engine: Own Design 60.3 + 95.3 x 63.5 2 3/8" + 3 3/4" x 2 1/2"
boiler: Water Tube, max. 10.3 bar/ 150psi
Prop: 457 x 584 mm / 18" x 23" > Ratio = 1 : 1.28
Picture 1: 2009-09
MISSIE is the short for MISS DEMEANOR. She was built in 1972 on a fiberglass Rose Hull. Converted to steam in 1986 by Bill Cody. Boat weighs about 1500 pounds ready to go without passengers. She has run in fresh water only so far and gone over 2000 miles for me. Properly managed she can negotiate 3 footers but is essentially a flat water boat. She runs mostly on the Ohio River System out of Boone County, Kentucky. MISSIE has been relatively trouble free. (All text by owner - Thank You Tom!)
The all copper water tube boiler is fueled by propane from two twenty-pound propane jugs. MISSIE will cruise at 5.2 mph giving 18 to 24 miles on ONE twenty pound jug. Starting with TWO full jugs, I always use the port tank first, knowing that when I run low, I have enough to get me home!
Under HARD running, the single propane tank can ice up on a cool day, lowering the vapor pressure to the point of no propane flow (can open other tank, but when it warms up the propane is still there).
Ten to twenty miles is a good day´s steaming. 28 miles was about my maximum.
The 12 volt furnace burner is controlled by an air compressor controller: on at 90 psi; off at 120 psi; safety valve at 150 psi. A garden tractor battery powers the burner and has enough charge for two or more days without charging.
Picture 4
She is condensing with a ten-foot keel condenser to about minus 12 psi. The closed system loses about plus or minus one cup of water per mile depending on whistle usage. The engine was home-built in Canada and is aluminum weighing 60 pounds with steel liners.
