Strongbow type tug

[DamienG]

 

[Hankwilliams]

Jurgen
what will be the diameter of the wheels? And which deplacement you expect the boat will have?

[Paddlemex]

Damian: your encouragement is always highly appreciated. It keeps the moral up.

Thomas: The O.D. of the wheel is 134mm.
I have not given too much thought regarding the displacement. I estimated 8 - 10kg.
However, given your question I made a quick calculation. The square footprint of the hull is 200 x 1000 mm and the draft (according to the drawing) is at 90mm. That makes for 18 kg for a square box. Considering 70% (very estimated!!) of that due to the roundness of the hull it results in 12.6 kg. A bit more than estimated.
Anyway, I want to install some small tanks (soda bottles??) fore and aft and use water ballast to keep the "carry-weight" acceptable. I plan to use a small pump to fill and empty the tanks at site. I don't know if that will work, but as of now that's the plan.

Jurgen

[Hankwilliams]

Hi Jürgen,

it`s very positive, that our blog now got your very interesting posts about paddlesteamer building. For some time I had the feeling of rather low activitys of our 500 members - Damian, Derek and some others except. But now it seems a fresh breeze is coming.
To your boat: A delta of hull of 0,70 is realistic, and weight of ca. 12 kg is not too much for handling. Will your model get a electric- or perhaps a steam propulsion?

[DamienG]

Your welcome Jurgen

[Paddlemex]

Hi Thomas,

I think your absolutely right regarding the low activity. I have been going through some of the build threads (not all of them - yet) and most of them begin very enthusiastic and then suddenly stop. Very few builds get finished. SAD (as some character could say).

At this time she will be electric. I have 2 RB35 1:50 gearmotors. They have 100rpm under load and will drive the wheels individually with 1:1 toothed belts.
From what I have researched 100rpm may too slow, I guess 125rpm should be the goal. In that case I can switch to 1:30 RB35's and fine tune by playing with the tooth belt pulley relation.

Steam is appealing, but no an option at this time. First I want to finish the boat and then we see.

Jurgen

[Hankwilliams]

May be rich in meaning to post again some experiences with paddle wheel rotation of my "China" two years ago, the paddle wheels diameter (125 mm) are nearly like your boat:                           

Hi friends and neighbors,

in the last days I did some trials with steam in my water basin. The boat lies very stable, the draft reaches exactly the waterline, as you see.
Engine was running good, but in the beginning the gas tank became cold and looses pressure. So I made a tank heating with steam. Two minor leaks at the engine were sealed.
After at least 6 hours of trials and improvements it seems all is ok.
There are a few details at the boat which still must be done - the ships name, a ladder to the roof and some more.
The model is very bulky, it seems it will be necessary  of assisting by a second person for put it to water at a lake or river.
The rotation of the direct driving wheels: It`s possible to hold 108 rpm by a boiler pressure of 2,3 bar - in the calm water of the basin and with heating of the gas tank. Shortly the rpm can reach more than 160 by a pressure of 3,4 bar, but then the boiler pressure goes down soon.
There is only one problem with the boiler feed pump - obviously there`s no suction when the water level is below the pump - like in the boat. I will watch this.
The duration of running is about 45 - 50 minutes without feed pump, then the boiler must filled again. The triad steam pipe in the front funnel needs a lot of steam, but the sound is nearly original, real phantastic.
Now I hope, you will enjoy the pictures!

Thomas

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hullo Jurgen & welcome to PD's..... .....you are correct in the thoughts of only a handful or two of regular members who actually post messages

Our archives prove that over the years we have seen some amazing builds.... from friendly members over a world wide base

Pete from USA, built a functional steam stern wheeler.............his thread was 100 pages long with Q&A along the way,

His steam plant design & actual build was technically and functionally sound, the hull design proved a big question.....so Pete & I spoke about block coefficient & displacement theory & before long a suitable hull was designed to accommodate displacement requirements ....

