Rainbow

Status: Active use

Owner: Bart Smaalders

Area: USA

Hull

double ended open boat. Construction: carvel, yellow cedar on black locust frames.
Built 1953
LOA: 26' 0", LWL: 24' 0", Beam: 8' 0", Draft: 2' 0", Displacement: 5000 lbs.
Rebuilt completely from burned original in 2007 by Peter Christinson, Shaw Island, WA. Only the rudder, mast and bronze castings were salvaged from the original hull. She's carvel planked with yellow cedar over black locust frames; the deck is plywood with epoxy/glass overlay. The boat is solid and very seaworthy.

Boiler

RT Scotch Built 2007
Fuel: wood, Pressure: 155 psi, Grate area: 2 sqft, Heating area: 40 sqft,
24" dia X 24" long Steel barrel. 60 X 1.25" dia Steel tubes. Welded steel ,expanded tubes construction,
condensing, engine driven pump, hand pump, injector, feed water heater, Windermere kettle, whistle,
Boiler is being replumbed as original design did not pass safety inspection anymore. I'm adding a float to the hot well to remove the need to adjust the feed pump bypass, and replacing the pumps.

Engine

Propeller

Bronze, 3 blades, Right Hand, 18" X 24"
Shaft: 1.25" bronze
propeller is driven via inline 1:1.5 step up gear.

History

Rainbow's first incarnation was as a Navy whaleboat, built in 1953. These boats were used to shuttle sailors ashore, from ship to ship mid-ocean, and to effect rescues of Naval airmen forced to ditch their planes. The hull was sold off in the early 1970s, and the diesel engine was replaced with a Semple single cylinder engine making perhaps 5 hp. She was steamed all over the Pacific Northwest by John Campbell, often trailered to interesting areas. Rainbow steamed down the Columbia River Gorge, and steamed from her home port of Orcas Island to the northern tip of Vancouver Island, with her owner camping aboard. She was a fixture at Northwest Steam Society meets. In 2007 she caught fire and was extensively damaged beyond practical repair for a 55 year old hull. Peter Christinson of Shaw Island built a new hull using the bronze castings from the original. Rainbow returned to steaming with a new lease on life. I acquired her when John decided that managing the boat had gotten a bit much in 2017, and we steamed her around the San Juan Islands that year. She has been laid up here on Lopez Island since then; I plan to get here in the water again as soon as I finish my new shop and move my machine tools from California.

Rainbow at her mooring in Swifts Bay, Lopez Island.