Building the Electric Sternwheeler Tesla's Revenge

[Cheechako]

An electric sternwheeler or sidewheeler sailing boat would be a great way to generate electricity while sailing!

[StuM]

Originally Posted by wildshore

Got some of the math done on the paddlewheel set up, with many thanks to some engineering friends:

Diameter: 48"

Buckets (paddles) 18" X 7"

Number of buckets: 12

RPM @ 6 kts: 50

ft/Lb thrust/bucket 55

Once again we are hampered by incorrect units.

Thrust is measured in lbs, not ft lbs (ft/lb is essentially meaningless).

Assuming you mean 55 lb of thrust/bucket perpendicular to the paddle andgiven the way a paddle wheel operates with somewhat less than 50% of the paddles partially submerged and providing thrust in different directions that tells us very little about propulsive force.

Have you worked out the total effective thrust (or even better, power demand in Watts or HP).

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

An electric sternwheeler or sidewheeler sailing boat would be a great way to generate electricity while sailing!

Years ago I considered building a houseboat and using paddle wheel drive so that when anchored in tidal streams I could generate a substantial amount of DC power. did not do any calcs on it but there should be plenty of info around for design purposes.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Stumble

I don't know enough about steam engines to recommend one, but I found a 10hp steam engine for about $2,500 online. And quite obviously they work andhave the energy density to carry enough fuel to be meaningful. Add I need the exhaust that can be routed to heating the cabin... it could be a fascinating option.

There was a steam driven car designed to run in the Daytona 500 about four decades ago.

[James S]

I'm curios... any updates on this project..?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by James S

I'm curios... any updates on this project..?

Just another pipe-dream.

According to their blog site, they seem to have given up on the stern wheeler idea.

"Tesla's Revenge" is now a stripped out a Cal 2/29 being convert to a liveaboard "electric drive" motor cruiser wit a 5kW motor

Indiegogo funding site (which doesn't mention paddle wheel) so far has raised $255 of the $5,000 that they are begging for.

[James S]

thanks for the update

[David M]

Tesla specialized in AC and Edison in DC. So it might be more of an Edison's revenge boat.

[RayChapman]

Hi all, I'm new here. Landed here after doing some random jumping from the boat design forums I usually haunt. I'm also rather into Paddle boats and have some experience of my own. I apologize that my first post is a negative to some more senior members and in reply to an already dead thread but there is just to much bad info in this post to ignore. First and most incorrect statement is the reference to efficiency or lack there of... None of you have studied Stern-wheelers. They are in fact very efficient at hull speed and less (speed length of 1.2 and less). The statement that no one uses them is based on misinformation. They are not used because steam is no longer the preferred power plant of choice. You see Paddle-wheels were the perfect match for steam because steam had a very unique power profile. Steam can and does develop Maximum Torque at ZERO RPM. Paddle-wheels can transfer that force to the water at near ZERO RPM. Something no Screw or Foil based propulsion can do. That's the reason steam powered Paddle-wheel boats stuck around so long after screws became dominant on the ocean... It was not stupidity or nostalgia that kept them around, it was push power at low speed and Efficiency. The desire for speed, availability of cheap Diesel engines and fuel oil is what killed the paddle-wheel boat. As for complexity... I've built 6 paddle-wheelers. 3 stern-wheelers, 2 side-wheelers and a boat with an experimental wheel. They were the easiest boats to power. I had the choice of Belt drive, Chain drive, Shaft drive, Crank/Lever drive, Hydraulic, Electric, Direct, Hybrid and Bicycle pedals. All easily and simply rigged with parts available at any hardware, automotive or industrial supply store. As well as marine chandeliers and junk yards.
My dad served on the Sacramento River boats that were steam powered stern-wheelers and I've done extensive research on them while designing and building my own. They were also the main topic of my thesis for my mechanical engineering course.
Yes, almost all of the commercial "stern-wheelers" use fake wheels. Its because they use modern engines and want to travel at hull speed greater than 1.2 S/L.
In these times there are two power plants that can nearly duplicate the applicability of steam to paddle-wheels, They are the Electric motor and the Linear actuator. Both of these can develop near maximum torque at zero RPM, just like steam.
Furthermore if you do the math at S/L of 1.1 Paddle-wheels can equal screws. At S/L less than 1.0 Paddle-wheels can beat screws and foils. They do need the appropriate power plant to do so. Paddle-wheels are still the least space efficient (no matter how you cut it). Where space is not a factor, S/L is equal to or less than 1.1 and a power plant with the correct power profile is available, in protected waters, Stern-wheelers rule.

Regards all,
Ray Chapman

P.S. Forgot to mention Safety. Even at the height of Paddle-wheel glory when Screw boats and Paddle-wheelers operated side by side the number of injuries recorded for paddle-wheels were far less than the number of injuries recorded for Screw boats and the vast majority of the injury/deaths were due to the steam power plant not the wheel. and in these modern times... Fear the Jet Ski not the Paddle wheel!!

[RayChapman]

Originally Posted by Blue Stocking

How many posting here have worked on a paddle-wheeler ? I have.

Me too.

[James S]

Originally Posted by RayChapman

Me too.

I'd like to know more about your Sternwheeler builds if you have the time..
I've been playing with some ideas for an "expedition" type sternwheeler to ply the rivers of my home state of Alaska.. diesel electric is where I'm at so far.. and hull size w/o wheel (split) somewhere around 50 or 60 ft.. in length.. beam around 16 +-..
Aluminum hull and superstructure .. hull is two sections to be split length way for shipping.. just dicking around so far.. trying to convince myself it's a worthy project..