From: jl@glen--canyon.com   
      
   On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 18:52:24 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
   (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:   
      
   >john larkin  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 09:30:39 -0800, Buzz McCool   
   >>  wrote:   
   >>   
   >> >On 2/11/2026 7:56 AM, john larkin wrote:   
   >> >> Ships are most all diesels now. Steam plants are efficient but complex   
   >> >> and it's hard to get crews who can run them.   
   >> >   
   >> >I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing.   
   >> >   
   >>   
   >> Steamships burn Bunker-c, which is about the cheapest hydrocarbon   
   >> available. It's stiff tar at room temperature. Nasty, stinky stuff.   
   >   
   >You need steam to heat it so that it can flow into the burners.  The   
   >steam comes from the boilers that are heated by burning the fuel - but   
   >the fuel can't be burnt until it has been heated by the steam wbich   
   >can't be made until.....   
   >   
   >Steam plants are complex....   
      
   On the ships I worked on, they burned diesel to bootstrap the process.   
      
   They had a "take home" motor, an electric motor powered by a diesel   
   generator, that could push the ship slowly when the steam plant broke.   
      
   Horsepower needed goes as about the square of hull speed, so it didn't   
   take a lot of power to make 5 or 10 knots.   
      
   A pinhole leak in a high pressure steam joint would produce a silent,   
   invisible jet that could slice your arm off.   
      
      
   John Larkin   
   Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center   
   Lunatic Fringe Electronics   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)