G'mornin (here) Puddleduckies
We took our motor home (caravan?) up north for a few days. Got to spend a couple hours sailing on the stern wheeler Columbia Gorge. As usual my camera got left on the dining room table here at home. The boat is being used as a tour boat with a two hour dinner cruise as the main draw. Went with a large group of fellow travelers. I was the only one interested in the boat so I politely excused my self and made my way topside. Did not get to see the engine room but did get into the pilot house. Got to drive the boat up to the turnaround point and through the turnaround. Was like a little kid in a candy shop. The Columbia Gorge sails on the waters of the Columbia River out of Cascade Locks on the Oregon side.
There were no specs available on the boat but it is about 120 feet long or so and about 32" beam. Triple decker. Run by twin diesel electric motors via gear (90:1) reductions on both ends of the wheel shaft. It is a true stern wheeler, no props or side thrusters. It has rudders fore and aft of the wheel. When we turned around I did full right on both rudders at about two knots. The boat did a complete 180 with the pilot house as an axis. It really answered the helm nicely. About two thirds through the turn I started easing the rudders and it straightened out very smoothly. Going back down stream the helm was a little bit wobbly feeling. We had to make our turn early because of Towboat/barge traffic so had to go quite slow to keep on our schedule. Once we were able to put a few more turns on the engines the wobble went away. At landing we pulled along side the dock and the capt. reversed both rudders that is left front and right rear rudders. She just slid sideways to the dock. Piece a cake. By reversing both sets of rudders it creates a side thrust much like side thrusters.
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