Topic starter
17/08/2011 1:39 pm
Yesterday afternoon about 4:30, (actially 5:30; we left the house at 4:30) I with Brother John piloting emerged from Gunpowder Creek in MISS BLUE, my 22' steam launch. At that time the ROBERT A. KNOKE was passing up river with a fair sized loaded tow. Rounding out into the Ohio, the KNOKE was about a hundred yards ahead of us. Having some three, twenty-pound sacks of charcoal left from our Marietta gig last week, I poured on the coal and cracked open the stack draft and opened the throttle. Steam pressure rose from 60 psi to 80; then 100 psi. (relief valve is set at 150). Business picked up and we slowly, ever so slowly, caught up with and passed the tow boat. Not the tow, mind you, just the tow boat. This took about a half-hour at which time the KNOKE was making a one-whistle pass (in silence) of the down-bound RICHARD E. WAUGH. We were moving up river at the blistering pace of 5.8 mph (Garmin GPS) land speed! All was going well until my grates got clogged (this charcoal had lotsa ash) and even increased stack draft could not sustain my fire until I cleaned it. With nearly half my fuel expended, we turned around amidst a glorius sunset. We ran a total of 10.30 miles on three sacks of charcoal. My other steamer, MISSIE, a 20' steam launch, will run about 3 miles on a gallon of propane. Sometimes I'd get over 20 miles on a 20 pound cylinder. Like your car, mileage depends upon how heavy your right foot is. In spite of a fair amount of drift, the river was just fine for cruising and we had a fine time. Wish you coulda been there!
17/08/2011 1:49 pm
Beautiful sunset, Cap'n Walnut!
17/08/2011 2:11 pm
Tom, I've been starring at picture #2 and imagining the cha-chunk,cha-chunk sound of MISS BLUE's engine and it just about put me to sleep here at the office. We'll have to catch up for another ride before boating season is up.
Aaron
P.S. Your pictures posted!
17/08/2011 3:38 pm
SUCH FUN!
I frequently used charcoal in my little steamer, WILLIE, and it worked like a charm. If wood wasn't getting the job done, I chucked an entire sack (10 lbs.?) in the firebox and then I could tidy up, eat lunch, enjoy the scenery, and maybe close the damper a few times to keep it from popping off. Have you ever ridden the wheel wash rollers?
Topic starter
17/08/2011 6:12 pm
Sigh! Yeah, Lexie, you WOULD bring that up. One fine day between Rabbit Hash and Rising Sun, we were tooling along nicely when a down-bound tow happened by. While I was tending the fire and not paying particular attention to what we were doing, Brother John cut into the wheel-wash...not like stern or side-wheelers but with only about ten inches of freeboard, we were into some steep stuff! We were directly behind and up close and personal. I eased back on the throttle but the following wave just picked us up and carried us right along! I could sense my steamer's engine speed up as the wave took over our motive power. I won't say that panic came over me...seeming to carry us right into the stern of the tow-boat, but let's just say that my knuckles were white! To be honest about it, I do not remember HOW we got out of there...but it took some days to get the smile off Brother John's face! Cap'n Walnut.
18/08/2011 4:07 pm
A LITTLE MORE ADO
I was riding on a houseboat with a friend while I was attending the National River Academy in Helena, AR, so we were on the Mississippi. A big towboat went by and it was practically on the other side of the river. But some rudder action on the towboat had sent the rollers in our direction. It was like a tidal wave. My friend, who was pretty well experienced in the handling of his boat, had no control as we bounced like a cork and came mighty close to buying it on a concrete revetment. My knuckles were white because I was hanging on to something for dear life, and wondering where the life jackets were. Don't know how we got out of that one either.
