glisser ship

[Sudarikov]

Hello, friends!

I am very interrested in your oppinion about sheeps like this. This models are made 20-40 years ago. There are some upgrated ships here in Russia but they are to old to. I am interrested in this kind of ships of its ability to land without dock.

So, i am interrested in:
1) Do you know any other glisser-ships which are made now days?
2) Is it possible to travel on it in the sea?
3) Do this kind of ships has be long wight to have anought air under hull?
4) How do you think, is it possible to build comfortable yacht using this class?

I want to use it in hard climate conditions in rivers and seas.

Thank you friends!

[Sudarikov]

Is'nt it the same kind of ship?

[Bergalia]

Not the same class - but much the same use - the traditional Scots Island trader - the 'Puffer' - immortalised in the books and film series 'Para Handy'.

These were inter-island traders (few Hebridean Island communities had their own deep water berths) and the Puffer would come in close to the village at high tide and then wait for the sea to recede, sit happily on the beach to be unloaded - then lift off at next full water.
The reinforced bottom was the secret of their survival. Built back at the turn of the last century (19/20th) there are still examples today following the trade.

But good luck with your search.:)

[Pericles]

Sudarikov,
I googled "workboat design" and these came up.

http://www.working-boats.co.uk/

http://www.mcbridedesign.co.nz/work.htm

Hope they help.


Pericles

[Pericles]

Speak to Lazeyjack.

I have just seen this. http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/8208/size/big/cat/500/ppuser/3060

Pericles

[Sudarikov]

Thank you guys, info is nice.

Bergalia, Dont you know where else can i see this ship? I am interrested in its hull, and of its front part. Is it possible to use this construction elements in my designs of premium motor yach. I want it to use in rivers and seas, 14 metres

Pericles thank you for thematik links, i took much interresting there to mine design-research

[Sudarikov]

May be some one knows what is this?
What is it for? I have just two pictures and i dont know where to find info bout it.

[Bergalia]

..Bergalia, Dont you know where else can i see this ship? I am interrested in its hull, and of its front part....

Unfortunately he 'Clyde Puffer' is becoming a rare bird nowadays. Your best chance to see one in the 'flesh' is to visit the West Coast of Scotland where I know the 'Silver Steam' still functions as a general carrier between the Clyde and the Inner Hebrides.
I've added a picture of 'model' Puffer so that you can see the hull shape and blunt bows. The other illustration is the frontpiece of a set of Para handy tales. A great read - if you can get a translation, though I doubt a translation can do justice to the 'Scots' wry humour.
And here is a brief background to the Puffer:

The Clyde puffer is essentially a type of small steamboat which provided a vital supply link around the west coast and Hebrides islands of Scotland, stumpy little cargo ships that have achieved almost mythical status thanks largely to the short stories Neil Munro wrote about the Vital Spark and her captain Para Handy.

Characteristically these boats had bluff bows, the three-man crew's quarters with table and cooking stove in the focsle, and a single mast with derrick in front of the large hold, aft of which the funnel and ships wheel stood above the engine room while the captain had a small cabin in the stern. Their flat bottom allowed them to beach and unload at low tide, essential to supply remote settlements without suitable piers. Typical cargoes could include coal and furniture, with farm produce and gravel sometimes being brought back.

During World War I these little boats were used for servicing warships, at Scapa Flow, and for World War II the Admiralty placed an order in 1939 for steamships on the same design, mostly built in England, with the class name of VIC, standing for "Victualing Inshore Craft". After the war a number of VICs came into the coasting trade.

The short stories which Neil Munro first published in the Glasgow Evening News in 1905 appeared in the newspaper over twenty years and achieved widespread fame, with collections issued in book form from 1931 still in print today. With the continuing popularity of these tales, the puffers became film stars in The Maggie, and Para Handy with his Vital Spark was the subject of three popular BBC television series dating from 1959 to 1995.

A small number of puffers survive as conservation projects, though most have diesel engines,

The VIC 32 is the last surviving coal fired steam powered puffer, based at The Change House, Crinan. Steam sailings have been available to the public from 1979, latterly as cruises on the Caledonian Canal. A new boiler was fitted in 2005.

VIC 27 renamed Auld Reekie, which starred as theVital Spark in the third BBC TV Para Handy series, is berthed at Crinan. In October 2006 she was bought by the owner of the Inveraray Maritime Museum and a complete refurbishment began in April this year. (2007)

VIC 72, continued in operation as the last of the true working "puffers" into the mid 1990s. In 2006 she was again renamed as Vital Spark of Glasgow after the Inveraray writer Neil Munro's Para Handy stories. She is now accessible to the public, alongside the Arctic Penguin at the Inveraray Maritime Museum, and continues to make sailings.

The Spartan, another diesel engined "puffer", is on display at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine. The Pibroch was built at Bowling, Scotland, in 1957 as a diesel engined boat for the Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd, and since 2002 has been lying at Letterfrack,County Galway, Ireland.