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Paddlewheel narrowboat - Unusual, but not unique


mykaskin

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Hi Folks,

 

Thought some might be interested in this old video I recently put up on youtube of a Paddlewheel narrowboat leaving Denham Deep Lock. It's normally moored just above Uxbridge Lock - first time I've seen this one moving, but of course seen Jethro Tull many a time splashing along.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

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Someone told me that particular boat is not literally powered by the paddles, even though it seemed to be.

I should imagine chimney chain of this manor would know for sure.

 

There's a chain drive on the left hand side, about 12 seconds into the clip

 

There's no prop wash from under the hull either

 

Richard

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Little doubt it's powered by the paddle wheel. I like the natural braking effect you would get when wheel not moving. Would be great to see it flat out on a river.

 

Someone told me that particular boat is not literally powered by the paddles, even though it seemed to be.

I should imagine chimney chain of this manor would know for sure.

All you need is water voles inside the wheel and they will run round like hamsters.

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Little doubt it's powered by the paddle wheel. I like the natural braking effect you would get when wheel not moving. Would be great to see it flat out on a river.

 

Someone told me that particular boat is not literally powered by the paddles, even though it seemed to be.

I should imagine chimney chain of this manor would know for sure.

All you need is water voles inside the wheel and they will run round like hamsters.

 

clapping.gifclapping.gif

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This boat was converted to paddle propulsion by my step father in law. He lived at Pewsey before the K&A was restored and the pound suffered badly from weed growth because there was so little boat movement. The paddie overcame the problem of weed clogging the prop

Edited by meerdog
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Little doubt it's powered by the paddle wheel. I like the natural braking effect you would get when wheel not moving. Would be great to see it flat out on a river.

I don't know if this is the same one but I followed one towards Stone some years ago.

 

Flat out. Lets be generous, 1.5mph! A nightmare to follow.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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Is there any reason why a well designed paddle wheel narrow boat driven by a suitable engine couldn't achieve 4mph on a typical canal?

They have the advantage that there's no need for a prop shaft to go through the hull, and as has been said they're better at coping with weeds, but there must be some reason why they're rare; are they bound to be less efficient than a conventional prop-driven boat?

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Is there any reason why a well designed paddle wheel narrow boat driven by a suitable engine couldn't achieve 4mph on a typical canal?

 

Jethro Tull could do 4mph or close to it. We worked back from Bath alongside JT in 1990 and a 35' boat with BMC engine couldn't keep with it on longer pounds, due to poor cooling.

 

A paddle wheeler is rather inefficient due to either only working near the surface (to reduce slap) or excessive slap - unless there is a blade feathering system, which is uncommon. Fouled paddles is a big issue too.

 

The (proper) Woolwich Ferry was very manoeuvrable with side-paddles in sponsons driven by separate V Twins (not terribly practical on a narrow boat) - but somewhat ruinous rate of coal consumption.

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Back in the mid 1960s there was only two boats on the "long pound" of the K & A. They were both made from ex WW II pontoons. In each case the paddle unit, complete with engine, was clamp onto the back of the boat and classed as an outboard motor. In those days the length of an outboard was not taken into account when calculating the boat length. (That was the info given to me by a friend [chap called Brian Tidy] who owned one of them - it was named after the well known weed killer - 2 4 D)

 

Not seen or heard of Brian in years now. Anyone know him?

 

Dave

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My father started & my uncle finished in1954ish a double pontoon conversion with rear paddle wheel propulsion, the engine,gearbox & rear axle came from a pre WW2 Ford E93A 8Hp " puddle Jumper" the prop shaft was cut to approx 18 inches, the made up paddles were mounted as separate units bolted on to where the rear wheels would have been mounted & went inboard to almost touching They could operate independent of each other & by the use of the rod operated brakes worked independently with 2 separate brake control levers, the diff then kicked in, the gearbox with use of the clutch operated in the 3 forward & reverse gears. the unit was raw water cooled with the use of a Jabsco type pump extra crank pulley welded to the original to drive the water pump The engine electrics were only 6 Volt & were a bit weak but changing the coil, dynamo, battery's & associated bits & bobs It was found the original 6 Volt starter would stand up to the 12 Volts for starting which really motored the engine over smartly, It could easily manage 4 mph in top gear cruised most if not all of the navigable waterways of the time, attending a good few of the national & restoration rallies & as far as I remember the last rally was the Stratford reopening in 64. My aunt then suffered a stroke so the boat was sold on, I remember seeing it on the T&M by Anderton Lift in 68 ish but it was in a sad condition at that time. Don' know the how & when of it's final voyage & fate I was originally named Penny but at some time changed to Poppy.

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