Hello - New member here in Northern California

[algon]

 Hello All,
 New member here Algon. My name is Kevin and I live in the San Francisco bay area. Ihave been an RC enthusiast all my life. Planes and cars mostly but have had a few boats.
I recently acquired a 48" long Robet E Lee river boat for price I could not refuse. It was poorly built and I'm going to fix it up the best I can. Both paddles are beyond fixing and I will
have to scratch build two new ones. I intend to make this a dual drive boat. One motor to drive each paddle as well as steer the boat using  differential control not unlike a military
tank does steering with its tracks. Any thoughts on a speed range (RPM) for the paddles on a boat this size? The paddles are 6 1/2" dia. and 2" wide.

Thanks All

Algon

[Eddy Matthews]

Welcome to Padleducks Algon,

For a sidewheeler a paddle speed of around 120rpm is generally pretty close - Once it goes into the water, the drag will slow that down, so don;t worry that it may sound a little fast.....

Regards
Eddy

[Red_Hamish]

Hello there Kevin, welcome along by the best padler site on the web. There are many things to keep you going in the world of model paddlers. Patience with any rebuild is one of them. The suggested rpm is in the range of 120 to 160rpm. The torque differences of two motors may make, what is an inherrently, unstable design almost uncontrollable so i would not recommend it on any larger sized model unless it is really wide in the beam.
Barry, one of our Australian members, has a small biusiness making plastic paddle wheels as does Talisman (Kim) in the UK but his are laser cut metal ones. They may be worth looking out for. This route could make life an awful lot easier for you.

cheers

Jim

[sunworksco]

Hello fellow forum members!
Hi fellow Northern Californian, Kevin!
I am in West Sacramento, but work in San Francisco and frequent Spreckle's Lake.I am building a similar dual steam engine layout, too!
From the new member section with images of the screw-drive vehicles : I have been researching scale model steam engines and will be building an RC scale model vehicle.
I work in the solar thermal manufacturing business and have also installed full-size boilers in my past 33 years of experience, but always find myself learning new things everyday. I work in stainless-steel, brass, aluminum and copper. I am very proficient in hard silver soldering. I am currently building 6-all-metal 1/12TH scale USS Holland submarines. They will be fully submersible with a piston ballast diving tank.
I have been designing a Vintage Jules Verne type amphibious vehicle with rotating screw-type pontoons for propulsion. Each pontoon will be driven by a separate steam engine with a toothed belt pulley drive system.
This type of propulsion can move the vehicle forwards/reverse/sideways and can pivot turn on a dime.
It can drive on snow, mud, pavement and water. It maneuvers similar to a military tank over rough terrain.
I have been looking at the Saito 3DTR engines and the MACCSTEAM boilers. Any constructive advice is very much welcome.
I will try to post some images of the screw-drive systems on different types of vehicles.
Kind Regards,
Giovanni
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBjlSJf4274