D.Q., M.Q. Boilers

My post is based on the Chief telling me that one of the DQ's 1000 horsepower boilers would push her along at 8 MPH...and steam to mechanical power efficiency isn't the best here...

So 1500 prop horsepower should do. This is 50% more than the installed horsepowers of the Spirit of Peoria and the Niagara Prince, both move along much faster than the DQ. So I'm thinking five 300HP Verados with 6 to 8 inch pitch props...

And I appreciate that I gave everybody a chuckle...but I'm serious about trying to make this nightmare end, with an outside the box idea...

I'll defer to Alan Bates on this, but just comparing horsepower is not getting the whole picture. One must consider hull type, size and shape, draft, total tonnage, etc. Was that 8 mph in dead water or current? If in current, how much? Would she come up the river at Memphis at flood stage at 8 mph, or run along in summertime in Kentucky Lake at 8 mph?

I also don't know exactly what effect the reduction ratio has on stated horsepower. Horsepower can be used for speed or for pushing power....it depends on the reduction ratio from crankshaft to prop. Prop diameter is also a determining factor, not just pitch.

I conferred with my husband and he though the conversion ratio would be about 2 to 1 as far as gasoline to steam, so you would need 10 Mercs. Outboards are notoriously short lived, as well, so you would probably have to replace them yearly. You would probably have to replace the props so often that you would need a regular employee to do that job, as well as an outboard mechanic. No love lost here on outboards, but I understand they are making them a little better now. Oh, and another employee to watch them all the time to be sure they are peeing a good stream of water.

You can't compare steam HP to Infernal combustion HP.
I know HP is supposed to be HP, but steam/gas HPs are NOT the same.
My 25' steam launch had a 3hp steam engine in it, and would move along at a good clip. This was a boat with a 5' beam, so it was no streamlined "hull speed" craft.
(Actually, the boat still exists, just that the engine is now in Mexico--long story about how NOT to sell a boat!).
S'
David D.
Bruno, sad to say, the only way to get this nightmare to end is to find a large source of money to throw at it.

Get What You Wish For

".. dreaming of an old log, and wishing one was a’ coming in sight.."

or:

Sometimes you get what you wish for....

While doing my monthly hull inspection, today, the jonboat got hung-up on a raft of drift between the boat and landing barge. Thankfully, an outstanding deckhand was with me, but it still took an hour to extricate ourselves from the logs and debris within that confined space. When we finally freed ourselves, I thanked the man for his outstanding effort, and he just smiled and said,

"..thought it was fun."

There's the kind of guy you like to work with, and one you'd keep your eye on 'cause he'd make a good Mate, someday.

I knows 'em when I sees 'em.