Big Wheel Keeps on Turning...

The Flagship needs some cleaning. The wheel is nearly black.

I think the black is really the residuals of the Majestic Blue that they painted the paddlewheel with earlier this year - obviously that paint was not meant to hold up on a paddlewheel that is in the water all the time, so it's partially worn off down to the original red. Does look pathetic, doesn't it!

Now I hear they are planning to paint the DQ's splashboard Majestic Blue, along with some blue trim around the hull of the boat - so far no mention of the paddlewheel, thank goodness! In their latest 2008 catalog they have color enhanced photos of the DQ's proposed new paint job. Hey MAL pul-ese, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

It sounds like Majestic America is all about majestic blue. I'd call it "Majestic Blah". It's dark, dull, and boring. The blue on the back of the DQ would be the ultimate insult to a battered boat. What's next, blue calliope pipes? Does anyone have a clue? The AQ's paddlewheel from earlier this year looked idiotic. And, I still hate that blue section on the side of it, too. It makes the boat look too much like the Riverbarf River Explorer.

Spinning Wheel Gathers No Moss-Hah!

I’m betting that's algae (we call it "moss") you're seeing; the same stuff growing on the lock wall in the background in the photograph. Note that the "black" (actually very dark green) is also on the white circles and only on one side of the wheel. The moss grows where the wheel centers itself and rests within the river when the wheel is stopped, as when tied-up overnight.

Sodium Hypochlorite/Calcium Hypochlorite (Clorox, bleach) really gets a paddlewheel clean. We ordered it in 55 gallon drums and kept the DELTA QUEEN'S wheel sparkling, but my sources within the company tell me that they can no longer "chlorinate" the big wooden wheels, but a power-washer does a reasonable job, too. In the olden daze we had no such labor-saving, devices, but the force of the wheel turning through the water washed off the algae after a good dousing with the chlorine, and when we arrived at our next destination, the QUEEN had a moss-free paddlewheel.

A mossy bucketboard is a most comfortable seat; smooth as a satin pillow as any who have ever had the pleasure can confirm.

Yeah, the algae on paddlewheels is a problem. Captain Paul Underwood insisted on leaving the paddlewheel cranks in different quarters each night. The usual position is with both cranks in the lower half of the wheel-circle because their weight moves the wheel there. The part of the wheel that is more or less continually underwater is where the algae breed. His idea was only partially successful and we occasionally had to take chemical (bleach) steps.

According to "river hoo doo", using BLUE on a steamboat is a NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!

MAL thinks Blue Book, not riverlore books...

When I crewed on the DQ 27 years ago, it seemed as though as soon as that wheel stopped long enough to dry, that the deck crew was back there cleaning and painting. The entire fantail, not just the wheel, but monkey rudders and all. I remember how they stenciled the star on the cranks and made sure that the pitmans were clean as a whistle. Sadly, it's been some years since that level of attention has been focused there. The last time the DQ was in Davenport, that area of the boat looked particularly shabby, a fact not lost on several other observers.

I'll agree with that statement. In my opinion, cleanliness and a sharp outward appearance are a form of advertising. It says to another that this boat and company are dedicated to presenting a quality product. It might subtly influence their decision to take a cruise someday. A shabby and/or unclean looking component stands out and makes people question it. How often do ugly, outdated looking hotels get 5 star ratings? Not often.

Hi Gerg,
One quick note.
Yes that wheel does look bad. On of the big differences between now and then is that two (sometimes three) deckpersons are required to be maintaining security all the time the gangway is out and the manning hasn't changed. That would help explain the missing wheel crew.

The Julia Belle Swain has had a blue main deck and blue sheer line around the hull for years. In fact, I think at one time the entire hull was painted a dark blue. That hasn't proved a NO - NO with her. The decks were a special shade of lighter blue which the crew referred to as Julia Belle Blue. AND, the Belle of Louisville has two blue stripes running around her main deck bulkheads. But for the record, I'm against using blue on the MAL boats, especially the DQ. If you're gonna paint a paddlewheel make it RED or ORANGE.
I don't think the bucket planks were painted at all on the old time boats. I also think that in the real, real "olden days" the wheels werent painted at all.

Thanks, Chief, that would indeed explain alot!

John, you obviously haven't paid for trips on the JBS these last 10 years, only to have them cancelled or curtailed due to rather constant boiler problems. It got to the point I quit booking overnight cruises, just expecting mine to get ruined. She now runs mostly day trips out of LaCrosse. And I think Ralph DuPae might concur with the 'bad luck' theory, remembering his suprise drop in visit to the boiler room rather than the galley and the broken shoulder that went with it...

Judy,
Ouch! I hadn't ever heard about Ralph's unfortunate descent. I haven't seen or been on the JBS since the Fall of 1977. I spent two one week trips that year standing steersmans watches. One was from Chattanooga to Louisville, the other (fall trip) was from Peoria to Florence, Ala. Come to think about it, on the Spring trip in the dead of night on the Tenneessee River I managed to run the boat into a red channel marker buoy. No damage done, but it woke every one on the boat up. John Hartford was along and I've always wondered if that incident was part of the inspiration for his "Kentucky Pool" song. I never did ask him about it. I don't know if the boat is still painted with light blue decks or not.

