Mo's Gear

  What a great paradigm shift, I don't need to move boats across the water with my head, I can use steam to propel them!!

As soon as I had been bitten by the steam bug, I realized that I needed more than a stationary steam engine to keep my interest. Busy hands - happy hands and all that sort of thing I guess... I checked out sites like this one run by Mooseman from the Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum and saw that boats would soon be my focus. check out Moose's great site HERE.

So with inspiration like that here is the first hull I snagged on Ebay and started to modify it to see if I could adapt it to steam power. Aside from Boat #1, this little hull is dubbed "Nanette" for now

 She was an old former clock-work boat( that means it had a windup spring powered mechanism) that was from Germany.

t had this insignia on the bow

 Slowly getting the hull stripped down and the bulkheads moved to accommodate steam instead of a clockwork power plant!!

This is what she transformed into.. almost done  as there are a few details working out in my head still, but all in all- she is quite pleasing to the eye. Final colors are yet to be chosen.. so remember this is a primer paint job., She is about 24" long and only 4" wide. Lowering the boiler more for stability and a small canopy over the rear area for the R/C components is planned. That is a Mamod boiler doing the hot work driving a nice little Stuart Turner double acting single cylinder engine!!

So here is NANETTE

 A slight view from above. There will be single channel R/C as you can see the micro servo. The area above the servo will have a period canopy above it when finished

  The boiler still needs to be lowered about another 1/2" to keep this flat bottomed boat stable and a way to finish off the bow..... it will come to me by the by..

This little jewel came to me from the UK , of course.  A 20 year old kit built boat that I had fun getting back into running condition. Although small for it's size it will also sport a single channel R/C for rudder control. 

I decided that since the windscreen in the front was missing and the aft decking was a goner too- I would improvise a bit with the interpretation of this little boat..I had seen some old ad's for the Bowman tugboats with a little mast and was familiar with tin toys of the 1930 and 40's were made with "tab in slot" type construction. Basic and straightforward. BTW- I also like copper as a material that will tarnish as the years go by...

So this is what I can up with.  I named here after my daughter..

Here is the MADDY B

The aft cover removes with the one simple knurled knob and covers the R/C components. The Wheel house acts as a slight insulator to keep the boiler from cooling off too much since it is very small. About the size of a Mamod Minor 1. It uses a alcohol ( meths ) burner . Paint colors are destined for the aft end - It just seems to need the right color for splash..something period also.. we will see.

 A little paint, a nice fender for her bow and  she will be done.

This plank on frame hull was made by some coastie stationed off the costs of Rhode Island...a little beat up with a broken superstructure... I first played with learning how to modify a hull on this boat. With nothing to lose, I cut off the decking, sealed the inside of the hull and installed some supports for a steam boiler and engine. This hull is about 30" long and 8" wide. Very light in weight!! I am unsure of the fate of this project as I get sucked into others.

  So after realizing the boiler could not be that far forward, the engine actually needs to be forward of the boiler with the prop shaft running under the boiler to line up properly. So it was time to cut and modify the ribs and cross pieces. You get a fiat comparison to size difference with Nanette in the foreground. That is just a dummy smoke stack cap..a well known on the steam and model forums- Bogstandard ( John Moore from the UK) made me a splendid cap!

 Johns beautiful stack cap( John inspired me enough to learn how to use a lath, That I now own and am trying to use with proficiency- a Atlas 618 lathe!! 

 and lastly the twin that is going to power her ...hopefully

 That is all for now... boat #2 languishes for the while....

BOWMAN of Derham

This famous maker of boats not only made steam boats starting prior to WW2 but also made sailboats for the many ponds in the UK. There were several sizes of steam boats - but they all originally came in simple wooden boxes. They had single cylinder engines that ran on steam from a small boiler heated by a alcohol burner. 

 Here is my Snipe that  restored.

She is an elegant yet simple boat of about 22" in length and has a manual tiller. Point and shoot!! Sailing her with a friend to catch and turn her around is a very handy thing to do!! She was made in about 1937 .. English lad's have been having fun with them for years!! ..I now have another derelict Snipe n drydock... more work!!!