Could a paddlewheel be placed at the front?

Hi,
First, let me give a brief overview of my situation.

Basically, I'm designing a raft that would be simply the perfect one for me. I'm not necessarily going to build it, (and if I do, I won't be doing it for quite some time until I build experience with building smaller rafts) but hey, its fun .

It will be cycle powered. The cycle wheel is mounted onto two rollers, one of which connects to a paddlewheel, powering the raft.

Anyway, here is an image of where I am at right now.


My question is - could the paddle-wheel be mounted at the front of the raft? This would allow the 'engine' (person cycling) to see, and thereby allowing him to steer and navigate, allowing it to be a one-man vessel.

Thanks for reading,
Dom.

 

ah so thats how sketch-up looks, have to try it someday soon,

as to the drawing and questions: drawing looks like a bit freeboard is to much to ask while it would be good for stability and more
than the paddle wheel i asume has to go in front of the pilothouse would stick way out, why not have one wheel inside on a fork

maybe a drawing would clear my misty thoughts. also when driving pedals from the top floor your gonna have losses in transmission
with all respect for manpower it would be good to realise a bit of wind may blow you all over the place, i see no harm in a small ob

 

I'm sure it would work but it's going to steer like a forklift !

 

I don't think 1 person will be able to move that very much. You won't ever get it going fast enough to steer either. A paddlewheel on the front would stop you from beaching it, but maybe that's not a concern (no beaches).

 

Hi,

Sorry, I was unclear about where it will be powered from - It will be powered from the bottom deck. I still need to switch a few things around on the model (namely, the cabin needs to go further back).

In theory, I could have it in the middle, and have a chain or belt coming from the cycle-system and onto the paddle wheel, but SamSam has confirmed my idea that it wouldn't work with just one person. Hmm...

 

Sketchup is fantastic for doing this kind of thing - just got it to work on Ubuntu Linux, and I'm over the moon . I think, in terms of boating, it's best for pontoon boats and rafts and deck layouts, but not for boat hulls, imo (though someone might like to contradict me here).

 

That is an awful lot of flat fronted boat to move with one person peddling...

 

@boybland - so, if the hull was pointed, would it work (Will show an image of what I mean ASAP)

 

The frontal area of the boat will detrermine the power required to go forward in a breeze.

In a 17K wind you will have about 1 lb per sq ft pushing at you.

Looking at the frontal area , I would guess a low geared 15hp outboard with largest diameter prop might work.

FF

 

When you say "frontal area of the BOAT" do you mean the whole of the front, or just the hulls?

Here are some better representations (will get up in 3D soon, don't have sketchup on this computer) of the idea. This hull on here is more based around the vilma B.

Diagrams are mine, pictures are of the aforementioned Vilma B, courtesy of The Floating Neutrinos


From the front

Side (but upside down)

One pontoon that would be similar to mine.

 

You'd be far better off with two skinny hulls than this single.

That's unfortunate because I think recycling plays a large roll here, no?

Also, your windage is huge in your design for human power.

We're talking about 100 watts sustained with peaks of about 300W.

That's only 1/7 HP from an average Joe and only 1/4 HP from an elite athlete (sustained) from the prop/paddle wheel.

-Tom

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear again

There will be two hulls - the picture above was just an illustration of the pointed front. The other pictures haven't gone through. Will draw up in 3D when I get back in an hour or so. Hold tight!

 

Would´nt it have been better to ask how to design / build a houseboat rather than focussing on the (by so far impossible) propulsion?

No insult intended but here we put the car before the horse.

Regards
Richard

 

Every summer it happens to me to try one of these:



and after 15-20 minutes of steady pedaling with two persons sitting back it becomes a real pain and suffer...
I can't even immagine the muscles and stamina you would need to propel that houseboat at a minimum reasonable speed...

 

It would, but if I ever build it I will have more idea about that kind of thing.

On a side-note - here are the hulls -


The pointy bits at the front are designed to streamline it a bit, but the ones here may be a bit weak?

Anyway, that's the HULLS, but not the rest of it - so you can see everything better.