Blue paint

Once long ago while I was touring one of those beautiful antebellum mansions in the south, the guide pointed out the light blue paint on the ceilings of the porches. It was mentioned this color deters spiders from taking up residence because they don't go for the color blue.

Some time later I began to notice the outside ceilings/underdecks (whatever the right term is) on the MQ and AQ (but not the DQ) are painted light blue for the same reason. Maybe I hadn't been accustomed to looking upwards much, but wonder how long these surfaces have been painted pastel blue and if this shade and location are also considered "bad luck." There are always a lot of spiders on the DQ outer decks and I always used to see Mate Buford and his deck crew walking around with brooms every morning sweeping them away.

Hi All,

The entire time I spent "deckin" on the M/V Bonnie Belle when she ran out of Cincinnati she maintained her baby blue paint scheme and was "thick" with spiders. Come to think of it, every boat I've ever worked on has been well endowed with spiders. Doesn't help that I don't like spiders about as much as I don't like snakes. So if there's any hard proof that there's a paint color out there that will shoe them off, please let me know so I can get a brush and a roller ready.

Certainly an interesting discussion!

Aaron

Laugh of the day- my condo overlooking a river is painted blue and we seem to get our fair share of spiders. I tell myself that the spiders eat the other bugs.

However, many years ago when I lived in Louisiana, had a big black snake in the front yard- boy was I scared.

But I agree with the others paddlewheels are supposed to be red- bright and loud red. Sure they have been other colors but it just doesn't seem right to have them any other color except that bright red.

According to my river "network", the JBS has experienced numerous mechanical and boiler problems in recent years. And Ralph's late night plunge into the boiler room made the newspaper, replete with a photo of him with John Hartford. The BECKY THATCHER, painted with dark blue trim while still at St. Louis, has been dogged with financial problems, a sinking and has been sitting virtually abandoned for the past two years, as has her longtime companion, the GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT, which also got the blue treatment during her St. Louis years. And who could forget that we came dangerously close to losing the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE when she experienced a sinking in 1997. The MAMIE BARRETT was painted with dark blue trim at Vicksburg and since 1994 has been beached and rotting down in a cutoff at Deer Park, Louisiana. Although not a steamboat, the RIVER BARGE EXPLORER had a recent close call on the Lower Mississippi and is heavily decorated with BLUE!

Whether or not the liberal use of blue paint on these vessels had anything to do with these BAD happenings is anybody's guess. The AQ came out looking like a huge, white wedding cake and now, with the gingerbread and other areas painted blue, looks too dark and dull. When I watched her go up the river from the bluff at Natchez this past spring, I was glad to see her in operation again, but sorry she had lost her "steamboat gothic" look!

I had always heard that the light blue on porch ceilings was to deter mud daubers from building their nests there. Never heard the part about spiders.

I'm sure that some decorator, who only saw the AQ in photos, thought that the blue would add some contrast. Maybe they had only seen the Riverbarf River Explorer, and thought that a real riverboat needed to have large areas of dark blue. Oh sure, all steamboats of the past were painted with dark blue or black exteriors, right? The AQ, and the DQ for that matter, have plenty of contrast. Now, on the cost effectiveness side, why paint the DQ with Majestic Blue if they are planning on retiring the boat after 2008? It would seem to me that they would begin the maintenance deferral program soon, and leave the problem fixing to the next owner. Of course, this assumes that they would sell the boat after the 2008 season, even with an exemption.
Save the DQ!

HI, Aaron and All,

Sometime during my 28 years of working for the Navy, I heard that the reason early 20th century warships had buff colored superstructures was because that color deterred insects when the ships were in tropical waters. I HAVE NO PROOF OF THIS. The Howard built cotton packet Bob Blanks had most of her superstructure painted a slightly darker-than-white shade, at least when she was new. She worked down South. Was she painted buff? And was this done for the same reason? Aaron, paint your boat buff, and see what happens.

An old issue of Streckfus Steamers Magazine, features a "believe it or not" article which mentions a steamboat named the MARIE DENNING that was painted BLACK , was known as the "Ghost Boat", operated by "know nothings" and shunned by many!

USS Nightmare?

Most interesting worm can you kicked over. You have some explaning to do as you cannot leave us hanging in suspense. Are you sure this isn't a Holloween gag to promote Cap'n Al's USS NIGHTMARE?

However I did find this reference to the MARIE DENNING:
On that day (19 January 1863) the Ninety-fifth (Illinois Regiment) embarked upon the steamer Marie Denning. The Eleventh Iowa Infantry, Eightieth Wisconsin, and a company of the Second Illinois Artillery also embarked on this boat. (These troops were being transported into combat at Vicksburg aboard the DENNING.)

Another note: MARIE DENNING, sidewheel steamboat built in 1856, but no reference to the unusual paint job or affiliation to the Know Nothings, a nativist American political movement of the 1850s empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to American values and believed controlled by the Pope in Rome.

Dunno! Just reporting what I saw in that old magazine, which was published in the 1960's.