tiny tug boat

from the net

2024-03-17T05:03:00.000-07:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l9pUMF-WwU&ab_channel=GRAHAMWHITE

2018-04-24T04:33:00.002-07:00

Supermarket meat i

hovertruck Hovertrain

2018-04-24T01:52:00.000-07:00

If hover craft technology was added the the trucking industry carrying the load then more capacity per load could be carried.Steering and propulsion and breaking would be done with the wheels. Emergency breaking could be affected by dropping the whole thing on the ground.
The same could be also done with rail.

new boat

2018-04-05T16:02:00.001-07:00

My new boat

The seats slide on the black runners to adjust the weight to get the right trim. Power is either 30lb thrust electric outboard or 3.3hp outboard. It rows easily as well. This is a stable platform and will be used for photography on the local river, The Shoalhaven. It is 12 feet long.There is four fishing rod holders. Fully loaded it draws 300mm. There is room to sleep between the black bars when the seats are removed. Plastic boxes are tied to the black bars to hold all the gear for the trip and these rest in the top yellow hulls.

Nice little tug boat

2016-04-26T17:48:00.002-07:00

The arc

2013-09-30T02:10:00.001-07:00

It has been some time since I have written about the mini tugboat. I lost interest in the boat when it didn't work out. I have done much thought and am changing the under water shape to give more stability. The work was started again today and will take about a week. I will publish photos when I can. Thanks for staying around ,cheers.

Taken from the duckworks web site The best small boat site on the web.

2013-09-22T21:56:00.002-07:00

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/13/webwatch/oct/index.htm
One good thing about Crawdad operationally is that it can be made to almost any length, keeping the bottom at 4' in order to conserve plywood. It can be a quick and cheap affair, with character.
Mark Albanese

My Solar boat

2013-05-30T15:06:00.002-07:00

Top photo was taken in Canberra at the solar boat race, The photo below shows my mate Alex at the tiller on trials in lake Illawarra.

Some of my boats

2013-05-28T06:02:00.001-07:00

Some of my models above and my work boat below.

review

2013-01-06T15:33:00.001-08:00

Product review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh1vYmhhhFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWbeEDWSkRg
This is a unit that I have bought today and am waiting for the unit. I will give a review myself in the near future.

Polly styrene and fibre glass and air expansion

2012-09-23T05:14:00.001-07:00

I have just read where the fiberglass will separate in a hull made with epoxy and Styrofoam construction.If left in the sun this problem will occur. As I haven't started my build so this problem will have to be investigated and a solution found. Preliminary thoughts would be holes drilled threw to styrene and some sort of relief valve made. Polystyrene will absorb water over time to some extent and there in lies the problem.
This decontamination could adversely affect the overall strength of the end product.
Any thoughts would be most welcome. Cheers Iggle

"Hero" from Port Kembla

2012-08-02T18:56:00.002-07:00

This story was just found on the net. There is photos and a model of the tug in an earlier post.

This is a copy of one of the photos I used to build the model years ago. The original photo came from the Sydney Morning Herald and I bought the photo to use when building the model. The story below has been metric-ised The tug was 110 feet long not the 32.2 m as stated.

Sydney's iconic tug, Hero

Sydney's best-known steam tug was Fenwick's 32.2m Hero. Built in England, Hero arrived in Sydney in December 1892. The tug went on to have an impressive career.

In 1905, the American barque Abby Palmer ran into a heavy southerly gale on her voyage from Melbourne to Sydney. When she was only about 10 kilometres from Sydney Heads, Abby Palmer's master accepted a tow from the J & A Brown tug, Gamecock. Unfortunately, little way was made with Gamecock, and the Abby Palmer began to drift. Soon, the towline parted and the ship, having lowered her sails when the tow was taken up, was uncontrollable. Gamecock tried unsuccessfully to attach another line to the ship before giving up and returning to port to alert the more powerful Brown tug, Champion, of Abby Palmer's plight.

