I was thinking about a design and ,, maybe someone could give me info or opinions on it..
The other day i was thinking that if water were channeled and prevented from escaping out the sides of the paddle it would be more efficiant,,,(less loss of water pressure) and i thought a Paddle CAT. would be best for a towing inviroment because the water could be "rammed into the paddle and channeled out the back. (see illustration)

What do you guys think?

http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=757&size=big

I don't think it would change things one bit because the force will still be equal along the length of the bucket. What little bit of water escapes around the ends wouldn't affect pushing power. What affects push is the depth of the bucket.

The Sprague had a huge wheel that caught a lot of water and they had to reduce the diameter of the wheel due to severe vibration throughout the hull and breaking buckets all the time.

:wink:  well, im always learning

on the lines of paddle cat there is an aussie boat called that...but its a weird one. The hull is from a flying boat- or catalina (I believe thats how to spell it) There used to be a base of them at Lake Boga near Swan Hill. well this boat has one as its hull...a flying paddler you think...well it had its wings removed.

Have a look at this

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/MAB-HospitalShips/MAB-HospitalShips.shtml

I produced a  drawing 1:88 based on an article from the book "Bizarre Ships of the  Nineteenth Century"  - just ask for a file!

The speed of Castalia was disappointing,

We used to have a caterpillar drive boat in the 40's. Wasn't too long before it was converted to side wheels. Later on it was convereted t othree Harbormaster outdrives on the stern.

Here is the URL of a catamaran sternwheeler whioch runs from the centre of Helsinki to the zoo. I saw her earlier in the month and she appears to have an operating, rather than dummy, stern wheel, between the hulls
http://www.helsinginvesibussit.fi/vispila.html