with much more power on each stroke. How much slower I wasn't sure so I actually put three gears on the main shaft, a 10, 15 and 20 tooth gear. Matched with the 15 tooth on the engine shaft that meant that the wheels would go a little faster or slower than the engine. On the old boat, the wheel turned once for every 8 times around on the engine. Now the ratio would be nearly at parity. The calculations said that it would work, but that didn't mean it actually would. Anyway, I started it out on the 10 tooth, because it that worked the boat would really zip along.

The engine was plumbed in and all of that without any real trouble except, as usual, I was running out of time. My buddy Chadwick was coming at 3 to pick up the boat with his truck and I was still sweating pipe for all of the steam connections at 2:30. He pulled up just as I shut off my torch for the last joint.

The original plan was to lower the boat to the street by hand with block and tackle and then hitch it up there, but Chadwick, bold as ever, backed his big diesel right in. No small feat that, as his truck is a wide as the boat and that only has and inch to spare on either side out of the side yard gate. He pulled it down into the street without a problem, we loaded up and prepared for the trip to Seaside Park, some 60 miles away. That was 3:30 in the afternoon.

1.27 miles from the house, the trailer hit a bump, came down and sent every bunk on the trailer off in all directions. As we pulled over to assess the situation, the only thing holding it together was the paddle wheels which had prevented the outer bunks from splaying out. As Chadwick fearlessly started to raise the boat up using whatwas essentially a car jack and a game on Jenga, Earl arrived with some larger bunking materials and another jack. We were able to get the boat secured enough to get back to the front of the house.

At that point I truly dispaired of moving the boat further, but Chadwick would not be detered, and he and Earl immediatly devised a plan to fix things and get on the road again. What this eventially lead to was a complete rethink and rebuild of the entire trailer, something I wouldn't have thought possible and certainly wouldn't have been if not for those two, especially the indefatigable Chadwick. It was full on dark when we finally left. When we finally got to Seaside it was 10:30. What is usually an hour's drive had taken us 7.

Tomorrow, I'll post about the launch and what happened after. Until then.

Success!!... well, so far.

She's in the water and floats, and actually moved under her own power for a bit. For those of you who may be shocked that it's in the water prior to the christening, don't be. It's not unusual for boats of a certain size to undergo trials prior to the "official" launch. These builder's trials are undertaken to make sure that things go smoothly when the brass show up to officially take the craft. Even ships that are christened on the ways prior to launch still have several months, if not years, of work to complete before they're ready for pubic sailing. In keeping with this, Mercer Queen shipped no passengers except her builders (and my brother when I needed an extra hand), so no one has missed anything.

But it's been I while since my last post (my god, has it been since July!?!), mostly because I was too busy trying to get the boat ready to start trials to take time to write. I spent quite a few nights working into the wee hours and those that I didn't was only because I was too exhausted to do any more and just collapsed into bed. August was just a blur of sparks since most of the time was taken up with metal work, primarily the boiler.

And here's the beast getting put together. For those interested, it's of a modified Yarrow type, which is a boiler type that was once found on the fastest patrol boats. It consists of two lower mud tubes on the bottom and a steam trunk on the top and a bunch of smaller tubes that wind between them. The picture to the right was taken while I was welding on the connectors for blowing down the mud tubes. The steam trunk is on the left. You can also see the two down-comers that holds the assembly in place and also give a path for excess water in the steam trunk to find its way back to the mud tubes.

This picture is of me putting the steam tubes in. They are made of copper, mostly to better transfer the heat, but also because they are relatively inexpensive.They are attached to the steel with flare fittings. Originally the steam tubes were supposed to be all identical and bend in a simple S pattern from to to bottom. IT was a great idea except that 3/4 in. copper tube can't make a 5 in radius without an annealing torch, and even then... The problem was I had already ordered the shell of the boiler and had to fit the same surface area of tube into the same volume while making only 9 in radii for the bends. The result was the crazy bends you see in the picture, where every tube is custom bent and was tricky as hell to put together. On the computer, they can move through each other as I put them in place. Not so much in the real world.

The other limitation to the boiler was that all of the sheathing had to fit on two 4X10 sheets of steel. This was strictly to control costs. The entire boiler cost as much as (probably more than) the hull. Although it was close. Both came in just over $2K although final accounting isn't complete (mostly because of fear of the truth). This limitation let to an interesting feature that the steel pipes poke out through the cover. You can kind of make out this feature in this picture of the aft face of the boiler. This was taken just before we hoisted it into the boat. The pipes and tubing is all inclosed in a double layer of 16 ga. steel. This design is a safety feature of my own imagining. The draft for the fire comes from the top of the boiler, through the gap between the walls and down under the grate. This serves two purposes, the first is to keep the outer skin somewhat cool and the other is that should there be a failure in the steam tubes (the weakest point of the assembly), the steam would all go up the stack or through the top of the boiler, thereby sparing the boat's occupants the worst of the steam's damage. That's the theory, although the draft doesn't quite work without a full head of steam being blown up the stack to increase the draft. (For those of a safety minded bent, I did hydro test the assembly before and after the skin went on. It passed with flying colors.)

There was some wood work as well, mostly the wheels, although the tricky part was the hubs which I welded out of steel. You can't really make them out in this picture but they are at heart 10 in pieces of 1 in pipe. That size pipe has an interior diameter just a hair over 1 inch and they slide perfectly over the main shaft for the wheels and are secured with 6 set screws. In all it worked out quite well.

It's getting late so I'll stop here so that I can give the assembly move and launch the detail they deserve. Until tomorrow...