Topic starter
05/07/2009 4:43 pm
A little update from the Hudson River Steamboat Enthusiasts.
You may or may not know. A group of us ar building a 1/12 scale model of the Boulton & Watt steam engine used by Robert Fulton on his steamboat. The members of the group all have interests in history, steamboats & education.
The museum quality unit that we are building will be donated to the Clermont Site when conpleted In a previous thread I had a link to a video of our prototype. With it's approval we are now working on the museum version.
I have "built" the hull section around the prototype engine in CAD. 3 images attached. What I have tried to do is open the hull up to show the engine and related hull framing. There are very few records of the boats construction so we are giving it our best shot based on similarity. Please comment if you have suggestions.
We had originally planned to power the unit with an AC gear motor. We are running tests in parallel with a DC motor and controller. The controller gives us more options such as ramp up speed, run time, lock out and other bells and whistles down the road.
The project has a lot of interest. The State is considering writing an artcle on it for their newsletter as is the Company that donated the CAD software. They in addition may submit their article to a national trade magazine.
We are all having a lot of fun and getting a lot of satisfaction from contributing to the museum at the Clermont Site.
Pete Baker
06/07/2009 3:50 am
Pete
I have not researched the Clermont, but what little I know of early steamboats. suggest that the hull builders continued to build hulls patterned after sailing craft. With a keel and ribs not the flat bottom in your drawing. on the Western rivers Shrives Washington may have been one of the first flat bottom boats.
Carl
06/07/2009 1:30 pm
Wasn't the Nothe River Steamboat (Clermont) built more on canal boat lines?
Topic starter
08/07/2009 10:59 am
Hank,
You are quite correct. Fulton was involved with canals and methods to improve canal travel. His 1807 boat was long, narrow with a flat bottom and near vertical sides. It had a draft of 24". It suggests that his design was influenced by that of canal boats.
There are no confirmed dimensions for the Fulton North River boats. He had a desired length to beam ratio of 10:1. Written information indicates that the 1807 boat was 133ft long and 13ft of beam and steered with a tiller. In its first season of operation he found the boat to be unstable and difficult to maneuver.
During the winter of 1807-08 he completely rebuild his boat increasing its length to approx 150ft and beam to approx 17ft. He added a ship's wheel with pulleys for steering. He also added several sleeping berths for the passengers as well as a ladies' lounge, gentlemen's lounge and galley. He added shrouds over the paddlewheels to protect the passengers from water spraying. Rub rails were added outboard of the paddlewheels to protect them from the captains of sailing ships. These rub rails also provided the extra benefit of outboard bearings. Fulton had problems with snapping axles, partially due to cast vs wrought material and the fact that the wheels were initially cantilevered on the axles. It was this 1808 boat that Fulton called "The North River of CLERMONT" after the Robert Livingston estate in Germantown, NY. The media shortened the name to what is commonly know as the CLERMONT.
Fulton went on to design other boats both commercial and military. He designed the first New Orleans Steamboat for Nicholas Roosevelt which was built in Pittsburgh in 1911.
In closing I would like to thank both you and Carl for your comments. Eastern steamboats are for the most part overlooked on the message board.
Pete