Small workboats, ferries and "backwoods" paddlers

[hucksdad]

Greetings All!  New member here.  I'm particularly interested in small paddle workboats that were perhaps family owned and operated... ferries, backwater cargo boats, supply boats, and the like.  My primary interest is in American Inland Rivers, but any small paddlers are of interest.  The alligator lumber tows of Canada are interesting and I know that Oz had some really cool boats on her rivers.  Any links to photos or plans will be appreciated!  Thanks!

Hucksdad 

[Eddy Matthews]

With a bit of luck, some of our American/Canadian members will be along shortly to help with your quest to find info on the lesser known workboats.

We're a relatively small group, so it can sometimes take a little while to get answers to your questions, but we generally get there in the end - Just be patient

Regards
Eddy

[Roderick Smith]

Australia certainly did have many, and some have survived.  They were used mainly for fishing; many river families survived the great depression by living aboard, and relying on fish and riverbank vegetable growing (also 'underground chicken', ie rabbits).
The APAM threads have concentrated mainly on survivors.
They also include many modern houseboats built to traditional styles, and a lot of these are in the workboat scale (11-13 m).
Use the Paddleducks search facility for:
Traditional: PS Roy, PS Viola, PS Ranger (all single deck),
Modern: PV Murrundi, PV Ronald Henry, PV Canally, PV Miralie, PV Matilda, PS Billy Tea, PV noname (in the Oscar W fleet), PV Gnat (not Gnatty), PV Sundowner (all single deck), SWPV Adventurous; there are more, but then the list moves up to longer single-deck ones, and boats with at least a wheelhouse forming a second deck.

Slightly larger: PS Enterprise (preserved by National Museum), PS Etona (a former mission boat, restored to original appearance after decades as a single-deck fishing boat).

Somewhere else in Paddleducks is a small mission paddlesteamer in India (try searching on Hooghly River).
I can't recall if we found a small on on Zambesi River; that one may have been screw.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[hucksdad]

Roderick:  Thanks for the pointers!  I'll do some searching for those boats. 

Hucksdad

[towboatjoe]

I know where there are three pool boats that are still working on the Kawnawa River based out of Charleston, West Virginia area. Here's the Lady Lois and Major. I have drawings I did for both boats.

[Roderick Smith]

From topic = 3665.0 (an Aug.08 thread)
www.mieszkowice.pl/Prom.aspx
A new small one linking Poland and Germany.

One Australian one which I neglected this morning, PV Alice.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor