Dai's PS Pevensey

[dragoncity]

Dai,
had a look at your photo essay on the building of the Pevensey -- very nice !
I was most impressed with your fabricated paddle wheels.

a few questions :
1) did you use the Echuca plans at the same scale ? ( about 56" LOA )
2) what type of motors are you using ? max rpm? , direct drive? geared?
3) what motor controller ? ( the famous PJ version?)
4) what all up weight did you achieve ?
5) did you need much ballast to obtain the 'correct' LWL ?
6) is yours the first Aussie paddler in B.C ?

Again, very nice.
Brett S Hallett

[Dai Powell]

Hi Brett,
Thanks for your compliments, Paul is going to reduce
my "first swim" photos to a size suitable for the picture gallery on
Tuesday next week (He's very busy and I am unable to reduce the pix
to a small enough size pixel-wise) but to answer your questions, yes
I used the Echuca plans but had them sized to give me 45 inches over
all, including the rudder the motors are standard 350's but geared
down to approx 120 rpm by "model Airscrew" gearboxes she weighs in
at 9.5 Lb including batteries and all electronics (no ballast) she
floats exactly on the designed waterline(judging from the pictures
of the real thing from Echuca) Materials used were 1/8"ply frames on
a 1/4" ply keelson, stem and rudderpost, with 1/16" aircraft ply
topsides the curve of the bilge was done with 1/16"x3/8" cedar
strips carried up to just above the waterline (as the wood cladding
is on the real thing) the turning circle on rudder alone is 8 to
10feet but using opposing thrust on the paddles she spins on her
centreline (thank goodness for independant paddle control).And yes I
do believe she is the first Aussie paddler in BC certainly in our
local pond in Victoria..........Dai