Well, I’ve only been “intending to” fix the smokebox on the 20th Century for about 5 years now. A fist sized section of the bottom fell out in August, so I took that as a hint I had procrastinated a little too long. A friend managed to get me donated a condemned 100# propane cylinder for a shell, and we splurged on a chunk of 8" pipe…
The old one came off pretty easily. And crushed like an egg when it hit the ground. what was left weighed about 20 pounds
The propane tank shell is 1/4" thick. The inside was coated with oily black crapola… the stuff that gives propane it’s stink, and boy does it ever in concentrated form! My friend Ben brought over his gas axe and chain fall, otherwise I’d have been in a pickle, the shell weighs a bit over 70 pounds.
The tank was 30" the boiler OD is 27". so we did a “redneck” adjust in midair for a nice snug fit.
The next step is to drill the 6 holes for the attaching bolts. THEN we can figure out how to get the 80 pound chimney 8 feet in the air. square it up, and weld it in place. There’s a show in 2 weeks, it MIGHT be done by then.