[I think the estimated BC of 0.7 for your build is very close.....or ~~12.? kg displacement]

More recently,  Thomas from Germany has provided thread build also of steam paddlers [I think Thomas has 14 paddlers, but some are stored at his Mothers home]

If we go back 20 years we find works by John Moore [Bog Standard] in the UK & Sandy Campbell from Scotland

All of these people have shared their knowledge openly and freely  .................

We look forward to your continuing build thread...........any question.........just type away

Derek


 

[Paddlemex]

Thomas: I read the full China thread. That's a beautiful ship and sails nice.

Derek: I looked for the 100+ page thread, but wasn't able to find it. Can you give me hint by telling me the page in the "Construction" section where to look?
Also it is a pity that in the older threads most of the pictures are gone. It's only half the the fun reading those reports without the pictures.

To all: I need help on how to attach the sponsons to the hull. Are they just glued onto the sides of the hull or are they integral part of the deck? I looked at several build threads, but wasn't able to see much detail, but one thread where they are glued.
I want them to be sturdy because I am a bit concerned that some (not requested, self appointed, spontaneous) helper will grab the ship at the sponsons to help putting her into, or taking her out of the water.

Up to now I am considering the glue version and have designed some sort of corner brace (similar to what I see on the pictures of the John H Amos), but I am not sure if that is enough.

Jurgen

[derekwarner_decoy]

Jurgen.....here is the thread for Pete in USA......there are !58 postings......

http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6682.msg37692#msg37692

I posted a thread on the attachment of sponsons.....from our archives in  2005, 13 years ago....

http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=724.msg2443#msg2443

Essentially it required drilling then filing 4 x mains slots in the hull....1 pair fwd of the paddle box and 1 pair aft of the paddle box

The set up & squareness of the hull is critical to the building board

1. Gluing thru hull timbers
2. Add external reinforcement longitudinal supports to the hull to the far extremities of the respective sponsons
3. Add internal reinforcement longitudinal supports to the hull to the far extremities of the respective sponsons
4. Form, then plank the triangular sponson plates
5. Then and only then, cut out the internal sections of the timbers @

Certainly, triangular Iron bars attached to the ships side to support the sponsons is common, in Australia...some paddlers used wooden gusset supports for this purposed

Are you using the German Plan set?......

6. A riveted triangular sponson support is shown in one End Elevation Drawing
7. Item 13 in another Elevation Drawing could certainly be the position for the same riveted triangular sponson support

A few images follow

Derek

[Hankwilliams]

Yes, there are different methods of stabilizing the sponsons. Following pictures show my kind - may be not absolutely original, but stable and secure.

Thomas

[Paddlemex]

Derek & Thomas: Thanks to both of you. That was what I was looking for. Your pictures were very helpful.

Thomas: your acrylic test aquarium is a piece of art by itself. That's dedication to the hobby.

And yes Derek: those are the drawings I am working with.
I downloaded the drawings form a page where there was Part 2 of the build report taken from a '89 Modell Werft. Then I copied the PDFs into my drawing program and re-assembled the drawings. Each sheet was 4 to 6 individual PDF sheets and none was exactly the same scale. To make things even more exciting I noticed that there were drawings of 2 different plans.
Re-assembling and re-sizing all those sheets took several days.

Then I re-draw the outlines on the drawing.

Jurgen

Sorry, the attached screen shots are terrible, but you may get the idea.

[Paddlemex]

I also have some pictures: I assembled partially the first wheel.
Only 4 spokes on each side at this time. I wanted to see if the the theory from the drawing (key)board would adjust to reality.
Good news: it does.

I made a small gadget for bending the spokes. Better seen in the picture sequence.

[Paddlemex]

And more pictures.

I took the hull off the building board and cut off the temporary supports. Presented the wheel for a first impression.

Then I began cutting the paddles. On the left of the picture you see where they come from and why they are so nicely curved.
2-1/2" thin wall brass pipe.

[DamienG]

Good thinking on the paddles how thick are they Jurgen ?