Miss Yvonne

CuriousSteam · Miss Yvonne

Ok This is what basically got this entire steam engine thing going for me. I walked in the hobby store and bought a put together tug boat "The Harbor Tug" it is steam powered. Started gettting the body together and got to the engine... Started that bad boy up and that little steamer got me excited, I took it everywhere and showed everyone. Searhed online and found ministeam and it took off from there, then I found you guys and now I have reason to dig these photos up and post them. Miss Yvonne is the name of the boat and she's getting her finnishing touches done to her right now. Boating season is comming as all you boaters know so lets see what you've got done during the building season: Here's the photo story...

Here is the smallest engine I own

I will post more recent photos once the epoxy dries tomorrow

Bugsy

Looking forward to more photos.
What are the dimensions of the boat, length, beam etc?
Which company made the kit?
Tugboat models are perfect for steam!
Phil
ps
Tugboats traditionally have guy's names...

tmuir

Watch out with the boats. Most of our members who are into boats started off with just little oscillating engines like that now a number of upgraded their boats and engines and downgraded thier savings.

Make sure you video it's maiden voyage.

CuriousSteam

I just recently in August bought my first house, before this house I was taking apart rc cars and making boats out of scrap and building them in the hallway. The hull was always siliconed. This is the first real boat. More photos today, with specs

logoman

Curious, your intro to steam is very similar to mine; bought a boat..enjoyed the steam power...searched online....found the forum....

great to see your boat, I will post some pictures of mine when I buy a camera.

CuriousSteam

Bugsy here are the specs.

And here is where I am to date, i have some questions thou guys...
What should I do with the servo that will control the rutter? I don't have a straight path to where I can connect a rod and still have it inside the hull. I was just going to paint it and have it look like a crate on the deck.
Also I have a 2 channel remote, what other thing shall I do with it? I pondered with the idea of shooting a rocket from it, but don't really want to get into the balance issue.
The search light on to has an led installed and works well.

mogogear

mogogear

Curious - you have done a lot of work!! - Great job- not many people can follow directions and the plan to the end.

There will be several people that will chime in -

Servos:
You have a lot of room to place the servo down below- Running rods to connect the servo and the rudder shaft ( with a horn installed on it) will be a snap=Someone may be able to point you to a thread with a picture that illustrates a couple of ways to position things-

Second channel and what to do with it-
That is a good question- for now with out the ability to reverse- it may just need to stay static for the time being. Some people use an electronic sound chip to produce whistles or fog horn effects .. there are other things to consider also.

Some things you did not ask about so - pardon my input-- all meant as good will.....

I did have 3 or 4 things to chime in on.

* It was suggested to me when I first got into boats, to water-proof the inside of the hull prior to any seas trials. As just a first step buy a quart of sanding sealer and remove the boiler and paint the entire inside of the hull - at least twice. Slop it on and get it in all the cracks and crevices. The worst thing ( outside of the burner catching your boat on fire) is .....SINKING!! If you have already done this - Good job!

* After that you can consider even mixing up 2 part poly fiber glass resin ( no fiber glass mind you) and painting that on all the interior that you can get to. This will really seal up the hull and add some strength and integrity as well as some weight.

*Ballast will be a next consideration and a easy way to get your boat to sit at water line...and to be stable and steady is to use a bit more of that 2 part resin , mixed up and poured over plain old CHEAP- B.B's. I buy them bulk at Target or discount store of your choice. I pour them in - they fill in to the cracks and are easy to disperse where needed. The resin will encapsulate them in place... Side to side balance and front to rear..

*Finally you might even consider running your exhaust tube back up the your stack . That way the steam will be coming out of the stack where it should and look more realistic. You can just insert some copper or brass tubing in the silicone tube and clamp that copper pipe onto the smoke stack off the boiler. Using a clamp or simple wire twist at two places and all will be secure.

These are just some very beginning suggestions and there are so many more knowledgeable folks here to help you get the most out of your handy work.

A great job to you and those wise ones will show up any moment!!

Welcome to the call of the Sea ...on a small fresh-water scale

CuriousSteam

Mogogear, thanks for the advice anyhelp is very appreciated. Even when I forget to ask

will get some sanding sealer and take care of the inside of the hull, then sela it with teh resin, I do have plenty left. The servos, I'll see what I can find for a good place to mount it and will re route the exhaust to the stack. I haven't thought to add sounds with the other servo, that is more realistic than nothing. Thanks for your help, I'll keep you posted

Les

That is a great tug, look forward to the video.

logoman

mogogear

Curious,

here is a random picture of servo placement in the hull of a tug build... just to spur your creative juices ..

So side ways or other wise is Ok and creative bends to the linkage are a must many times.

The main factor is the "horns on the servo an the horn on the rudder shaft need to be parallel or perpendicular right angles- even when far away from each other. This will prevent binding as they both turn and create an arc if you imagine a pencil at the end of each horn drawing a line as it turns.

Also linkage - if it has to pass through a bulkhead etc- likes to pass through a slot as opposed to a hole.. since the linkage can actually rise and fall along the t=line of travel due to the rotation /arc scenario described already....

sorry for Too much info...

Harder to write and describe than in reality- I bet you know this

cheers- if I dig up more unorthodox arrangements I will post..

