Wow. Very clever. I must try.

Very nice model Steven and a warm welcome to the forum. DamienG.

I retired a few years ago and have been scratch building and flying electric RC planes.  The weather has not been cooperating for a novice flyer so during the Covid shutdown I decided to build a boat.  I like paddlewheel boats and found your website which led me to discover Towboat Joes’ site.  While looking for a easy design to start off with I came across the Poho and redesigned it into my own version of a Towboat with a lot of information from this and other websites.  It’s been a great learning experience and I’m looking forward to my next paddlewheel project after I build a couple of barges.

I am about embark on a new project, which will be a typical engine room layout and drive system to a stern paddle. I will be making twin horizontal engines with 15mm bore and a 24mm stroke. The hull portion where the engines will be will be in the order of 180mm wide. The model will be a working one using compressed air.

So my questions are :-
1. Given a hull width at deck level of 180mm how wide should the paddle wheel be?
2. What diameter would be best and the size of the blades?
3. At full speed what sort of revs would the wheel make?

Thank you in anticipation.

Robert

Thanks Damien, Hope you (and all others) are OK.

Now I have become a rope-maker also. When attaching the side fenders on the sponsons I needed a rope a bit thicker than what I had available. I looked-up rope making in the net and found a lot of videos on that topic - all using more or less complex arrangements with at least 3 strands, gears and cranks. Too much for a few lengths of model rope.

But …. if it works with 3 and more strands, what about using just 2??? 

Well, it works.

I fixed a piece of yarn on a nail in the workbench and the other end in a hook in my power drill.
Then I un-twisted the yarn until the individual strands were visible.
Then I changed the end of the un-twisted yarn (which was on the power drill) to the nail. Both ends on the nail now and the mid-point of the yarn on the hook. Length is now half of the original length.
Then I reversed the direction of the drill and re-twisted the 2 strands of yarn. I holds perfectly without any self-un-twisting.

In the picture the brown rope at the top is just doubled from the original yarn. That is used for the sponson fenders.
The clearer rope at the bottom is 6-fold re-twisted yarn. Looks good as a towing rope, but maybe a bit too much as a mooring rope.
Also learned how to splice an end-loop on the rope.

Jurgen