Meanwhile, the ship continued to drift and the men on board were openly terrified. The ship was only about 30 metres from the cliffs of Bondi, and thoughts of the Dunbar's wreck weren't far from their minds. An anchor with 45 fathoms (82.3 metres) of chain failed to hold, and unrelenting waves were breaking over the ship. Against orders, Abby Palmer's terrified crew were preparing to launch the lifeboats when the Hero appeared. So fierce was the storm that Hero's crew were lashed to the deck of the tug for fear of being washed overboard. Hero's master, Alexander McKenzie, positioned the tug under the cliffs but Hero was lifted by a wave and thrown into the stern of the ship. Despite damage to both vessels, Hero's master persevered and finally a hawser was secured, but the ship's crew were panicking. In their attempt to cut away the lifeboats they cut the hawser connecting the two boats. Fortunately, Hero's crew were able to able to secure another line, which was made fast to the stern of the Abby Palmer. In all, four hawsers parted before the Hero managed to tow the barque – which still had the anchor trailing – to safer waters.

Hero's brushes with mortality continued when she almost came to grief in a collision near Woy Woy in 1908, and her run of luck almost ended when, in 1929, she was holed by the Howard Smith liner Canberra near Goat Island in Sydney Harbour.

As she was escorting the Canberra to her Darling Harbour berth, Hero was hit and sustained a hole almost a metre wide in her hull. Hero's crew slipped the tow-rope and her skipper steamed as fast as he could to Johnstons Bay, where he managed to put her ashore on a beach. The Sydney Harbour Trust fire tug, Pluvius, arrived soon after and was lashed alongside to keep the Hero on an even keel, while Pluvius's pumps worked hard to keep the tug from filling with water. Eventually, a temporary patch was put in place over the hole, and Hero was taken for permanent repairs.

Hero's greatest challenge began on 23 September 1940 when, while berthing the British freighter Northumberland , the tug collided with the ship's bow. Hero rolled, turned turtle and sank off Blues Point, in the deepest part of Sydney Harbour.

Hero's engineer, John Downie, was killed in the accident – some say because he was determined to shut down Hero's engines before saving himself.

The rest of the crew were rescued, though some were injured. The captain, Sid Weldon, suffered burst eardrums. In a parent's worst nightmare, Captain Weldon's mother had been watching the berthing from her home in Balmain. It was some time before she learned that her son had survived. [5]

Salvage of Hero was considered too difficult at the time, but by late 1943 there was a shortage of vessels and the American navy was keen to test new salvage technology. Divers attached a number of rubberized canvas air bags to Hero's hull. Slings were passed through holes burned in the tug's hull and the bags were attached.

When the bags were inflated, they rose to the surface and Hero was suspended by the slings about 10 m below the surface. From there, Hero was towed to a dock, where she was pumped out, repaired and returned to work. Amazingly, after three and a half years at the bottom of Sydney Harbour, a light bulb from Hero still worked! [6]

On 13 July 1960, Hero finally met her end when moving the ship Bulwarra in 50 knot winds at Port Kembla. When Bulwarra was driven onto rocks, Hero's crew leapt for their lives as the tug capsized. Fenwick's insurance company paid ₤21,663, but still Hero wasn't left to rest in peace. The grand old Hero, which had towed the clipper ships Cutty Sark and Thermopylae, was dismantled for scrap in 1963.

The following is a recap from an earlier post on this blog.

"The captain at this time of sinking in Port Kembla was one Jim Robinson." This information in red is supplied by Stewart Strik.
Off Fort Denison in Sydney harbour. Here the mast has been moved behind the wheelhouse as it was hitting the bigger ships when it ran under there rear Quarter. Fenwick's named there tugs Hero Heroine There flag was green and yellow with a white square in the center with a capital "F" The last shipper was Jimmy Robinson who saw the model and was pretty chuffed.

Earlier days in Sydney note the green colour scheme.

These images were given on loan to Wollongong city library by myself.
The images below come from the net but were originally suplied to me by Fenwick's.

