Steamboat Register

Wide Awake

Status: Steaming

Owner: Brian Davies

Area: UK-Wales

Hull

Open Launch. Construction: Triple Diagonal Hull. Mahogany and Gaboon on Larch.
LOA: 25' 0", Beam: 7' 6",
Begun in 1982, launched 2001.

Boiler

SBA VFT 105 Designed by David Beale,
Built 2017 by Steamwell Boilers at Chew Stoke
Fuel: Coal, Pressure: 200 psi, Heating area: 37.9 sqft,
29" dia Steel barrel. 0.75" dia Steel tubes. Welded steel ,expanded tubes construction,
selectable condensing or non-condensing, forced draft fan, hand pump, Windermere kettle,
Overall height (including ashpan and base of funnel) 48". Originally a 3 drum Watertube built by Ken Wickham.

Engine

Guy replica 2 cyl compound. 2.25" + 4.875" X 4"
Slide valve. SLRG valve gear.
Cast hammer frames. Cross-head driven vacuum pump, crank-driven feed pump and Weir Junior feed pump. Auxiliary Lynch electric motor (24v.). Originally a single cylinder engine built by Ken Wickham, then a Stuart 6A. Guy engine fitted in 2015.

Propeller

17" X 30"
Shaft: 1 1/4" 316

History

Built by Ken Wickham, mainly to ‘Wide-A-Wake’ plans published in Model Boats magazine in 1972. Launched on Windermere in 2001. Acquired by Peter McDonald and moved to Gloucester, where the original engine was replaced by a Stuart 6A, and an auxiliary Lynch electric motor was added. Bought by present owner in 2014. Hull refurbished by Steve ‘The Boat Chippy’ at Penarth, and machinery overhauled and ‘Guy’ engine fitted by Penybryn Engineering at Ystrad Mynach in 2015. Steamed in Cardiff Bay in 2016, and re-boilered in 2017.

Last Modified: 2018.01.06.