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Logic, I don't think the steam racing hydroplanes are very efficient in terms of heat loss, etc. But they're designed for only one purpose. Go as fast as you can for a very short time. They run up to 4 blowtorch type kerosene burners going full to heat stainless steel tubing boilers to red heat. We're maybe talking superheated steam. I think pressures are more than 1000 psi.
There are no websites that I know of that are devoted to flash steam engine construction, though there are sites devoted to building model engines in general, and high speed steam flash engines may appear there rarely. Really the best resource for building them is the book Experimental Flash Steam. Out of print, but used copies are available. Really good book.
When people talk about efficiency I think it's important to think about what reference frame they mean. In my case a gasoline engine generator might be technically more efficient, but a steam engine that was less heat efficient but burned a readily available renewable fuel found in abundance nearby is a different kind of efficiency compared to purchasing a fossil fuel that had to be pumped out of the ground, refined transported, put into tanks, then pumped into a gas can, then driven to the boat.
I think it's important to think about the big picture when it comes to any particular situation involving efficiency of energy usage.
Of course my rowboat is even more efficient. It's fueled by a sandwich.
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