Has anyone experience of building both the engine and paddle steamer?

[Michael FreemanParticipant @michaelfreeman10443]

Hi, has anyone ever built the engine and boat for this combination?

 

Mike 

[Michael FreemanParticipant @michaelfreeman10443]

[Howard JonesParticipant @howardjones35282]

I’ve noted with interest the elaborate engine setups for paddle steamers in Model Engineer articles.

I can assure you that Australian Paddle Steamers follow entirely different practise.

Australian Paddle Steamers are all based on a stationary steam engine mounted on huge angle irons along the hull timbers. the output from the stationary engine is connected via huge spur reduction gears or an equally huge reduction chain drive to the stub axles of the paddles.

So if you want to build a real australian paddle steamer first build your Ransome and Sims stationary engine (a typical engine used) then fit your hull around it.

 

I can post some photos if you want.

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

 

Yes I have built both a steam powered and an electric powered ‘puck-a-pucks’. The steam one was powered by two largish home brewed oscillating steam engines which drove the paddles directly onto a crank shaft. It had a simple methylated fired ’smitties’ type boiler.  The other which was the earlier one was stern wheeler powered by a milliperm motor. Neither was very successful. The steamer a side wheeler was about 26” long but the steam engines often stalled in the water. Despite the fact that I added a flywheel to the crank shaft/paddle drive.

The electric one was about 20” long.  It was a stern wheeler made to some MAP plans (which I may still have somewhere). It worked but the ‘Parkie’ did not like anyone over 14 and under 60 years old in his park. He chases three or four of us out and trashed my model. He was not having young tear-a-ways in his park!

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

There are a few on this forum

 

http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/

 

Jason

[BogstandardParticipant @bogstandard]

I did do a couple of horizontal conversions on the engines I used to make, to turn them into paddle engines. By the time they were geared down, on 5 psi, you couldn’t stop them by using your fingers on the shafts.

 

 

A rather easy engine to make and convert.

It took about half an hour to convert between the two, so one engine could do both jobs by swapping a few bits over.

Bogs.

Edited By Bogstandard on 06/10/2010 08:06:25

Edited By Bogstandard on 06/10/2010 08:09:33

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

I’m nearing the completion of the engine shown by Bogs,

 

You can follow the build log hear.

 

http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=3429.0

 

Stew

[Author]

Posts