18/08/2011 5:18 pm
I was on the m/v HAL D. MILLER downbound on the Tennessee River one trip, and looked behind me to notice two teenage girls riding our wheelwash on their jet-skis. These young ladies rode back there for quite a while, getting a thrill. They kept coming closer and closer, jumping the waves and having a grand old time. This went on for every bit of 20 minutes before one of them got too close and was knocked off her jet-ski. I kept looking back and apparently she had broken an arm or a leg, because she was unable to swim or climb back up on her jet-ski. Her friend had to rescue her. I don't know what the final outcome was, as they were out of sight around a bend. You can't say they were taken by surprise, as they had kept at it for almost a half-hour. Towboats are nothing to mess with!
19/08/2011 12:15 am
It used to worry me on the Steamboats when people would ride our wake in Canoes and Kayaks, then later on in life I became an avid Kayaker and understood the thrill of riding waves and white water although I would never get behind a Towboat as I know what can happen should you get sucked under.
19/08/2011 11:11 am
I took a Red Cross canoe course one summer at the Louisville Boat Club. We had classroom instruction and then hands-on safety training which included getting in the boat from the water, all done in the confines of the boat club harbor/dock area. Then, to finish the course, we had to paddle across the river and circle 6 mile island. When we emerged from the island and were able to see, we found a tow heading down river and not too far from us. We were ahead of it, not behind it. I never paddled so fast in my life. I think that was the scariest boating event I've ever had.
-Jim Herron
19/08/2011 3:47 pm
I personally think jet skis are nothing to mess with. I did once sail across a towboat wake in a canoe rigged with a sail. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but the sail added stability and I had no problem. I also waited as long as I could and took one of those "weaker" rollers way back from the boat.
Topic starter
21/08/2011 6:34 pm
Many years ago when riding the ISLAND QUEEN No.2, we were told that if you got too clowe to the wheel in a small boat/canoe, you'd get "sucked under". Donno if it ever happened, there were lots of kids off Dayton Beach in Kentucky who certainly gave it a go. I never saw anything happen in that regard, but friend, Don Neuman, who grew up in the Daton/Bellvue area, reports that they got pulled into or paddled into the area just behind the IQ's wheel and hit his head on the supports there and had a very narrow escape. My question is: will you actually get sucked into the wake of a diesel towboat with a Kort knozzle or pain wheel? Were we in any real danger of other than being swamped when Brother John cut into the wake behind a towboat as noted above? Cap'n Walnut
22/08/2011 6:11 pm
Dad told the story of once when he was striking on the "Big Liz" (the second ISLAND QUEEN) he heard a BANG, BANG, BANG eminating from out near one of the wheels. Like any good striker, he went out on the guard to take a look. It was the occupants of a canoe that paddled too close to the wheel and got sucked in. The head of their canoe was caught up under the guard. The hapless paddlers were banging their oars against the nosing hoping to push themselves out of their rather uncomfortable predicament. Dad ran back and shut down the wheel and the canoers were able to make their escape.
Another story he told was when he was weekend Chief on the BELLE, some person being pulled in an innertube, racing along side of the steamboat, lost their grip on the tow line and came bouncing down the hull of the boat, headed towards the wheel. Both he and the pilothouse crew saw what was happening. The pilothouse rang to back just as Dad got to the footbox. Due to the dire emergency, Dad shipped her up right fast and she stalled. The wheel stopped and the innertube mariner floated past the now still wheel being spared a nasty paddling.
Topic starter
22/08/2011 7:45 pm
Thanks for the input, Frank. I suspect that most who experience such things have no idea the seriousness of their act...if they only knew the paper work that will hafta be filled out if they are harmed! I know that when I am being impelled toward the business end of a towboat having a thousand or so times the horse power of my little launch, without energy from me, I begin to worry a bit. Am I going faster toward the boat than the boat is going away from me or not? In either case, I don't like the feeling! No doubt you noted the boating accident Saturday 12:30 am. at Cincy. The paper made note of the fact that the runnabout that struck the 38' boat had no lights on...as if that would have made a difference...actually, you can see better at night to navigate with YOUR lights off. Said lights are designed to alert OTHER boats to your presence and reveal your orientation and heading...not to
allow you to see any better. The idea that a lumbering 38 footer could see the speeding runabout and get out of its way is a bit far-fetched, methinks. Cap'n Walnut