Senta

Status: In Service

Owner: Roger Calvert

Website: https://www.rogercalvert.me.uk

Area: UK-North

Hull

Open Launch. Construction: Cold-moulded wood.
Hull model: Flying Dutchman designed by Uus Van Essen and Conrad Gülcher at Netherlands in 1951
Built 1970
Fit out 1976 by Geoff Calvert at Wirral
LOA: 20' 0", LWL: 19' 0", Beam: 5' 1", Draft: 1' 4", Displacement: 1650 lbs.
Hull originally Flying Dutchman sailing shell, fitted with keel and skeg. Decked and glass fibre sheathed internally and externally. Painted blue, with white decks and varnish work. Tiller steering. Canvas canopy.

Boiler

Ofeldt type VWT Built 1993 by Richard Havard at Cardiff, Wales
Fuel: Wood/coal, Pressure: 100 psi, Grate area: 1.5 sqft,
6" dia X 16" high Copper drum(s). 8 X 0.52" dia Copper tubes.
condensing, engine driven pump, hand pump, feed water heater, Windermere kettle, whistle,
Automatic feed bypass using a float valve in the hot well, fitted 2021.

Engine

Propeller

Bronze, 3 blades, Right Hand, 14" X 20"
Shaft: 1.125" Stainless Steel
Prop shaft coupled to the gearbox output with a pair of universal joints.

History

Flying Dutchman shell, never fitted out, acquired by Geoff Calvert in 1970 approximately and fitted out with skeg and propeller for student experiments. Steam plant fitted in 1976 - Stuart Turner 5A engine built by himself from castings and a Merryweather A boiler, ex-Liverpool University. First steamed at the SBA Thames cruise, Radcot, August 1976. Steamed each year (except 1987) since. Multitudinous modifications by the owner over the years, most of which turned out to be improvements. Still the original engine, somewhat modified, but the 4th boiler. Initially based on the Wirral, then for 30+ years in Southampton, now in the South Lakes.

(Mike Bell) Beaulieu River, July 2012