New member

[rob4559]

To All:

I feel like I've hit a gold mine here at this site! Since retirement,
my modeling has been centered around early 1900's aircraft, but I see
a paddleboat in my future. My grandson and I were going to build an
RC model sail boat to use on our lake, but now a combination
sidewheeler/sailboat sounds more like it. I will be reviewing the
previous posts and the photos before asking too many questions but if
anyone has info or a good site for research on this type of boat
please let me know.

Bob P.

[Paulrjordan]

On behalf of our entire group..Welcome, Bob...we believe there should
be a paddleboat in EVERY modeler's future!

Great idea and there are many wonderful "auxilliary" (sail/power)
sidewheelers to look at from all over the world during the early to
mid 19th Century. May I make a suggestion though..you might want to
build your R/C sailboat first anyway. R/c sailing is great fun and
quite a bit different to motorized R/C. As a first project a fully
operating paddlewheel/sail combination could be quite challenging
and, unless you can devise ways of unlocking the wheels, you will
derive quite a bit of drag which may cause some rather awkward
sailing characteristics. There are also major considerations of drift
and heeling to consider. You also have to devise ways of trimming
sails in ADDITION to the mechanics of powering the wheels. So I
suggest a simple R/c sailboat to get started and to have fun down at
the pond with your grandson and learn the mechanics of R/C sailboats.
Meanwhile you can research designs for your auxilliary paddler and
we'll be only too pleased to "steer" you in the right direction.

Please feel free to ask any questions ANY time..we have some of the
most knowledgable paddlewheeler experts in the world here, including
those who have written books and magazine articlews on the subject.

As good start would be to go through our members' photo albums