Paddleducks
Paddler Information => Preserved Paddle Ships => Topic started by: Walter Snowdon on July 23, 2006, 06:48:26 AM
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Congratulations to all those involved in the salvage and restoration of this very pretty little paddler.
Do any of our Newzealand members know of a source of plans or detailed photos of her, past and present? Look forward to hearing from you. Regards to all, Walter.
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Hi Walter,
I've sent a note off to the operators of Waimarie - Whanganui Riverboat Centre - and will let you know as soon as I get a reply.
http://www.riverboat.homestead.com has some info on her as well.
Go to http://www.riverboats.homestead.com/WaimarieSurvey.html and you can see photos from the 2003 survey.
And at http://www.riverboats.homestead.com/Waimarie.html you'll find other photos - none particularly detailed but hopefully of some help.
Cheers
Tony
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Hi PD's - Tony, some interesting snaps of the PS Waimarie out of the water, she is certainly shallow draft - also interesting is the 'Golden Tan' 3"BSP discharge pipe [just aft of the STDB wheel] complete with CAM-LOK coupler
In modern days fluid systems, 'Golden Tan' is reserved for 'mineral oil hydraulic fluid' - althought considering the pipe spool angle & placement I suspect this discharge may be :offtopic so :shhh - regards Derek
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Derek,
I believe you hit the nail on the head, ha ha. No discharges into the river these days - goes into a holding tank for subsequent pumping out and treatment.
The shallow drafted riverboats were ideal for navigating long distances up the river - second largest navigable river in NZ fed by Mt Tongariro high in the central volcanic plateau.
Cheers
Guide Tony
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Hi Walter,
heard back from Robyn at Whanganui Riverboat Centre - her email is riverboatswanganui@clear.net.nz
She advises that they have full sets of P/S Waimarie plans available. The price is $40.00 per set. That's in NZ dollars - which is worth roughly a third of the UK pound - so a set of plans for around 13 quid, plus postage of course. She didn't mention scale but then that's easily fixed at the local copy centre no doubt.
regards
Tony
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Walter, A gent who has built a model of Waimarie from the plans Tony mentioned will be bringing it to our local sailing day on Sept 3rd. If you want to wait until then I will ask his opinion of the plans, check the scale and photograph the result. Regards, Ian.
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Thanks Ian thats good of you, I look forward to seeing the photos. Regards, Walter.
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Hi,
If anyone is interested, I have just returned from a week in Wanganui where the ps Waimarie is berthed at the Wanganui Riverboat Centre, and have a number of detail photos.
Their drawings are to a stated scale of 1:48, being reductions of ones drawn for survey approval before restoration, and suitable for modellers who have some photo reference as well.
regards
kiwi
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I will be in NZ for 5 days over the coming weekend (Labour Day public-holiday long weekend in NZ), riding various special trains based on Feilding to mark the centenary of the completion of North Island Main Trunk Railway. I have extended the trip to take in the Tues.28.10 public cruise of PS Waimarie, 14.00 departure.
The long weekend marks the end of the winter service (13.00, weekends and holidays) and the start of the summer one (14.00, daily).
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
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Could you take some photos of the vessel to help Walter out while your on your trip Roderick? I know he'd appreciate it if you could....
Cheers
Eddy
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Taking photos is easy to to do with digital, and easy to transmit later.
Walter: what aspects/details? Are you wanting flat-on views so that you can get some concept of scale and measurement? Would you like a tape measure in some/most views?
The website for cruise information is www.riverboats.co.nz
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
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Hi,
Earlier this year I spent a week at the home of the Waimarie, measuring up the Ongarue (third vessel to be restored by the riverboat centre)for its survey application. I also have a series of photos of the Waimarie taken on our last day. I will be also drawing the Waimarie early in the new year and maybe will post these for our download section similar to the Koheroa drawings. These drawings are done using existing drawings for the ship and plant and filled in with measurements taken directly from the vessel.
If anyone is interested I can post these photos after Roderick has done his thing. Copies of the Waimaries survey drawings at 1/48 scale are available from the Riverboat centre for $40NZ per set. Proceeds to the upkeep of the boats.
kiwi
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Yhanks Roderick and Kiowi - look forward to the results! regards, walter.
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Hope you enjoy your trip Roderick, I found the staff of the Riverboat Centre very friendly and got to talk to the Captain during the trip and found that my model has the same handling foibles as the real thing! The plans from which mine were built were prior to the ones they now sell and were just rally lines but I do have some sections if need Walter. You are right that shee is shallow draft in relation to the superstructure height so and mine needs abou 8kg (18pounds) of ballast but then she is a big model. She was built shallow as the river got very low at times and sometimes they had to pick up a wire rope that was secured in the river at various rapids and run it through the winch to winch her up. Roderick might be able to get you the booklet about her and the calender with pictures of her or the Homestead site has old photos which are not a lot of help but it does tell the stories well. Look forward to Harry's other plans when ready. The screw steamers with prop in a tunnel would make interesting models too. Cheers, Ian.