To Australia in a tug under sail.
The tug boat Hero
Shields man 's story of an adventurous voyage.
The tug "hero"which operated in Sydney Newcastle and Port Kembla from 1892 to 1960, was driven ashore during a gale at Port Kembla in July of last year,becoming a total loss.
The following account of her voyage from England to Australia,under sail,in 1892 by a member of her crew,was published in the "Shields Gazette" of 27 June 1932 and maybe of interest.
On a dark night in the month of July,40 years ago, a little vessel dropped down the Tyne. to engage on a voyage in which many people believe at the time to be a forlorn hope.
She was the "Hero", a sturdy little screw tug built and engined by Messrs.J.P. Rennoldson and Sons.South Shields for a service in Sydney harbour.New South Wales her destination.
She had previously run her trials under steam with satisfactory results and afterwards was converted into a sailing vessel by the riggers in the employ of her builders under the supervision of the foreman rigger, Mr Adam Fleck.
Her rig was of the topsail schooner style and her sails filled with the favoring breeze she looked as pretty a picture of a sea born craft as one could wish to look upon.
Her propeller had been unshipped and lay securely in its fastenings below,and the vacant arch under the stern was filled with wood, giving the vessel a clean heel.
SHIELDS CREW.
She was manned by a crew of eight-six men and two boys George Forrest,a local skipper was in command and his chief officer was Crofton Elliott. who held a captains ticket. His bosun was Jim Mackay; there were A.B.'s George Taylor, Tom Watson and Peter Bjorkman (a Scandinavian). and two boys.George Halliday and W. Johnston, the latter a relative of the skipper.
There was a slump in shipping at home in consequences of the Durham coal strike and sailor were plentiful. Excepting Bjorkman - who had sailed the seven seas-the whole of the crew were chosen from Shieldsman.
There were affectionate adieu to say before the little ship was finally cast off by the tug incharge,for many of the crew had there friends on board.There was much hand shaking and exchanging of godspeed before the visitors were taken off by the tender,and the last parting farewells were shouted from the deck of the returning tug as the "hero" set sail on her long adventurous voyage.
156 DAYS VOYAGE.
Captain Crofton Elliott (of Woodlands Terrace) a surviving member of hero's crew, has has retailed to a "shields Gazette" representative many interesting reminiscences of that memorable sea passage.which took 156 days to complete
It was on the Saturday night, I remember-he said-when we passed out of South Shields harbour into the open sea We hoisted our sails to a southerly wind, the captain deciding he would go north about to start the voyage. We set the course accordingly, but after making 150 miles the wind chopped right round dead ahead. We then decided to square away to the south, as the breeze seamed promising. and we made good progress back over the course we started on. In three days we passed the mouth of the Tyne again, and we had favorable winds all along the coast.
We struck strong westerly winds in the channel.The vessel behaved splendidly and established our confidence in her sea qualities. Her bottom was covered with white lead and tallow to keep the barnacles and sea growth off,and she slipped threw the water in fine style.
OBJECT OF CURIOSITY.
We kept steady on our course and had a good run and then came into the north east trade winds. many sailing ships were in sight-as many as twenty were seen at one time. A big German four-masted ship signaled us in the straights of Gibraltar.
"Where bound? they asked.
" To Sydney."
"What route?"
"By the ordinary safe eastward."
They sent us there good wishes.We were evidently an object of curiosity.
After we got out of the North east trade winds we set a new course and crossed the equator 22or 23 degrees West long.
The days passed uneventfully and happily, for we were a cheery family.
When in the "doldrums" a calm belt which extends from 10 degrees North to 10 Degrees south of the equator,we had a lively time chasing the winds. We trimmed the sails to capture every cap full of wind but often we lay becalmed. The sea was dead calm, and the heat intense.
One day it was my watch, below I hear a splash in the sea. when I reached the deck I saw half the crew swimming in the water. We were all swimmers. I went overboard too. That was our only dip, for the next day a big shark was lying under the counter- that is the after part of the ship. He followed us for some time and then disappeared-evidently nothing doing. But it was not worth taking risks afterwards.
IN HEAVY SEAS.
We "baffled"about for a number of days.On another calm day we put the boat out and painted the ship round in green colours. We were then 35-40 days out.
