This was posted in another forum.  Anyone care to tackle this?

Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 17:14:20 EST
  From: santmin@aol.com
Subject: sidewheelers

I have a question for you paddlewheel guys out there. I have recently been looking at some pictures of Civil War ironclad and tinclad warships and something is bothering me. Several years ago I made a model of Maple Leaf on commission and since I was not a paddlewheel expert at the time (or even now) I did a lot of reading and drawing searching in prep for that model. I found that those nice decorated openings on the side paddlewheel boxes were NOT just for decoration, they served a purpose. Without them the paddles built up a great vacuum inside the paddlewheel boxes that greatly decreased the efficiency of the  wheels. I don't see any of those holes on the armored ships. How come?

Bob Santos

I would think they would have been  boarded up for the rigours of the transatlantic voyage, in the same way that  windows and portholes are covered with deadlights in stormy weather
 
Alistair
 
 
I have a question for  you paddlewheel guys out there. I have recently been looking at some pictures of  Civil War ironclad and tinclad warships and something is bothering me. Several  years ago I made a model of Maple Leaf on commission and since I was not a  paddlewheel expert at the time (or even now) I did a lot of reading and drawing  searching in prep for that model. I found that those nice decorated openings on  the side paddlewheel boxes were NOT just for decoration, they served a purpose.  Without them the paddles built up a great vacuum inside the paddlewheel boxes  that greatly decreased the efficiency of the wheels. I don't see any of those  holes on the armored ships. How come?

Bob  Santos



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Hi Alistair:
 
I think he's asking why Civil War  ironclads did not have air vents in their paddle boxes.  I'm  purely guessing that an opening in the paddle box could make the wheels  vulnerable to ordinance passing through the vents and damaging the  wheels.
 
I wonder just what the negative impact of non-vented paddle  boxes would be on the performance of these lumbering floating gun  platforms.  After all I don't think speed or stability in the turns would  have been a real issue.  What do you think?
 
PJ
Victoria, BC Canada

Quote----- Original Message -----
  From:    Alistair Deayton (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
  To: research@paddleducks.co.uk (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
  Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 3:57    PM
  Subject: Re: Ironclad sidewheelers    question
 

 
I would think they would have been boarded up for the    rigours of the transatlantic voyage, in the same way that windows and    portholes are covered with deadlights in stormy    weather
 
Alistair
 
 
I have a question for you    paddlewheel guys out there. I have recently been looking at some pictures of    Civil War ironclad and tinclad warships and something is bothering me. Several    years ago I made a model of Maple Leaf on commission and since I was not a    paddlewheel expert at the time (or even now) I did a lot of reading and    drawing searching in prep for that model. I found that those nice decorated    openings on the side paddlewheel boxes were NOT just for decoration, they    served a purpose. Without them the paddles built up a great vacuum inside the    paddlewheel boxes that greatly decreased the efficiency of the wheels. I don't    see any of those holes on the armored ships. How come?

Bob    Santos



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Alistair Deayton
Paisley
Scotland


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