"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in
:

Taking a different approach then, If you were looking for usable amps
for immediate consumption, say, to run a big electric motor, or many
big electric motors ..... do you think youd get more bang for your
buck with a big generator, or with a big stationary motor hooked up to
a bunch of alternators?



If you're looking for electric motive power, 12 volts isn't going to do it.
For instance, the hybrid electric cars are over 400 VDC to keep the
conductor size something reasonable. They have small cells and lots of
them to get that voltage. Trolling motors use either 24 or 48 volts for
the same reason. Low voltage systems are awfully inefficient. That's why
we went from the stupid 6V cars to 12V. They screwed up. They should have
gone to above 30 volts while they had the chance, but I'm sure there some
profit motive why they didn't. Copper wasn't priced like Platinum at that
time, like it is, now. Big diesel engines use 32VDC, which came from the
steam locomotives on the trains. They've been 32VDC since the headlights
were converted from gas to electric.

On the boat.....if you want to run big electric motors, you need a AC power
plant of sufficient size to start them. None of the DC systems have much
available power and the power to weight ratio is terrible. You just get
lots more electrical power from a genset, instantaneous, no hours of
charging batteries, turn it on and it works power. Of course, under sail,
there's a social problem. Sailors dream back to the 1800's. They're
playing buccaneer and want nothing to do with engines, but want modern
electronics and the conveniences electric power provides, like
refridgeration, lighting, cooking, etc. Playing buccaneer is only for
sailing. They don't eat gruel cooked over a woodstove, a more correct
effect. The social problem occurs when someone cranks a genset to provide
the needed power. It, of course, makes a noise and ruins the fantasy.
They'll be called "stinkpotter" by other wannabee buccaneers back at the
dock. So, they buy big batteries to power it, solar cells, windchargers
and play greenie...while sitting in the dark, all hot because the batteries
will only power a little fan, not airconditioning, which the genset can
provide.

Speaking of air conditioning, dear to our hearts here in the South,
"marine" AC manufacturers take advantage of the buccaneers by making units
to hide in the cabin, taking up all kinds of valuable storage space boats
don't have to spare. They have to duct the cool air away from the unit,
taking up more storage space. A guy at the marina I was talking to had a
catamaran sailboat. He was trying to figure out where it was going to be
installed on his cat. He made the mistake of asking me. It was August,
very hot, and I suggested instead of wasting all that space and putting the
HOT AC unit INSIDE the air conditioned space making all that noise, that he
just take off a hatch on one of the pontoon cabins and install a Coleman RV
unit, say 18,000 Btu...heat pump...with soft start kit so it could be run
from a much smaller genset like RVs use. At first he recoiled, buccaneer
style, that I dare suggest such a thing. "Look on the commercial boats and
you'll see lots of them.", I retorted. All the tugs around here and dredge
boats use RV rooftop AC units...no strainers and seawater pumps to clog and
clean...no seawater rotting out water-cooled condensers...no heat INSIDE
the cabin as the RV AC fans and compressors are OUTSIDE the spaces we're
trying to cool. I shrugged and walked off.

I walked the dock and saw him a couple weeks later. He wanted to show me
what he'd done...that wasn't gonna make him any points with the other
buccaneers on the dock, for sure. He'd installed it...(c; "We turned the
thermostat up too high the first day and like to froze to death.", he said.
RV units are much more efficient as they don't spend half their Btu cooling
themselves...hee hee.

Nothing beats a genset for generating power in a boat. It's noisy, but
they've quieted them down a lot with quiet cabinets around them. Exhaust
must always be downwind and in such a way it doesn't come swirling up the
back over the stern....like your outboard or propulsion diesel does. If
it's a gas engine, it's also dangerous to sleep running as there is always
Carbon Monoxide fumes to kill you. These must also be considered.

The finest, quiet genset I ever owned is:
http://www.hayesequipment.com/eu3000is.htm
I have one mounted on the back door of my service truck stepvan that powers
my whole shop, with two 8000 BTU wall AC units, all summer.