Eventually we picked up the South east trade winds which gradually worked into fair winds and we stood away to the west ward. Trinidad island in the south Atlantic bearing to the west six miles distant. After running into the prevailing westerlies in those latitudes we stood across towards the Cape of Good Hope. It was not long before we encountered heavy seas, but the little craft behaved splendidly. running like a duck on the crest of the seas. But we had to steer with great care owing to the big mainsail,and the danger if jibing.
There was some dirty weather ahead and the seas swept our decks and flooded the well of the ship.There were anxious moments.but the vessel shook herself clear each time.
A SQUALL.
We were now shaping our course for towards the Tristan de Cunha group of islands between the Cape of Good Hope and South America. We were getting on well with the journey and were clear of accident up to this time, save that we had to give attention to torn sails.
We made a brave fight with the big seas and our progress was maintained until we finally sighted the islands. One big sea was shipped which smashed threw into the engine room. As we had to turn over the engines every morning this was a unfortunate mishap and the captain decided to run for Table Bay to see that the vessel had not strained herself and to replenish food supplies. We remained there for three or four days and we had not long resumed our passage when a severe squall struck us. We had great difficulty getting out to sea, but we managed it safely. and shaped our course for the south of Agulhas Banks.
BO'SUN INJURED.
A strong wind was blowing from the west and a big sea was running,and we ran south to get arround the Banks. Captain Forrest had a peculiar knowledge of thes treacherous waters from a previous experience out there. We got safely round the banks and set a course eastward and thus entered along the last long run from the Cape to Australia.
The prevailing winds were westerly ,and terrific squalls occasionally burst on us. Tremendous green seas chased along behind us ,and it was fortunate that the man at the wheel could not see them. The ship rose to the crest of the waves , which swept us along like an avalanche for a considerable distance for a time. Skillful and careful steering saved the ship broaching too.We had four A.B.'s but I had to take a spell at the wheel.
We shipped one huge wave which washed Mackay along the deck and bashed him against the bulwarks. When we recovered him we found he fractured his ribs and the skipper and I had to doctor him. It was a trying ordeal for Mackay ,for he lay in a pitch plaster for ten or twelve days. His injuries healed but the pitch plaster adhered to his skin and its removal was a painful operation, but he was ultimately restored to his normal self. and to active duty again.
PULLED TO SAFETY.
On another day the boy Halliday was knocked overboard with the flap of the foresail He had a miraculous escape . He was standing on the top of the little house and in the act of reeving the fore bowline when the flap of the sail pitched him into the sea.The vessel was going only three or four knots at the time. The little fellow held onto the bowline , and by that means we were able to pull him threw the seething waters to safety on board the ship again.
We ran into worse weather , with the wind coming too much from the quarter we kept her to the southward to keep her before the sea . seldom ,indeed we sighted anything just an occasional sail. A close look out was kept for the sight of land . It was in the early morning with a high westerly wind blowing ,with a following sea and clear viability that I got the first glimpse of the Australian continent. The news was received with great joy by my shipmates. It was just a dirty mark on the ocean. but we afterwards found it was Cape Banks on the South Australian coast.
'WELCOME AT SYDNEY'
There was a lot of hard weather in store for us still but we got down to Botany Bay and arrived in Sydney Harbour after a sea voyage of 156 days.
Our appearance excited a great stir among the people But our orders were emphatic to allow no one on board. We carried out the instruction even to excluding the the owner's son.-until his identity was firmly established. The Hero entered Sydney Harbour in perfect conditions, as tight a little ship that ever crossed the ocean. Captain Forest remained by the vessel . Halliday went up country. Bjorkman got a charge job in tugs and Mackay settled as a deck hand in Sydney where he married. I remained there for a little while sailing the coastal vessels but returned to my home town.
Captain Elliott , the narrator of the story was in later years in command of vessels belonging to the Stag line before going into the business of his father in law John Reed , a well known sail maker in South Shields.

Mash head light
The mast head light on the Hero was some two feet tall and I was supprised as to the size whin I first saw it,

tiny tug boat

2012-07-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

It has been some time since writing, I am still here and am putting on the finishing touches to the steering. I think I am going to call it the "Arc" as it looks more like that than a tugboat.

My new touring commando boat

2012-06-18T03:41:00.000-07:00

resin over polystyrene part 3

2012-06-14T16:30:00.001-07:00

There is another technique to lay up for the resin and that is to lay up using the same methods as for fiberglass. Use pva wood glue and toilet paper and then allow this to dry paint with catalyzed resin then fiberglass as normal. This is the end of this experiment. I would like comments on this maybe to enhance the process.

polystyrene and polyester resin coating part 2

2012-06-03T21:09:00.000-07:00

The final results have come in and it can be said that polystyrene can be coated with polyester resin with a barrier of good quality PVA wood glue. If the following steps are taken.

Apply a coating of pva wood glue to the polystyrene and allow it to dry for two days.
Apply a coating of catalysed resin over the pva wood glue as you would apply paint and allow to harden
Apply glass and resin as normal over step two. If a thick coating is applied directly over the PVA glue then it will react with the PVA glue.
I would suggest that a coloured pigment is added to the PVA to allow you to know where you have been same goes for the first coat of resin.

This photo shows wet resin with no catalyst added to the surface without the styrene dissolving.

Polystyrene and polyester resin coating part1

2012-06-03T05:36:00.000-07:00

This shows the glass on the polystyrene The rough area is where the polystyrene was not protected.

This shows the glass on the polystyrene with the bondcrete glue

The bondcrete glue below again showing the glass ripped off.This is the epoxy spray paint note the parting is both on the polystyrene and the paint

The paint aloud the fumes from the resin to penetrate the polystyrene

This is a section of where the resin was laid thinly and the separation was on the beads in the polystyrene.

This shows where the resin was able to penetrate the glue when applied thickly and at the edges there was only resin thinly coating and there was no penetration of the resin fumes.

This is the cheap sample glue

This is the expensive glue sample

From the observations the best way is to use PVA glue and allow to dry for two days and then paint on resin with catalyst thinly. Followed up with thicker layers of glass and resin. Applying the resin thickly allows the resin to react with the pva glue and burn threw to the polystyrene. I think the cheap and the expensive glues performed about the same with a lean towards the expensive glue.

More experiments will be needed to confirm what I have done.

New hull bottom

2012-05-03T03:12:00.000-07:00

This shows the finished bottom, note the shiny surface from laying plastic sheet over the wet figreglass

Another shot of the bottom with clear water going to the propellor. It might need a keel of some sort.

This is the amount of the bottom cut away. There is about 200kg of boyancy in this. I am redoing the steering in steel for more strength.

Surgery and the Titanic

2012-04-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

I could have just added ballast to the little tug but this would have been in the vacinity of about a 1/4 of a ton. Then the launching and retreval would have been a major undertaking with this much weight. I also thought of small pieces of lead placed in the bottom and the job of doing this every time was not worth it and if the thing took on water it would have beaten the Titanic to the bottom with me in it. So surgery was the only way. It took less time than it would have taken to load all the lead ballast into the boat before launching. It was also cheaper. Some time was taken away from the build to explore the bush near here, so here is a couple of photos.

The above photo is of the entrance to Jervis bay and the back waters of St.Georges Basin.

Drastic surgery

2012-04-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

This is taken from the bottom of the boat

This is the removed section and will take away the need for about 100 kilos of balast

Bottom glassed on, by removing the bottom I hope this will make it more stable and I know it will take away the need for ballast.

Plastic was laid over the wet resin and smoothed out to eliminate some of the sanding.

Tiny tugboats

2012-04-08T04:59:00.004-07:00

My sons have ganged up on me and am now not allowed to build any more little tug boats. They think that I will drown myself so I bought a mini motor bike and this has been confiscated and is being sold. Party poopers. They think I am getting too old would you believe,Old. Now I have bought a canoe fourteen foot long and they want training wheels on it (outriggers) Wait til they see it go with a five hp motor on it. I am gathering steel and bits for a mini submarine that should scare the crap out of em. They only come down once a month or so and I will hide the sub bits and launch it between visits. If they find it and ask what it is I will tell them I found it and am going to scrap it. Kids dont ya love them. You wouldnt believe it photo uploading is not working again.

drastic surgery

2012-04-05T19:34:00.002-07:00

I launched the tug boat and it floated but will need drastic surgery as it is not floating to the water line. Will update in the near future.

update

2012-04-01T15:51:00.011-07:00

These contain 5 "D" cell batteries connected in series to get 12 volts.
Bending the timber to fit on the edge of the cockpit.

Glueing the edging on this is to cover end grain of the larger piece if timber..
Cabin roof done in two different timbers one being Origan floor boards the other is of unknown imported species that I got from Extreme flooring sales at south Nowra for free as these were offcuts. All the timbers are milled to size on a DeWalt flip flop saw.
The switch is wired for forward and reverse with stop in the middle.

Colour and font sizes

2012-03-28T06:14:00.001-07:00

Hope you like the colour changes and font size as it makes it easier to read. Iggle

Photo update

2012-03-28T02:28:00.002-07:00

The above photo is is of the port hole with glass in it.

This photo shows the terminals to conect to the battery.