I'm interested in building a dual side wheel driven paddle boat. Boat
will be 14 feet wide by 40 feet long constructed of 1/4 steel.
Thinking of drive wheels 8 feet diameter by 3 feet wide. Powered by
generator and variable speed a.c. 10 h.p. 1750 rpm max motors.
(variable speed achieved by frequency control of electricity. I am
very familiar with this type of drive as we use them in our
manufactured product(sludge dehydrators).Drives will be chain driven
thru 435/1 gear reducers. Each drive system can withstand 160,000
in-lbs torque at least. Questions: Can depth of wheel be set
stationary at a particular depth in the water or do they need to be
variable? I can reverse drive wheels( our variable drive systems don't
lose much torque at low rpm's). Do I also need a rudder system?
Help!!!!!! Thanks 3rrotec Robert Williams

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Request for Question Clarification by hlabadie-ga on 19 Sep 2003 11:53 PDT

There are plans available for a sidewheel paddleboat ($75 US) that
should give you guidance about the design, although the plans are for
a smaller vessel. Also, from another source there are detailed scale
drawings of historic sidewheelers that should provide further
assistance. Would these two references suffice for an answer?

hlabadie-ga

Hi 3rrotec. Dont know too much about the engineering side, but I do
hold a professional certificate as skipper grade five [ W. Australia
}. You sure do need a rudder. If by any chance one of the paddles
fails, you can still keep way on [ movement ] by slowly motoring on
the remaining paddle. for example, if the port paddle fails and you
continue with only the starboard paddle, the vessel will turn to port.
This effect can be partly neutralised by helming the wheel to
starboard, [ trying to get the vessel to turn right ] A similar effect
can be noticed on a twin screw vessel when one engine fails. It may be
just enough to get you out of trouble. Without a rudder and depending
solely on the paddles, if one fails you would have no other option but
to close down and drop anchor. In a busy shipping lane or harbour, it
would be unacceptable. Hope I have been of some help. Pugwashjw