Steamboat Register

Al Hadir

Owner: Cdr.J.V. Hodgkinson R.N.

Area: UK-South West

Hull

Open Launch. Construction: GRP.
Hull model: Frolic 21 designed by R Latham & JV Hodgkinson
Built 1988 by Steam & Electric Launch Co. at Wroxham
Fit out by J.V. Hodgkinson
LOA: 21' 0", LWL: 19' 6", Beam: 5' 8", Draft: 2' 3",
White, wheel steering, with all over canopy and side curtains. The details refer to Al Hadir as a steamer, but in around 2020 she was converted to electric and now lives permanently in France.

Boiler

VWT Built 2004 by JV Hodgkinson
Fuel: paraffin, Pressure: 150 psi, Grate area: 6 sqft, Heating area: 16 sqft,
superheater,
condensing, engine driven pump, hand pump, feed water heater, Windermere kettle, whistle,
Variable stroke engine driven main feed pump; hand stand-by feed pump . Keel condenser cleared by modified ‘Edwards’ air pump on engine. Steam bilge ejector Central vertical drum in malleable iron; 12 copper coils interlaced around it Blackstaffe style and surrounded by 24 copper water wall tubes which cross the fire annulus below the coils before spiralling up the wall, doubling back and recrossing the fire annulus to join the drum above the generator coils. All tubes joined to drum by flared unions LIFU style. Stainless steel superheater immediately above fire. Feed heater above tubes. Raise steam in ten minutes from Flash-up. Wkettle. keel c.

Engine

Compound. 2 1/2" + 4" X 3"
Built 1990 by J.V. Hodgkinson
Design: 6A by: Stuart Turner
pv on HP, sv on LP valve. SLRG with ‘Marine links’ to owner’s design valve gear.
2 tfc, 2cbs, 600 rpm. A standard 6A with modified crossheads to accept motor cycle con rods. Pressure lub to mains; big ends, crossheads/ guides and into steam. Fitted with a proper simpling valve which diverts H.P. exhaust to condenser and puts live steam to L.P. sv on both cylinders prior to 2006

Propeller

3 blades, 18" X 24"
Shaft: 1" Stainless Steel

History

Built 1988/89 from a Rupert Latham moulding and hull kit. Launched March 1989. Originally fitted with ‘Swan’ engine and an ‘Illingworth’ boiler from ‘Finch’ built by Raymond Vallings. Re-engined winter of 1990/91 with a Stuart 6A built by owner. Steamed every year since launch. Re-boilered winter of 2003/4 with a VWT boiler similar to ‘Illingworth’ but with coiled generator tubes and a ‘Water Wall’ designed and built by owner. Externally indistinguishable from the original. Taken to France every Summer since 1990 where she has steamed more miles than in U.K. Has only failed to get home under her own steam on one occasion.

Last Modified: 2021.04.12.