Sidewheeler In the Water

[fredrosse]

Finally got the sidewheeler into the water 11 June 2011. Changed from 7 paddle floats to 14 on each side, engine runs slower now, and boat goes faster. Lake Noxamixon PA was calm and overcast, very nice since I don’t have the canopy on yet.

[DetroiTug]

Looking good there Fred.

The wheels look better with more paddles.

I may try to make it over to one of the Lake Nockamixon meets. I'll have to see how much trouble mine is to trailer.

-Ron

[fredrosse]

Steaming in late June. Went out on 24 June, and had very much rain, I was afraid the steam pipe would get submerged, (it runs about 5 inches above the boat bottom) as the bilge pump I bought would not work. A steam eductor is being built next. Sidewheeler is working well, and I now have a canopy for sun & rain protection. A short video on youtube.

[87gn@tahoe]

Beautiful Fred.

There's something about walking beam engines that fascinates me.

[fredrosse]

Went out on the Delaware River near Philadelphia last weekend. This is a fairly large river, tides of about 6 feet, wind and whitecaps on the river for a large part of our trip. Got to see the abandoned industrial shoreline on the Pennsylvania side of the river, pier after pier with empty warehouses and decaying factories, etc. One beautiful old abandoned coal fired power plant, probably built in the 1920s was very interesting, having wonderful steel arches on the coal conveyors, a glass domed turbine building, and such substantial construction it looks as if it will stand for another century.

I had read that sidewheelers have problems in rough water, and I got a first-hand experience with this. When the boat rolls in the waves, the paddle wheels get submerged too deep in the water, and the extra submergence slows down the engine significantly. On the calm lake I can make 5 miles per hour, on this trip we averaged just 2 miles per hour. But it was a wonderful trip in spite of the low speed. Late in the day (when I had expected to be out of the water) we were hit with big storms, and torrents of rain.

The sidewheeler worked well, no problems with the engine or boiler. Used about 30 gallons of boiler water during the 15 mile round trip. I carry the feedwater, so I can treat it before pumping it into the boiler. Used about 6 gallons of propane for the trip.

Next trip on the Delaware I will put in about 1 mile from Penn’s Landing, rather than 10 miles away. We will visit the Battleship New Jersey, the Olympia (Admiral Dewey’s Flagship in the Spanish American War), plus some other great waterfront attractions in the middle of Philadelphia.