Does anyone have any experience with this engine?I have a Victoria that goes with it also that I plan to finish.What else can you tell me about this setup such as should I use a condenser/oil separator? I read some where that the boiler tends to leek.Thanks Joe

I have a similar motor (probably older version) in my Krick Patricia. It ran fine, though motor is showing signs of wear after many years. My boiler did develop a leak in the joint around the water glass, after about 20 years. I replaced it with a custom boiler from Maccsteam.

You should use a condenser, if you don't want your boat and the pond water full of messy oil. And you should also add a steam lubricator, because those two cup oilers are awfully small.

Thanks for your responses.It is just what i was looking for.Can some one of you tell me the what run time I can expect from the unit?Joe

Run=10-15 minutes, if I recall right. Double cylinder, double-acting engines eat up a lot of steam. As the motor gets broken in, you will be able to run at lower throttle settings, thus the big range of time cited. I run by watch time, usually, once I know the characteristics of the powerplant. You don't want to run the boiler dry, of course, so your first cruises should be short, say 5 minutes then return to shore. This allows you to keep a close eye on water consumption.

I had the Wilesco D49, which has the same boiler and cylinders (in a v-twin configuration) and it could run for at least 30 minutes on a water filling.

Has anyone of you tried to control the flame from the valve on the tank? I thought of soldering a lever on and using a servo to adjust it.What do you think?

The problem with adjusting the flame remotely (rc) is that the cues one needs to adjust it are unavailable. Sound of the flame, and sight of the flame are the usual cues I use to decide if I've got the gas valve right. W/o those cues, you run the risk of turning the gas too low, and snuffing the flame. By the time you realize what's happened, you may not have enough steam left to return to shore. About the only cue easily visable from shore is the safety popping, and wasting water&steam in a nice plume :-)

My usual procedure is to set the flame high to generate steam from the cold water/cold boiler, adjust it downwards prior to launch of the craft, run for a few minutes, then return to shore to fine tune the flame as needed. Air temperature, gas tank temperature (which drops as you discharge gas), wind, and boat performance all factor into the adjustment.

If you are good at installing telemetry, then gas tank temperature could be relayed to shore. Some of the race car radio systems can monitor temperature (usually car's motor). Perhaps you could put the sensor on the tank. As the tank cools, you need to turn up the gas to maintain the fire since the cool tank's pressure has dropped. W/o such a sensor, the usual method is to notice that the boat is slowing down, and then to bring her to shore so you can manually increase the gas flow (boiler water permitting....the boat will also slow if you run out of water....Machdog installed a gas cutoff servo to prevent boiler damage in that circumstance, see "Steam powered Tramp" thread for details.)

Much of the fun in steamboating, for me, is this hands-on fiddling with the steam plant. Thus, adjustments are a "feature" not a "problem" of model steaming. To each his own, though :-).

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=717385

Sar, I've got the exact same set-up...I got mine on a trade (Sailplane for Steam Boat) Where do you buy the lubricator from and what size? And do you really need one?? Sorry, I'm not much help... Jack T. P.S. The Boiler and Victoria Kit Look Bitchen