A Midwheel River Cruiser
Rurudyne

Rurudyne: A Midwheel River Cruiser

An incomplete study of an idea I had for a modest length to beam ratio (5 to 1) stabilized monohull with shallow draft combined with a sidewheeler ... "midwheel" because the wheels are within the amas. The incomplete looking "king's truss" spanning the amas and connecting them to the main hull is ... incomplete, there would be some longitudinal members and extra bits of structural fuss. The roof wouldn't be penetrated by the truss, but transverse loads carried over it. The inspiration for this was how large river boats actually used trusses running bow to stern to attain adequate stiffness without a heavy hull. I reasoned that if anyone back then had actually built a paddlewheel stabilized design like this they would have logically replaced the King's Post supports for the wheels with a truss, a very 19th century solution, and that in a large boat of this type would then have a cross shaped truss spanning much of the length and breadth of the boat. So the King's Truss is a kind of invented homage to what might have been. A bit ungainly compared to modern trimarans but for this boat I'm thinking ungainly may have a charm all its own. The truss would probably of welded and riveted aluminum made to look like painted riveted iron. 39'11" LOA ... you know, just in case of also going for steam power.

Rurudyne, Mar 27, 2015