This genset, and the other little suitcase gensets Honda makes (EU1000i and
EU2000I) operate completely different from the normal gensets. There is no
50/60 Hz monster core alternator! The alternator in it resembles the PM
rotor flywheel around the stator coils on an outboard gas motor. There's
just more coils and more magnets. It's part of the engine. This is
actually a high frequency alternator, around 1000 Hz at low speed, more as
speed changes. Yes, speed changes with load! We don't care about
frequency. It's output is 3-phase, providing much smoother power, same as
the multiphase alternator on your engine. The 400VAC, high frequency
output from this little 6.5hp gas engine, turning only 1200 RPM until you
get to around 1900 watts of load when the computer speeds it up for more
power, is rectified into high voltage DC. This HVDC is fed to a 3KW
modified sine inverter, which turns the HVDC from the engine into 50 or 60
Hz, 120 or 240 VAC, depending on what country it's sold to. Turning two
8000 Btu Korean regular window ACs, it runs about 8.5 hours on 3.5 gallons
of gas in the metal tank on top of it. The cabinet is so quiet around this
slow-turning engine, people constantly ask me to look at it because they
have a noisy 3600 RPM beast emergency genny at home.

Only thing wrong for your application is there's no way to mount it in a
boat! It's air cooled and the air cooling cools the big muffler, mixing
the exhaust with the hot air pouring out of it so you can't isolate the
exhaust for overboard discharging.

SOMEONE needs to dump the WW2 technology fast turning noisy engine directly
coupled to the massive low freq alternator with only marginal regulation
and build THIS genset in a BOAT cabinet/exhaust/cooling.

If you're ever near a Honda Power dealer...ask him to start one for you.

For your boat? Here's my answer:
http://www.nextgenerationpower.com/
The Kubota diesel it runs on will run 20,000 hours before overhaul if you
stop it and change the oil every 100 hours. Two of them have run
faultlessly, here, on small trawlers. Don't forget to clean the seawater
strainers and once a year the water pump and drive belt would be a good
idea. The diesel runs a constant speed, but it's SLOW because they use the
belt drive to raise the speed to 1800 RPM, or for Oz 1500 RPM (50Hz).
Turns slow, lasts longer...that's easy...(c; It needs an exhaust hose,
diesel fuel line and a seawater source to suck its cooling water from.
It's exhaust is water cooled and is the outlet for the cooling water.

3.5KW is 30" by 18" by 16" and 160 pounds in the quiet cabinet. That's
pretty small. It runs on a trickle of diesel fuel really cheaply.



--
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Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax.
Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads:
17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name...

Shaun Van Poecke wrote:
For a Thunderbird, I think I'd look for an outboard that had an
alternator, and carry an AC charger. You won't have much space to
store a portable generator.

You're right about not having much space to store anything ;-) Most
thunderbirds have an outboard well in the stern, so the outboard can popup
out of the water and be stored there. Ive got an outboard bracket on my
stern, so that area of storage which is a reasoanble size is free. I could
pretty easily fit a small generator in there (maybe 1000watts) but Im trying
to keep weight down in the stern if i can.

I'd originally envisioned having a very paired down electrical system; a
single100AH battery, which would run a cabin fluro, nav/anchor lights, a
bilge pump, and a cd player, and occasional use of a laptop. The CD player
only draws 1amp, the bilge pump sees hardly any use and if i go with LED nav
lights i should be able to keep my power consumption down to somewhere
around 20Ah/day.

I was thinking to go with a generator to give me some flexibility to use
power tools when i need to, but now its looking more like i might go with a
30W-40W solar panel and a honda 9.9 4 stroke with an alternator in it.

Shaun



Folks, let's keep both oars in the water on this topic and pay more
attention to science than to hysterics! ;-)

Consider the following quote:

"In general, lead-acid batteries may be recharged at any rate that does
not produce excessive gassing, overcharge, or high temperatures.
Discharged batteries may be recharged at a high current initially.
However, once the battery approaches its full charge the current must be
decreased to reduce gassing and excessive overcharging."

The above is a direct quote from:

http://www.eh.doe.gov/techstds/Stand...4/hdbk1084.pdf
hdbk1084.pdf (application/pdf Object)

The bottom line is that lead acid batteries CAN be charged at higher
rates than with an automobile charger that is designed to replace the
very small amount of capacity used to start a vehicle. One cannot charge
at increasing rates without limit, of course.

At some point, the chemistry may theoretically set a limit on maximum
charging rate, but in reality, it is "gassing, overcharge, or high
temperatures" that we need to be concerned with. These factors are
well-known and incorporated into smart charger designs so that maximum
charging rates will fall on the safe side of danger to the battery.