Les

Bugsy

mogogear

Hmmm- looks good here--I can try another and see if that works better..( I am a member of the forum that I referenced the picture from--could be the old "members only " block..

johnreid

Old Members only, hmmm, wonder if Young members can see it

igy569

Nope. I can't see it either. Just the annoying little red X

mogogear

mogogear

Ok here are some sketches...a lot more than shown here

http://www.victoriarc.org/FAQ/Radio/Servo/Servo.htm

more soon

CuriousSteam

Thanks Mo, this should get me going in the right dirrection for placing the servo down below, thanks a buch!!!! i am seeking that sand stuff you mentioned for teh inside, I agree with you (don't want to watch it burn from a distance

CuriousSteam

Today I did alot of work to Miss Yvonne and the outcome wasn't good at all

I did seal the inside of the hull, re piped the exhaust to look more realistic. Fitted the rutter and attempted a dry run. The engine just doesn't have enough torque. The connector I have inbetween the crank shaft and the prop shaft needs to be completely straight otherwise it just wont spin it. It will spin it if it is straight however, very slow.... So when it goes in the water it won't even push itself anywhere

I'm insearch of an engine that can fit in this hull and atleast push itself.

mogogear

The torque of these little singles is so low that the pitch of the prop and drag of the water just overcomes them..

So don't feel bad..welcome to the lure and challenge of the water!! We other sailors will help!!

CuriousSteam

This hull is so small I wonder if the wilesco will work in it. I did alot of work over the winter to it not to put it in the water

mogogear

Which Wilesco do you have--the twin?

If so that Wilesco twin will be more than enough!! You will need another boiler to power it though. Those little Midwest power plants and engines are really made for the little Elliot bay launches like Richard( kusuchi made and documented here )

http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/about9239.html&highlight=elliot

The little launches weigh next to nothing and have little drag in he water. I bet with the twin, a bigger prop and a little larger boiler-- you will have a tug with forward and reverse- and a steam time of about 25 minutes at scale speed..Fear not-- you have only begun your trip!

CuriousSteam

I don't have the engine just yet. I was thinking what one was the better one to get. The smaller Wilesco Might just fit, but before I even get into all of that I will try a few things after reading that thread, thanks for that. I will align the shaft as straight as possible first then see where I stand.

Paul H

Make sure that the cylinder port face AND the port block face are very well lapped and smooth. To do this, I used crocus cloth, basically a mildly abrasive cloth/sandpaper. Also, make sure the trunnion spring is not too tight, otherwise the engine will bind. Finally, apply a liberal coat of steam oil to the port face and piston to reduce drag. This may not be enough to power your tug, but it will give you a smooth running engine right from the start.

CuriousSteam

Thanks Paul, I think one of my problems has to do with the line up of the crank shaft and the prop shaft. In the instructions it tells to mount it to a board and then use a coupling to connect the two. I did this and it seems to rob all the power. But I feel that even if I do get it to spin it won't be enough power to actually move the boat in the water... So I am considering adding the smaller Wilesco Marine engine if it fits....
Mind you that this tug really was just meant for display, it gets kinda heavy for that little engine to push it.

I just did alot of work over the winter to it, not to get it in the water. Might have to get the African Queen just to have one in the water by spring

CuriousSteam

So I took a look at the plans to make sure all was as it was supposed to be. I did realize that the coupling that I purchased seperatly was made of metal, it called for a 1/8 tube to connect the prop to the crank. I changed this because this was all that wasn't exactlly to the instructions. Fired it up and it spun for about 30 sec.
I figured it was running out of steam. I filled it about 3/4 of the way up, so I took some out to about 1/2. It ran longer and harder

Still I am going to make it be straight so this will help with run time, maybe even get it in the water, but Miss Yvonne has hope of getting in the water on time after all we'll see.

mogogear

Good news on that front !!

kk

Hi all boat builders,

Lining up the engine properly with the shaft is good boat builder practise, the loss of power from the engine to the prop is indeed very high if the whole affair is not straighten up.

If you can run the engine on compressed air you can fine tune the assembly to the point when it runs most freely, that will gurantee that you will have most of the power on the shaft and not wasted in the cardan.

If you think the engine is a bit on the weak side you may invest in a new propellor shaft with ballbearings, these are a bit higher in cost but your engine will benefit from this improvement as well.

Be sure to have the coupling running tru as well, an out of balance rotating shaft may damage your hull, engine, shaft with the time to come.

CuriousSteam

KK I never thought of running it on compressed air to get it tweaked.... Ummm Duh!!! Thanks!! I will do that later on tonight. I still don't think that even if I get it to turn as good as it can, it wont do much once in the water. I am currently seeking a new motor, or a ready to go boat, I need to be in the water soon one way or another.
I took the coupling off and put a rubber tube. It helped so much just by doing that.

kk

Hi CS,

It just came up that you could solve the problem a different way.

What about gearing down the drive from the engine to the shaft say 2:1.

While the revolutions will be halved the torque will be doubled.

Could either be done with two pulleys of different size (be sure to mount the smaller one on the engine end) or utilising gears of some sort.

That way you could even use a bigger propelor maybe with less pitch. That will reduce the speet of the vessel but is worth experimenting with.