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Hi Walter & Ian,
the currently available plans from the riverboat centre come in 4 sheets, which includes numerous sections and all the different deck plans etc. All the information you need to build the hull lines etc. These where done for the original survey application for restoration, and are reasonably accurate, similar to those I have just done for the tunnel hulled Ongarue. Hope to have a set of drawings of the Ongarue and Wairua completed soon for us modelers as well.
Enjoy your trip Roderick, and beware the black soot from the low grade Huntly coal. Devil to remove from clothing.
kiwi
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I had a very happy cruise today, and took lots of photos, but they are all fairly standard ones.
There was a crew of six, and I got to chat with all.
I also got to steer for 10-15 min: very twitchy. Constant correction was needed, with a full turn of slack before any effect.
The boat lookes beautiful, with lots of polished wood and brass. The engineroom is very clean.
The exhaust was very audible and steady. The engine (two double-acting cylinders) had direct drive.
The river looked good: different banks from my familiar ones from home, and seen at their best in sun.
I will post more tomorrow when I am back home.
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
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I took about 20 photos, some of which replicate the existing photo posts in this thread.
Here are two.
One shows the feathering paddle. I didn't get the chance to ask about this. There is an existing post of one of these paddles inside the museum display. I also didn't explore the toilet in the sponson cabin. It seems that there cannot be full headroom in the compartment, as the main cabin is recessed into the hull (but not right to the keel; there are freshwater and greywater tanks under the saloon floors).
The other shows the arrangement at the stern, with stairs down into the rear saloon, and up onto the promenade deck. The boat is licensed for ~150 passengers. IIRC 120 max on the upper deck.
The arrangement of decks is what I advocated in miniature for Michael's Sundowner rebuild. It provides stability, yet shallow draft. The skipper told me that the boat is drawing ~60 cm (less when not fully laden).
Being a coalburner, the fuel space required is much smaller than needed on a woodburner.
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
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I enclose a pdf (488 kB) of the doublesided A4 sheet of technical specifications of the boiler & engine, plus some history. It was handed to me by the very friendly engineer, who answered my many questions about feedwater, fuel and lubrication.
The vessel runs on straight river water, with about two blowdowns per hour.
The two feedwater pumps are driven from the engine, and so are useful only when cruising.
The injector is used when lighting up, but it draws from the freshwater tank, so it is not useful when cruising.
The coal is from Huntly (south of Auckland), in fairly small lumps. The engineer kept a fairly shallow fire. It is of lower calorific value than railway-loco grades, and is used mainly to feed a large powerstation.
Although passengers are warned to look out for sparks from the funnel, I didn't see any.
Most of the lubrication is by gravity wick; there was one pumped lubrication point. There were only two points requiring regular hand lubrication.
The coal bunkers were much more compact than the eqivalent wood stowage with which I am more familiar.
The wheelhouse on the upper deck is open, with direct voice communication to the engineer, so no bells are installed.
The river is tidal for the whole reach covered by this boat.
It had been moored facing upriver, against a falling tide. The breeze wasn't severe. The captain backed against a stern spring line to get the bow off the jetty. I had wondered if there would be enough depth at the stern, and there was. The boat then moved off upriver.
Docking (facing upriver) involved a bit of juggling, as the desired position is with the front deck against the jetty, and the paddlebox projecting into the gap between the jetty and a mooring dolphin.
Others have commented on the speed and silence of operation. Within the saloons, little was audible. On the upper deck, the exhaust was quite pronounced. Paddlewheel noise was fairly localised. I wonder if feathering paddles run more quietly than nonfeathering ones?
For this cruise, the boat was sitting on 7 kt [13 km/h]. It can achieve over double this, and does so in the annual river race: paddlesteamer v racing-eight rowing boats. The speed of 10.5 kt in the brochure may refer to normal service speed, which is generally avoided in tourist cruises.
On Thurs.30 & Fri.31.10, there would be two cruises per day, to handle large tour groups.
On my Tues.28.10 14.00 cruise there were not many people. This was the day after a long weekend (bank holiday for UK readers), when there had been many people aboard. One passenger was from Canada, and has his own 10 m fishing boat, which he has taken through the locks and ship lifts of Peterborough - Trent Canal and Rideau Canal, Ontario. He not only steered, he took up the invitation to fire a few shovels of coal.
The operating crew is a captain, two engineers, two deckhands and a steward. On this cruise, a former captain was along for the ride, and shared the steering and gave me my lesson.
