New PV Chloe (South Australia)

[Roderick Smith]

Through the railway hobby I have met the owner/builder of a new paddleboat.  He is still trying to work out how to join Paddleducks as a member, so I am posting on his behalf.
Bruce has a property at Morgan (SA), and has been building a 20 m sidewheeler, 4.3 m beam.
It will be powered by a 48 kW Perkins diesel.
Bruce hopes to have the boat in the water for Christmas 2009.
It will be PV Chloe, named after a long-lived (but now deceased) family dog.
Although this is his first boat, Bruce has done a lot of research on traditional boats and other modern paddleboats, and has been helped by others associated with the hobby.  A key aim as been to maintain a traditional look, outside and in.

Expect more progress shots after Bruce has joined, and at the time of launching.  I am not planning to cruise SA this year, so it will be a while before we have a tandem cruise.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[kno3]

That's quite a nice steamboat, with the pilot cabin on top. I'd like to see more of it.

[Roderick Smith]

Chloe will be diesel, not steam.  However, the owner does have a steam engine, to be used in a second project.

Builders differ on how much upper superstructure to place on a small paddleboat.

A couple which have only a wheelhouse on the second level:
PV Flender Himmel: www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=post;quote=10694;topic=2566.60;num_replies=276
or on page five of www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2566.60
PV Killara on page one of the same APAM List of Paddlers thread.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Eddy Matthews]

Are there any plans available for the PV Chloe Roderick?

It looks like it would make a nice model from what we can see so far..... But maybe the plans are just sketches on the back of a fag packet?

Regards
Eddy

[chloes mate]

Many thanks to the knock down to this site Rod.My name is Bruce Perrott and along with my Susie are located at the historic river town of Morgan on the beautiful Murray River SthAust.Our sidewheeler P.V.Chloe is nearing completion and we are hoping to launch her before Xmas.The boat has taken 4 years to get to this stage but has been a fabulous project,sadly we met with some negative response at first,hence the reason for designing and building her ourselves.If only I could have drawn the plans up on the back of a fag packet it would have saved a heap of time.With many trip to Euchua,Swan Hill,Mildura and Wentworth either looking at boats to buy or in the later stages coming up with the right design its all been worth it.One thing I would say is if you take on a project like this is ïf your wife or partner is not there giving you a hand or backing you all the way ,scrap the bitch,because you won't succeed.The good bits about Chloe,she 66feet long,beam,14foot 6 inches,should draw 16 inches,and if the calculation are right should travel at 9 klms -11 klms/hour and use approx 2.5-3 litres of diesel /hour.at 1400 rpm, depending on wind,current etc.The design allows for a 4 berth cabin in the foc'sle,engine room mid-ship,grey and black water storage,between 3rd and 4th bulkheads,food storage and 400 bottle wine cellar(for extented stays around locks 7-8-9)and finally in the stern storage for ropes,fuel,spares,tools,fishing gear etc,deck level is the saloon,complete with bar,tv,cd player,keyboard,music gear,the head opening on to the sponson portside/bathroom located on starboard side,main cabin on the stern,on the top deck is the wheel house,galley,8 person dining area,then lounge area opening on to covered deck area with bbq.We are more than happy for any budding builder to run a tape over Chloe as we can appreciated how hard it was to get started, at present putting together a dvd and again happy to share any info

[Red_Hamish]

Hello Bruce, welcome along to the site. What a fantastic project to take on. I take my hat off to you sir amnd your wife for allowing the indulgence of your passion  A man without passion might as well be dead  I like the spec of Chloe especially the wine cellar. Now to the burning question French, Chilean, South African or Australian wine for the cellar?  We look forward to see  her on the water and hopoe your Christmas cruise goes to plan.

cheers

Jim

[chloes mate]

 Hi Jim,Thank you for the welcome,glad you like the specs,especially the cellar.Naturally Australian wine,put down 1000 bottles of Port for launch and printing off unique label as a gift for friends and supporters for launch party.Chloe has  some interesting historic features,the bow post was shaped from the veranda post of our local pub,a magnificent piece of River Red gum,couldn't see it go for firewood,the steam whistle off the local foundry,had not be used for 55 years and it really needed a new home.Several items from the paddlewheeler Monada sunk just upstream from home and brass work purchased in Cornwall and Lake Windermere from our recent trip to the UK.Most people thought we were crazy to tackle the work and I wound up with the nickname Noah.
As I kept telling the knockers,the technogly is so advanced it over 100 years old.Best part though is the local kids are learning heaps about our river systems and Susie and I reckon that great

[chloes mate]

The hull materials 6mm plate for the bottom, 5mm for the sides and 4mm for the bulkheads.  All steelwork is in Chloe is good quality BHP steel (good ol'aussie know-how).

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's......don't you just love Moderators when they come into our WEB site & question the need to have 'French, Chilean, South African' wine

Jim  ...in OZ we would not use any of that muck as mouth wash  

mmmmmmm '400 bottle wine cellar' ....mmmmmmm thats about 300 kg of good ballast ...

Welcome on board [chloes mate] & I know many PD members would be interested to see further building snaps......

Good to hear you are using OZ steel...every day here in Port Kembla.....I have coal dust & iron ore dust & coke breeze for morning tea + ..then followed by a nice little bread roll with "a slab of Bluescope steel" for lunch....Derek  

[chloes mate]

Try a beautiful Shiraz last night from Argentina,the winemakers comment on back label said it all,winemaker trained Roseworthy College.Sth Australia
More pics of Chloe,taken Xmas 2008..The project so far has been relatively easy going,except for hold-up purchasing plate for the hull,appears there was a huge order going to China and was impossible to source for approx 6 months.
during this period we concentrated on reconditioning the engine,fabricating the steering wheel,rubber and machining drive shafts etc.Because the boat was being built in Morgan(160 klms) from Adelaide it presented a fairly expensive freight bill.
On the plus side,transport cost are miniumal for the launch as we are right on the river.

[rayman]

Hi there chloes mate, you are doing a good job there. Are you going to slip the bottom plating in last, after all the mess has fallen thru ??I am sure I can see the ground in some of the pics.

[chloes mate]

Hi rayman,the building site certainly is a mess,but the bottom is already welded in.What looks to be the ground below in a  few pics,is actually 50 mm of  rainwater.It does rain in Ozz,sometimes.

[rayman]

tell me more mate, we even have floods up here in Qld. as well as slycoons

[chloes mate]

Can appreciate the wet weather after being brought up in Nth Qld,but the Riverland has its very own charm.
Spend some time on the Murray and the Darling rivers and its pretty hard to head home.P.V.Chloe has been a really fabulous project that has taken 4 years in total.The cost has been minimal,this is the technical term I use when explaining the bills to my wife(I married my accountant)Best part of the project is all the good guys and gals we have met along the river.Echuca is the pick of the bunch and we manage to go there at least a couple of times a year.We have several projects on go as well,we are building a replica of an 1896 Daimler,the base is the remains of a cut-under horse drawn carriage and fitted with a single cyclinder Blackstone engine,we hope to transport the vehicle on the stern of Chloe,and use it at different events along the river,my son is intending to build a 40 foot paddlewheeler base on the P.S.Eva.most of the frames has been welded together and the steam engine to be used on the boat is being check over and painted,hence our building area looks pretty cluttered.Interested to know your association with paddlewheelers