Steam Launch parts acquired

seikeinlemming

Petty Officer 2nd Class" & 2020 Splash of the Year
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
140
Quick update here - mahogany has been cut to length and attached to the hull at the bow. The port side has been sanded. Quick update, but major, so I thought I would post!
 

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seikeinlemming

Petty Officer 2nd Class" & 2020 Splash of the Year
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
140
Some fun new updates that happened here through the winter/spring. Supports for the front seat have been cut and positioned. They still need to be glassed in (yes, the bilgekote will be sanded off before that). You will also see the rough cut of the mahagony that will become the seat. This will be cut into a curved shape that matches the curvature of the top. The area between the two sides (currently plywood) will be seat as well, but that will fold out of the way to gain access to the interior of the bow.

Below is also a photo of the ash pan (round ring) on which the boiler will be mounted. The pieces are pictured upside down and fit onto the steel piece shown sitting between the seat and the engine base . Like the firebox door on the boiler, these parts were laser cut so that they fit together perfectly. We are still waiting on some final pieces to be finished and then that can be welded together relatively quickly.

This weekend we got the engine base aligned and mounted in the hull. This is a milestone because it means we can now piece the entire engine back together now that all the individual parts are all complete.

In the upcoming weeks, as the ash pan gets assembled, we will mount it to the hull. From there the already-completed boiler will be installed, the steam engine assembly will be complete and we will pipe up all the steam lines to make the thing run.

We are still aiming to be on the water in August (although not with all the woodwork complete).
 

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sphelps

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 16, 2011
Messages
11,429
Very cool ! It’s so interesting to see a different type boat and assembly come together that we normally wouldn’t see !
 

seikeinlemming

Petty Officer 2nd Class" & 2020 Splash of the Year
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
140
The steam engine is being painted and assembled for the 'final' time. It will obviously be disassembled as necessary to fix things, but at this point it won't be entirely disassembled again. I got a CNC router that will cut the name into mahogany for the side. You can see the test cuts getting done in the image below.

Additionally, the front is almost visually complete, aside from cleats and chocks. Most of the stain and spar varnish has been applied so you are essentially looking at the finished front deck. In the photo below you can see the black stripe running down the port side, with the original unstained mahogany color still visible to starboard. Originally this stripe was not intended, however, due to the difficulty of steam bending mahagony that is 5" wide, we cut into strips and then came up with the dark stripe to make the joints between wood look intentional. Just one of those things that only the builders (and the iboats forums!) will know.

We will be cutting the sharp curves on the stern of the boat with the CNC router since we cannot bend mahogany to the radius required. From there we will have the entire top deck stained and complete.
 

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Scherfz1

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 4, 2019
Messages
238
this is one legit build and cool!!!!!

also why in the heck would you be getting the boilers inspected????? i read that and it threw me off lol.
 

seikeinlemming

Petty Officer 2nd Class" & 2020 Splash of the Year
Joined
May 23, 2011
Messages
140
Scherfz1: If we go to insure the boat, the insurance company will want to know that the boiler wasn't just assembled by some people in their garage with who-knows-what knowledge about hot things under pressure. Additionally, the place where we built the boiler is already a code shop, so it really wasn't that difficult to have a boiler inspector come through and do ours while they were there to inspect other boilers.
 

Scherfz1

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 4, 2019
Messages
238
seikeinlemming ahh i didnt know thats what the shops main deal was, and i get it, you spend thousands to make the boat i would want to insure it for that lol, and it would blow to have an non certified boiler to stop that.
 
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