Constructing the Steam Box

No this is not a Rube Goldberg inspired grass cutting contraption.  What we have here is a steam box, assembled from parts picked up from the local big box retailer and powered by a used wallpaper steamer.  The sailing dinghy has a pronounced rise in her sheer  as it approaches the bow.  Coupled with the fullness of her mid-section, I thought the best way to safely bend her new rails on would to first apply some gentle steam persuasion.  The rails are roughly 3/4" thick requiring the steaming time to effectively be ~40 minutes.  So, on this afternoon Sunday, August 3rd, I put the pieces together to create a rather rudimentary, but effective, steam box.

The body of the steam box is schedule 40 PVC pipe, 4" diameter.  I capped the elevated end of the box (pipe) and then fitted the lower portion of the box with a T-fitting.  The T-fitting has a hose barb secured to the underside, and it will be here that I will attach the hose to feed the box with steam.  The steaming device is a used Wagner wallpaper steamer that I purchased online for less than $40.  In all, the steam box set me back roughly $90.  I will also plan to use the steam box for new rub rails to be installed on the Dyer dinghy - to come at a point in the not-to-distant-future.  I fired it up, and in about 20 minutes had a good amount of steam spilling out of the lowered end of the steam box - it works!