re: steam engines, boats SOLAR.KnowledgePublications.com

re: steam engines, boats
16 may 1997
>the subject under discussion is steam engines,
>powered mostly by wood scraps or drift wood.

say a 4'x4'x8' cord of wood has heat equivalent to about 100 gallons of oil,
something like 10 million btu...

>this is a 56 foot powered displacement catamaran, with a very deep draft...

can you stack 16 cords of wood on the boat, and still have room to fish?
can you gather a cord of driftwood in a day? 

>i plan to supply 100 hp to each prop, but would settle for a total of 80 hp to
>the two props for the steam application.  this means that i would need a steam
>engine of about 100 hp.

a total of roughly 150 kw or 500k btu/hour, or 5 million btu/hr at 10%
efficiency... one cord of wood for every 2 hours of motoring? 

>i understand that this could mean a large and a heavy boiler,

with occasional explosions?

>but i believe that i would have the room and the weight capacity for
>it--at least on some trips.

i wonder about the fuel...

nick

(can you use some large windmills as sails?)