PS Industry maiden voyage

[dragoncity]

Hello paddleduckers,

P.S Industry had her maiden voyage on a real pond , actually a smallish overflow dam, today , 9/9/02, in very
sunny blustry conditions, 'squalls' to 15+ Knots and a steady current over the spillway wall. Great test condifitons !

For those in Australia, 50 Knots reported on Bass Strait today and the Tassie Ferry
unable to dock for 6 hours due to wind at Devonport, maybe they should have
bought new paddlers instead of screw driven ships !!!

Under pressure, she could be forced sideways, as she has a double deck superstructure giving
a nice area for the wind, but with differentual motors
working a treat, was able to come about into the wind and make steady headway.

I'm quite sure rudder alone with a fixed double paddle drive would not have done the job.

Heal was minimal, ship remained dry even when sponsons pressed to the water which was
pleasing as I was a little concerned about water entering the open deck
area around the engine room. Not a drop was found.

I'd changed pulleys (gears) recently going from 43 X 18 pulleys @ 116RPM, up to
54 X 18 @ 150 RPM, and I'm glad I did as I feel the lower RPM would not
have been sufficient to make way under these windy conditions.
Contemplating going to 54 X 15 @ 180RPM., but I'l have to see how that
looks in more pleasant conditions as I'm not trying to make a speedboat.

Cheers,

Brett S Hallett

[Randal R Largent]

GREAT!
I am glad that everything went well and look forward to more reports.
Randy the Michigander

[Derek Warner]

Great Brett that another AUZZIE icon - your [PS Industry] has succeeded more than bath room trials and we all look forward
to her snaps on the water as posted

I was particularly interested in your notes re paddle axis speed - I have posted many questions over the past years
re this subject, however one variable not really covered in any of the responses and was the simple question of paddle
width x height and protrusion [depth in water] or [number of floats] - Stuart (of Reliant fame) provided off line Drawings of
paddle wheel assemblies which were & are greatly appreciated - however the question remains, if we have no plans of actuals -
the resultant will vary

regards Derek

[Paulrjordan]

HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS, BRETT...A TRULY WELL THOUGHT OUT PADDLER and a FINE
RESULT ...(Gotta love those Ozzie paddlers) Although I've been completely
taken over by other projects for the past three months (house move and a new
business 7 days a week) I've been keeping up to date through the daily
digests. I really do hope to be back on "active" status within 4 weeks as
I'm suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms at not being able to work on
paddlers in my "new" workshop (which I have ventured into only once since
building it!)

You've put a lot of care into "Industry" and it's paid off..the engine and
entire drive set up looks superb and exactly what I would have done. Do you
have some pics of her on the water? Very interested to hear more about the
actual control system and set up for delivering instructions to each engine
(3 channel set up?). and YES do take her up to 180 RPM which, if you have
ever read my very earliest posts on the subject, you'll see is exactly the
speed I favour...along with slightly oversized floats. Mind you..I 'm 180
rpm in the air..the drop down in the water is to about 120 rpm with
oversized floats.

Note to Derek... hi buddy...if you look at my VERY early posts on paddle
speed, float dimensions, plunge etc you may get some ideas how to get
"Decoy's" power train figured out. Don't forget alot of it is
experimentation in the water as each model has it's own particular
characteristics. Increasing the float area has always been a good "cheat"
and definitely speeds things up so long as the wheel speed doesnt slow down
too much. I recall my first objective was to get up to 180 rpm at the
wheels (airflying) and increase my float area until I had a good balance
between RPM and float area. The other thing I still recommend is to make up
TEST wheels for determining optimum thrust/RPM in the water. Make em up out
of anything (wood or plastic discs slotted to accept floats, mount them on
the paddle shaft and play around with different size floats until you have a
good working speed for the hull. Stuart has also written some rather good
stuff on this as I recall.

Will try to post once a week as I have so MUCH paddler news for you guys.
ROBERT (in Scotland)...I got the tape of "Waverly's"
engines..SPECTACULAR..(Robert's fully working triple expansion engine model
is nothing short of staggering) will try to get an email off to you. Oh and
talking of "Waverley"..a very warm welcome to the builder of probably tbe
largest model of her in existence...the famous Mr. Mike Mayhew who will be a
source of great inspiration for those contemplating building that glorious
ship and.the day spent on her in May this year never to be forgotten. (By
the way did you guys know she broke a feathering rod on a Clyde cruise a few
weeks ago and was the subject of much publicity...her engineers fixed her
overnight and had her operating the next day!!!!!)
I NOW HAVE to go to work...but thinking lots about you guys and the paddle
wheeler world I'm missing!
PJ

PS THANK YOU Moderators Eddy and David for an excellent job keeping our
group together.