There seems to be no disagreement that battery charging rates are at
least partially up to the user: a Radio Shack solar cell will charge at
a far slower rate than an automotive alternator/regulator. A constant
current charger will charge at a far faster rate than an automotive
alternator/regulator. Assertions to the contrary really need scientific
backup and support.

Chuck

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Sorry Matt,
I must have had Honda on the brain last night..... Cant stop riding Honda
bikes either ;-)

The motor im holding out for is a *yamaha* 9.9 high thrust. Ive heard
really good things about this outboard a long life and good running.

Is the same thing true of all high thrust outboards/props? Not knowing much
about it, im guessing a high thrust motor differentiates from a standard
motor only in prop, and the prop would be larger in diameter, but with less
pitch? If so, does that mean any high thrust motor will consume more
fuel/require higher higher RPMs to sustain a decent cruising speed?

Thanks,
Shaun

Next,
Don't hold your breath for a high thrust. You don't need it. Any good
little OB will do fine. Honda's High thrust gets you more stall thrust
and better thrust astern, but at the cost of rev at cruise. My boat is an
S2-7.9 (2.2t vs 1.7t) very much the same class as your Thunderbird. My
2000my (but not many hours) Honda 9.9 Exls will kick me to hull speed at
about two thirds power, but at WOT it picks me up maybe 0.1 knots and
burns twice the fuel. A friend with a sister boat and a newer H9.9 HT has
to crank it up to stay with me. This engine is about 50kg (108lbs)

An alternator capable of ~10 amp at rated speed will add maybe 0.5Kg.
Electric start adds 6+Kg not including cable and battery. While the
alternator is real nice to have, the only reason I have the electric start
is because my wife and daughter also sail and neither was comfortable with
the hang your body over the transon routine to get the engine going. My Ex
shaft added at least 3Kg.

Fair Wind and Smooth Sea
Matt Colie

Its a funny thing about the states, and i hear much the same from friends
who have jeeps.... Diesel versions of them are just never released. A lot
of 4WD vehicles in aus come as diesel and it sure has lots of benefits.....
not very flammable, will run upside down, better servicing intervals, longer
engine life, more torque at lower RPMs etc etc. Probably something to do
with politics i guess ;-)

Ive looked at a couple of diesel outboard, but they seemed outrageously
expensive compared to 4 stroke outboards of the same size, costing 5x as
much or more. They do seem to be reasonably priced compared to diesel
inboards, but thats apples and oranges for me.

Ive seen some weird looking chinese outboards on ebay lately, but im staying
well clear for the moment. They have a range of 4 stroke and diesel
outboards at silly cheap prices, but they're all stationary air cooled
engines sitting on a base with no plastics or covers to protect them from
the weather, with a simple leg bolted onto them. I think the price for the
diesel (cant remember the HP, but might have been 6 or 7) was around
AU$1,000 new. For comparison, that would probably get you, say, a Yamaha
3.3 2 stroke new. It might not be a bad concept, but im sure there'll be
lots of issues with life, spare parts, non stainless fasteners and
protection from weather.

Shaun


If I lived in Oz, I'd probably get:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~minards/ymde_out.html
and just change the boat it was attached to every few years.

The Americans ruined the diesel outboards, here, by pricing them so high
even the rich people refused to buy them. They don't even offer them,
now. I can understand why a dealer wouldn't want you to have one that
didn't require constant replacement and maintenance, like the crap they
sell here.

"Twin Yanmar diesel outboards powered a seacrafi for the first time
across the Pacific from San Francisco to Hawaii; a record 2250 miles of
non-stop running using only 385 gallons of fuel."

Shaun,

Honest Mistake, I've been known to get them mixed up standing next to one.

All the "High Thrust" versions I have actually been able to get real
specifications for to date have:
1 - A higher numerical reduction in the lower unit
2 - A lesser pitch propeller
3 - A larger propellor diameter (sometimes not very much)

Yes - this allows the engine to get up on the cam at zero boat speed, so
yes it necessarily runs a higher crankshaft speed at the same boat
speed. With boats like ours, you just don't need this.

We do not yet have enough history with the friends HT Honda to know if
he does burn more fuel than I do, but early results say yes, but not a
great deal. I do 6hr at 6.1~2 on 3 US gallon, he thinks he can do 5.5
hr under the same conditions, but we have not done a side by side run.

I like the Yamaha with the shift on the tiller, but I just drilled a
hole on the shift and plug the hiking stick in there when manuvering.

