# live steam tugboating



## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Here is a video I made yesterday of my old steam tug NAMEAUG out for a jaunt at Center Pond here in Phippsburg. The weather was nice and warm, very comfortable for a wade in launch of the boat.

I built NAMEAUG in1994 over a bout a year and a half's time when I had lots of time before my wife and kids came along. She uses a Stuart Turner D-10 two cylinder vertical marine engine. the bore and stroke are each 3/4" She has a home made water tube boiler fired by propane. The camper's propane bottle stands under the pilot house. She has a engine powered feedwater pump as well as a manual, just like our (larger) Locos. There are two tanks for feed water...I don't use pond water or sea water...which is BAD... The tanks hold about half a gallon of water.


The boat herself is all wood construction. Her frame is oak with sawn out ribs (not steam bent). the planking is southern yellow pine. When I built her Rescorsinol glue was the best, most water proof and heat resistant adhesive available...cant seem to find it any more. The cabin roof comes off for access to the machinery plant. 

I use 4 channels of my radio for control. I control the rudder, throttle, forward/reverse, and whistle. I have a two chime whistle just for fun, unfortunately it sounded poorly this run so It wasnt included in the video. I think I had the gas turned low so the pressure was low.

It has been a while since I ran her and quite a while since i ran her regularly. you can tell by my seamanship at the end of the run (and video)









here are some photos: 



















For more info, check out my website


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Eric,

Very nice tug!







I've always wanted to build a steam-powered tug. One year at Los Angeles Live Steamers, we had a very large pond constructed for steamboats and we had a great turnout of beautiful models. Your tug would have been at the top for sure! Thanks for posting.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Beautiful boat Eric. Thanks for the video. What are the specs on the boiler. A Stuart D10!! You could water ski behind that plant.


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## Ron Hill (Sep 25, 2008)

Hey Eric, maybe your next project could be the construction of a car float to pull behind it with some railcars on it. That would look reall cool! 
Ron


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Eric
We also enjoyed a voyage across the pond. We captained two ships at the Regatta: Spanish/American war era Torpedo boat and the freighter Star Light.



We did not have room for the for the PRR Tug Harrisburg and it's car float


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## Steve Shyvers (Jan 2, 2008)

Eric, 

Resorcinal glue is apparently still available. I last used it in the 70's for a boat-building project. Great stuff but the faying surfaces need to be wood-to-wood with no gaps. And it was the very devil to clean up where it ran out of the joints and hardened. I switched to epoxy for most jobs but learned to keep it off my skin and work where there was lots of ventilation. 

Steve


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## thumper (Jan 31, 2009)

Charles/Ryan, I noticed that you did not have the keel attached to the Harrisburg Tug in your latest video. Doesn't that make the tug a little top heavy? Instructions for the tug say that it should not be steamed without the factory built keel. OR, was the Harrisburg tug shown not yours?

Regards,

Will


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Will
Yes,the Fine Arts Harrisburg tug does require (until we can figure out ballast to off set the super structure influence on stability) the keel. The photo posted was our PRR tug running with the keel in place with the pond having more depth. The pond this year was not deep enough, thus not on the water this year.


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Will-- My tugboat is very heavy and does roll quite a bit in heavy weather and in turns. It does carry a little lead down in the bilge to bring its center of gravity down. I can see how any tug like the Harrisburg or Brooklyn need help with stability especially if the super structure is not particularly light weight. 

Steve-- I use epoxy extensively for my full size small boat construction and it is excellent for nearly all uses with wood and fiberglass. It does however have a limitation when it comes to heat... at elevated temperatures, it looses its strength which is good if you have to remove it for some reason but not handy if your boiler creates enough heat to soften it...which it should not do, but... 

Bob-- Below is a drawing of the boiler i used (as well as a sketch of the Stuart engine)


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Sweet craft


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