Here are three photos showing progress as at Tues.23.6.  There is now some superstructure framing in place: welded square-section metal tube to support the weight of the stereo system.
This will be about the smallest cruising paddleboat on the river (only PS Minimus is smaller), and it looks very similar in size to my 9 m Jessie II; Sundowner will have much more width because of having side paddles and sponson decks.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Sundowner 18 July 2009

And a new rear sliding door.

That sliding door, isn't it a bit too big for the boat?

The door needs to be that size so you can get the just caught famous Aussie Murray Cod inside for cooking.

Hi PD's &   posting Misterbee...it surpassed anything I thought of.......gotta keep these Europeans on their toes   ............Derek

Last weekend I moved Sundowner to my place, so I am able to work on it more often.
Not much happening to boat itself, but got the sprockets on the diff and will have the engine in the next fortnight.

At its new construction site with paddle boxes being built.

Nice to see some progress. Those paddle-wheels are really big, it should look impressive when finished. By the way, how did you decide on the number of paddles per wheel?

Seems to be taking shape OK, will be great to see completed (has the hull been tested in the bath yet  )

Haha no hull hasn't been tested in the bath, it hads been a bath with all the rain we've been having its always filling up!
Bought the wheels from the previous owner who was going to make it a stern wheeler, who also built PV Amelia Jane. Those wheels are 8ft dia with 9 floats, but they will be cut down to 6.5ft dia as they are too big.
There is a couple of paddlewheel rules I've been told... Same amount of floats as the same dia of the wheel eg. 8ft dia, 8 floats.
Or a paddlewheel should have one float going into the water, one in the water and one coming out aswell, so I guess it depends on how much water a boat draws etc.

Hi PD's.....Michael.......there are unconfirmed  studies that suggest an un even number of paddle blades are superior to even numbers

I think this was based by a knowledgeable gathering  on a comparison to roller chain & always having an uneven ~~~~~~eg., a 14..to ..57 toothed pinion ratio so the little rollers in the chain links never contact the same position in the pinion causing premature wear 

Like the last thing we would want to do is wear out the water  ....Derek 

With the engine place inside

Hi, that's quite a big engine!
Did you consider mounting it transversally? Then you could do without the differential and have a lighter boat, you'd just need a chain drive to the wheel axle.

Hi Michael,
   Impressed with the progress of your wheeler P.V.sundowner. thru the course of building my own paddlewheeler I have been fortuneate to meet many talented ,enthusiastic people who have also built their own wheelers,some of the boat I have been privileged to go for a ride on.One such gentleman,his name is Jon Arnold has turned out to be a wealth of knowledge.
Jon has built the P.V.Incredible,the drive train is an International 414 tractor diesel engine,gearbox and diff,he has used the independant braking system to the best advantage.When turning the boat on full lock she would come around 360deg back on to her original course in approx 3 and a half lenghts of the boat (boat 46 feet long)with your foot on the portside brake the boat would come  around in its own lenght,magic for a tight mooring.I'm fitting the same system to my boat and would hope for the same result.A friend of mine also building a wheeler is using a 3 cylinder fergie diesel with a short diff,also fitting the same braking system,also hoping for the same result.Good luck with P.V.Sundowner