NOVEL STEAM CANOE

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LIV, Issue 21, 17 March 1933, Page 3

NOVEL STEAM CANOE

HOME-BUILT ENGINE.

AUCKLAND BOY'S INGENUITY,

Considerable ingenuity has been shown by two Remuera schoolboys in the construction of a canoe propelled by means of power from a steam engine. The small craft is kept at Deep Creek. The boys, who were only 15 years at the time they built the canoe, received some assistance in making the boiler and the engine, but a large portion^ of the work they performed themselves. The lathe work was done by a small lathe, the power driving the machine being obtained from the rear wheel of a bicycle. The tyre was taken off and a belt was put on to connect with the lathe, one boy turning the bicycle pedals while the other used the lathe. For a boiler the boys made use of an acetylene gas cylinder from an old motor truck. With the addition of a number of copper tubes, the cylinder made a satisfactory boiler. The heat for generating steam was obtained from a primus stove, the burner being taken off and five burners being provided on a copper pipe line underneath the boiler. The result of the boys' efforts was an excellent miniature marine engine, there being a safety valve and water and pressure gauges. The boiler works at a pressure of 1001b. to the square inch.