As with many other places in the world, unsympathetic road bridges block navigation. To take the boat to its slipway (survey slipping every 2 years), the wheelhouse and half of the funnel have to be unbolted; the boat can ease under the two downriver bridges at the lowest point of the tide, then has to wait for the rising tide to have sufficient water to get onto the slip. There are plans to rebuild the original side slipway, opposite the wharf, as the operation has two boats (PS Waimarie, MV Wairua for longer charters, and is working on the long-term restoration of MV Ongarue).
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
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The aim was to take a set of photos which would help modellers; I didn't succeed.
With the plans available readily, I took only general-effect photos, and didn't dangle my tape measure in any.
Here are the four engineroom photos: exactly what won't be modelled, but probably of the greatest interest to the greatest number.
I guess that there is no superheater: can superheater elements be installed in a water-tube boiler?
Superheating wasn't common in Murray-Darling boats, but did exist. The boiler built for Billy Tea (and subsequently removed for the sale of the vessel) was superheated. Many paddlesteamers got saturated boilers second-hand when railway locomotives were being rebuilt with superheated boilers.
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
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Today, three photos of the interior of the fore saloon. Here it has been set up for normal cruising. For charters, the tables can be rearranged and extra ones added. The bar servery is at the bow end and is fairly compact. Notice the need for a shelf on the stove to provide sufficient working space. The forepeak contains bulk storage, a refrigerator and a microwave oven. There is a step down, because the saloon sits above the main fresh-water tank, and the forepeak has to sit below deck level.
The interior looks very smart: polished wood, and brass fittings. Even the 230 V power point had the antique porcelain & brass look. I was recharging my laptop, but tucked it out of sight under the stairs so as not to spoil the period look.
Whanganui River is the longest navigable river in NZ. It was navigated in three stages (different boat styles) to Taumaranui, and there was some navigation on the tributary Ongarue River (which had its confluence there). Waikato River is longer, but has been broken by innumerable dams for hydroelectric projects. Both were major transport routes before North Island Main Trunk railway was completed (1908). Both were used for tourist cruising, and Hatrick ran a major guesthouse along the the river. Rangitikei River has some spectacular cliff sections, and is popular whitewater recreational and jetboating territory today. Not in this list (it is shorter) is Manawatu River, which was navigable in its lower reach and had steam boats towing barges of flax from farm to mill. Today, the Manawatu Gorge reach is popular recreational territory. The South Island rivers tend to be very wide and very rocky and very shallow: not navigable for commercial boats, and tricky even for kayaks for much of the year.
NZ's longest ten rivers:
Waikato River (NI) - 425 km
Clutha River or Matau River (SI) - 322 km
Whanganui River (NI) - 290 km
Taieri River (SI) - 288 km
Rangitikei River (NI) - 241 km
Mataura River (SI) - 240 km
Waiau River, Southland (SI) - 217 km
Clarence River (SI) - 209 km
Waitaki River (SI) - 209 km
Oreti River (SI) - 203 km
www.riverboats.co.nz (home page for the cruises)
The other relevant threads in Paddleducks:
New Zealand paddlesteamers, in this Preserved Paddle Steamers section www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2541.0 (includes the Waimarie brochure, and photos of it steaming)
NZ Paddle Ships on Waikato River, in the Research section.
http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2893.0
www.riverboat.homestead.com (home page not working when I tested it), use
http://riverboats.homestead.com
or http://riverboats.homestead.com/MainMenu.html
www.riverboats.homestead.com/WaimarieSurvey.html (photos on the slip)
www.riverboats.homestead.com/Waimarie.html (other photos)
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
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Two themes today: the aft cabin (fitted with an auxiliary bar for busy days) and deck scenes.
Notice that the boat carries the marks indicating that it has limited manoeuvrability.
I gain the impression that a winch was even more important on NZ rivers than on Australian ones: winching over rapids/shallows would be a regular event.
Regards
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
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Hey Rod, Luke and Cheri (Billy Tea builder) were onboard a week after you were there. They said the crew were still talking about you!
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I conclude the selection from my Tues.28.10.08 visit and cruise.
MV Ongarue has been rescued, and treated cosmetically to prevent further deterioration, but a lot of work will be needed for a full restoration (there is a lot of hull corrision). It isn't paddle, but the use of a tunnel screw is interesting, and common in NZ rivers. The arrangement protected the screw from damage in shallow rivers with rocky bases, and allowed a screw vessel to have a shallow draft. I was in a wooden tunnel-screw launch at Goolwa a month earlier, but couldn't photograph the arrangement.
MV Wairua is used for charters, and goes further up the river.
Being a passenger on the only cruise of the day meant that I couldn't get a photo of the boat steaming along, but there are some in the other links which I posted yesterday.
'The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about'. (Oscar Wilde)
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor