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Boat Forum / Building / September 2009Paddleboat using a riding lawn mower drive train.
I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with stiff rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding lawnmower drive train would give me reduction, reverse and a variety of gears. Anybody know of some experience? > I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with > stiff rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding lawnmower > drive train would give me reduction, reverse and a variety of gears. > Anybody know of some experience? seems to me you'd almost be better off poling. Lawnmower drivetrains are kinda heavy, forcing you to either a deepish draft or a huge boat, and paddles just don't seem like they are all that efficient. On the other hand, something like a longish jonboat and a nice 8 foot pole should take you most anywhere you want to go... >> I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with >> stiff rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding lawnmower [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > hand, something like a longish jonboat and a nice 8 foot pole should take > you most anywhere you want to go... I intend to use a 14' johnboat. As for poling, it might be an option, but the river can get deep too. Interestingly, the guy down the street has a decrepit John Deere electric riding mower. Batteries weigh a lot too, but it would be quiet. Speaking of weight, this is a big concern because the boat will need to be hauled up a 10' bank. >>> I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with >>> stiff rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Speaking of weight, this is a big concern because the boat will need > to be hauled up a 10' bank. well then - an 8 or 10 foot pole and some 9 foot oars. In either case, I suspect you'd be as fast as a paddle-driven boat, and you'd get your exercise too :). Especially if you already have a 14 foot johnboat and have to haul it up a biggish bank, I'd strongly consider the human-powered option. On the other hand, though, I suppose you could get a 20 foot comealong and a couple of 2x4s for skids and just ratchet up whatever weight you wind up with when it comes time to beach the thing. Good luck! Your idea sounds ingenious, actually - I'm just something of a Neanderthal luddite... >>>> I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with >>>> stiff rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > Your idea sounds ingenious, actually - I'm just something of a Neanderthal > luddite... But a boat being poled or rowed would not look as good as your original idea of using a paddle wheel to propel the boat. I have always like paddle wheels. You did not say whether you were originally gone to put the paddles on the side of the stern. >>>>> I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with >>>>> stiff rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > You did not say whether you were originally gone to put the paddles on the > side of the stern. With side-wheelers, you could use a belt tightening idler to stop power from one or the other wheel and steer better. Low speed steering with paddle power can be difficult otherwise. Another consideration would be overall length. A stern wheeler could get long and it cold be more difficult to keep the paddles from bottoming. I suppose the rudder/s could be hinged for scraping the bottom. > >>> I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with > >>> stiff rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > Your idea sounds ingenious, actually - I'm just something of a Neanderthal > luddite... I was thinking about this once.. I would build a tunnel type hull and have a drive similar to a snow machine under the boat. It could propel you over rocks, and even drive over shallow spots like a tank track. I still have some things to work out, but think about it. >> I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with >> stiff rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding lawnmower [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >hand, something like a longish jonboat and a nice 8 foot pole should take >you most anywhere you want to go... Oh, you're no fun although correct regarding practical considerations. The "huge" part could be gained by making it beamy, maybe wider than the paddles. Say 1000 # payload for two riders plus lawnmower stuff plus boat, 5' x 10' area would draw about 4". Make two side paddle wheels with differential speed like a zero turn mower, and he'd steer like a dozer. With that much wetted area, it'd go like one, too. Paint it grey with low freeboard and mount a cannon turret amidships. Damn, ok, get the pole and johnboat. Pete Keillor > I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with stiff > rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding lawnmower drive train > would give me reduction, reverse and a variety of gears. Anybody know of > some experience? No personal experience, but there are a couple of vaguely similar sounding designs on Svenson's free boat plans website (way down in the bottom section) http://www.svensons.com/boat/ I don't think a riding lawn mower transmission, at least of the traditional tractor variety, is the best way to power things. Riding lawn mowers have a differential as part of the transmission unit, which I suspect would tend to be rather irksome on a boat. Also, they are generally designed so as to have their input shaft on the top of the transmission housing, belted up to a pulley on the underside of a vertical-shaft engine; thus you would end up with the engine above the shaft line of the paddlewheels unless you did some fancy multiple pulley arrangement. Ideally, I'd think you'd want the weight of the engine relatively low in the boat, although it should be adequately stable up high with an appropriate hull design for the kind of protected waters where you'd use such a boat. The idea that someone posted about using a zero-turn hydrostatic transmission setup does sound like a whole lot of fun, though, and not too impractical as well. It wouldn't be overly efficient, and not inexpensive unless you're good at scrounging up parts; but those may not be important design considerations.  SignatureAndrew Erickson "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." -- Jim Elliot >> I need a boat for a very shallow river. Paddles, especially with stiff >> rubber tips, seem like a good alternative and a riding lawnmower drive [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > high with an appropriate hull design for the kind of protected waters > where you'd use such a boat. Thanks for the link. I did not intend to drive the paddles directly with the mower's axels. The motor and transmission would be mounted as low as possible with belts powering the wheels. It should not be too difficult to negate the differential if by nothing else, just get power from one side. The belts would be tightened with idlers so that the power could be disconnected from the wheels for close quarter turning. Seems to me the engine/transmission combo out of an Argo would be ideal. > Seems to me the engine/transmission combo out of an Argo would be > ideal. Could you give me a site? |
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