A couple of Solar Paddlewheel Boats.

teamhumble (74) · 7 years ago

oh man, i've got life of pi running through my brain right now..

fitinfun (71) · 7 years ago

Those look so fun. We had a paddle wheeler at one of my boat jobs, but it was non-functional and basically a dead weight that drove the Captains nuts! They were pulling a dead weight that wanted to go in reverse. You had to really know what your were doing on it and this was in calm water. These look much better and so cute :)

You should tag this in "sustainable" or something like that. I think a lot of people here might be inspired.

Upvoated and followed :)

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

I was born and raised on the Llano Estacado..then drove a truck for many years...
I don't know nothing about boating.
But I'm gonna learn..

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fitinfun (71) · 7 years ago

I did accounting for boat yards and Navy yards and port operations and tourist boats and floating equipment for years in all kinds of jobs. My dad had boats and my brother has them now.

As soon as I am on a boat - I want to get off and spend the whole time up on deck looking for shore. Once we are past shore view, I'm really not happy.

I have no idea how this happened but I avoid the things when possible. I know all kinds of tiny details about them though. I used to have to take survey trips to go see the status of floating equipment and those were ok since I was distracted by work. It's better if I know and trust the Captain.

But I still wouldn't mind a spin in one of these cute things. I did not know of this idea before but it is a good one - shade and power!

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

shade an power..double plus.
I suspect that solar power can compete with sail.

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fitinfun (71) · 7 years ago

Most definitely. Sailing takes major skills.

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

true..but not what I meant.
I was referring to motive power..

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fitinfun (71) · 7 years ago

Do you mean to build one or to drive one or to get one? Or something else?

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

I've already got the hull (read my blog)..I took delivery yesterday...I intend to renovate..then live aboard it either part time or more....consider it to be a tiny home that floats.

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tinashe (58) · 7 years ago

would love one of those babies in Lake Kariba,it will save me some cash ,while i enjoy tiger fishing.

valued-customer (67) · 7 years ago

OK. I am a big fan of big cats, and particularly tigers.

But I have never heard you could catch them fishing.

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tinashe (58) · 7 years ago

I WILL BE FISHING-A FISH CALLED TIGER FISH
you have never heard of it?

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valued-customer (67) · 7 years ago

No. I am from Alaska. No Tigerfish there.

OMG teeth.

How big do these get?

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everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

I'm sorry to break this to you.
but while there may be many more like it
this one is mine.
HOWEVER...you can get another?
It seems to be fairly low tech.

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tinashe (58) · 7 years ago

lol!!! ok @everittdmickey i wont argue with that,well i will make efforts to own one like yours.

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

go for it.
I figure I have a few years of work before mine in ready for water.
so you got time.

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tinashe (58) · 7 years ago

yah guess i have time ,hope you will be updating on the progress of the project from time to time,so that i also keep track of your activities.

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everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

I certainly will...steem is paying for the project. The more updates..the more pay..

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tinashe (58) · 7 years ago

Thats nice ,well i am still trying to increase my steem ,hope very soon will be able to support my own project,like you are doing

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago (edited)

good luck.
I suspect the local economy is a deciding factor...it is for me.

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niceviewsua (49) · 7 years ago

Excellent boats, the main thing is that you can travel and do not spend a lot of money on gasoline or diesel, I would like to own such a boat :)

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

I'm investigating possible drives for the SteemDreem. I'm posting them here.
It would seem to me that if high speed is not the objective then a dual sternwheel drive has a lot going for it.

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valued-customer (67) · 7 years ago

Well, there are some drawbacks to paddle wheels, and particularly sternwheelers. It sucks to tangle shit up in there. Ordinary props are enough of a hassle, and hella smaller, and harder to tangle shit up in, and I've managed it plenty.

I've never used a sternwheeler, but the massive real estate they occupy would really give me pause, particularly given the lack of deckspace on the SteemDreem.

Also, paddles are less efficient, IIRC, than ordinary propellers. Given the limitations on power you must necessarily consider with attempting to generate that power from solar, it would seem that efficiency would be pretty important.

Simplicity and reparability would be very good for a sternwheeler, though, unlike a prop or jet drive. You would be able to make the drive yourself, with a good motor, and a bit of crafting skillz.

Also, dual power is always a good idea on water. Redundancy, reduncancy.

Have I mentioned that redundancy is good?

What are the pluses you find most compelling about a sternwheel setup?

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago (edited)

pluses of dual paddle wheel stern drive.
There is some dispute regarding what you have said according to what I have researched. Paddle wheels do MUCH better in 'dirty water" (weeds, trees, rocks dead bodies..) than props do. They just roll right over it rather than get tangled up in it.

Paddle wheels (as you say) are low tech. Easy to build..but more important ...easy to FIX when murphy wakes up and decides to have HIS say.

DUAL paddle wheels, as seen in the video, offer incredible agility. Turn one forward, the other backward...the boat rotates in one spot. The boat can be manuevered thusly...with no need for a rudder....Forward...or in reverse. It appears that dual paddlewheels give the boat the agility equal or better than one equiped with bow thrusters.

Lastly..the much bemoaned inefficiency. of paddle boats? Two things...make em big...the paddle hits the water at a small angle of incidence...it' pushing...not lifting..

Second...keep it slow. A Paddle wheel boat is NOT a speed boat...it's lives in the slow lane.

Lastly...fuel milage...
Here comes the SUN...when it burns out it's time to park and drink some beer.

Have I addressed all of your concerns?

Update:
that was ten minutes ago.
My head..she is spinning...one day I think props..the next day jet drive...then paddle wheels....wash rinse and repeat.
The onliest thing they all have in common is YUGE batteries kept charged by solar power.

Kites? did i mention kites?
noooooo..someone STOP ME!!!

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valued-customer (67) · 7 years ago

LOL I have no objections to any thing you do, no matter how I think I might do things were I in your shoes. My comments are simply the provision of my experience and thoughts on what I reckon would matter to me, not what I think you should do.

All in all, given that increased inefficiency would result in more opportunities to drink beer, I think I'd opt for the paddle wheels, and try to fish around them.

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

sorry if I was snappy.
I'm that kinda guy.
but yeah...BEER...
anything that promotes drinking more beer is a good thing...

all seriousness aside..
the SteemDreem isn't intended to be a means of transportation so much as a means of BEING.
it's not the destination so much as the journey.

I was a long haul over the road trucker for a quarter century...I've been everywhere...
actually i've driven BY everywhere...all I know about this country is interstate, truckstops, shippers and recievers....

for example I've driven past meteor crater in Az....a hundred times...never got to stop and go see it.

my truck was my prison...if I couldn't take my truck then I couldn't go..

The Steem Dreem is a different deal..

Tom Finn?(huck sawyer?)....Unclle Jim....floating down the mississipi...laid back drinking beer..with a fishing line hangin in the water....

If I leave a wake it's likely to be an unusual thing...

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valued-customer (67) · 7 years ago

I agree that the journey is the destination, and not just in terms of our travels.

everittdmickey (73) · 7 years ago

yup...which is why...more and more...I long for the grasslands of africa...
metaphorically speaking of course.
what I mean is that being a Nomad is in our genes.
for 25 years I was like unto a turtle..

The turtle carries his house on his back.
I lived in a truck.
catch the parallel?

for hundreds of thousands of years mankind lived a nomadic existence..
and then along came those damn cities and fucked every up.

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