I sold off my '73 350-4 a couple of years ago. Insurance cost more than
the fun was worth.

Don't bother looking for diesel. The Yanmar are too big and heavy and
the little chinese are just as much junk as you think - at least the two
I have seen - and parts are not simple to get.

2 Strokes with modern ignition systems and the ashless lube oils are not
the ecological disaster or maintenance headache that they were in my
youth. If you run into a good one at a good price, you could save a lot
of money at the cost of some fuel rate, but also save 20kg of engine
weight.

Fair Wind and Smooth Sea
Matt Colie
Lifelong Waterman, Licensed Mariner and Pathological Sailor


Shaun Van Poecke wrote:
Sorry Matt,
I must have had Honda on the brain last night..... Cant stop riding Honda
bikes either ;-)

The motor im holding out for is a *yamaha* 9.9 high thrust. Ive heard
really good things about this outboard a long life and good running.

Is the same thing true of all high thrust outboards/props? Not knowing much
about it, im guessing a high thrust motor differentiates from a standard
motor only in prop, and the prop would be larger in diameter, but with less
pitch? If so, does that mean any high thrust motor will consume more
fuel/require higher higher RPMs to sustain a decent cruising speed?

Thanks,
Shaun


Next,
Don't hold your breath for a high thrust. You don't need it. Any good
little OB will do fine. Honda's High thrust gets you more stall thrust
and better thrust astern, but at the cost of rev at cruise. My boat is an
S2-7.9 (2.2t vs 1.7t) very much the same class as your Thunderbird. My
2000my (but not many hours) Honda 9.9 Exls will kick me to hull speed at
about two thirds power, but at WOT it picks me up maybe 0.1 knots and
burns twice the fuel. A friend with a sister boat and a newer H9.9 HT has
to crank it up to stay with me. This engine is about 50kg (108lbs)

An alternator capable of ~10 amp at rated speed will add maybe 0.5Kg.
Electric start adds 6+Kg not including cable and battery. While the
alternator is real nice to have, the only reason I have the electric start
is because my wife and daughter also sail and neither was comfortable with
the hang your body over the transon routine to get the engine going. My Ex
shaft added at least 3Kg.

Fair Wind and Smooth Sea
Matt Colie

"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in news:v4Tlh.16219
:

It might not be a bad concept, but im sure there'll be
lots of issues with life, spare parts, non stainless fasteners and
protection from weather.



I remember a Chinese outboard a couple years back that was diesel, too.
It had a horizontal shaft engine with a belt drive to a pulley on the
pedestal it sat on and there must have been right angle drive gears top
and bottom of the vertical shaft. Very queer looking cheap outboard.
Probably they run 20 years in the Chinese swamplands powering sampans
full of stuff...(c;

I remember the "outboards" in Asia. Horizontal shaft engine hanging
inside the boat with a long drive shaft with a prop on the end of it.
The engines were air cooled...no cooling problems. To steer it, they
tillered the whole thing to change the center of thrust on the
stern....and they would FLY down the river.

The rich call them "surface drives"....(c;



--
http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/verichip.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriChip
http://www.verichipcorp.com/
Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax.
Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads:
17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name...

I remember a Chinese outboard a couple years back that was diesel, too.
It had a horizontal shaft engine with a belt drive to a pulley on the
pedestal it sat on and there must have been right angle drive gears top
and bottom of the vertical shaft. Very queer looking cheap outboard.
Probably they run 20 years in the Chinese swamplands powering sampans
full of stuff...(c;

Sounds like the same thing they've got for sale now.... While i havent seen
one close up, from pictures they look like a horzontal shaft engine intended
for use as a pump/generator with probably a bevel gear then driving a shaft
down to another bevel gear with a cheap plastic looking prop on it. Id have
a hard time saying how long they'd last, but surely not 20 years! They
probably would last a lot longer in a flat freshwater environment than out
in the ocean though ;-)

I remember the "outboards" in Asia. Horizontal shaft engine hanging
inside the boat with a long drive shaft with a prop on the end of it.
The engines were air cooled...no cooling problems. To steer it, they
tillered the whole thing to change the center of thrust on the
stern....and they would FLY down the river.

The rich call them "surface drives"....(c;

I've seen those too! I hired a long boat up the mekong to Laos a couple of
years ago, it was a blast. These things sure are cheap, and for an insane
moment i thought of buying one, fitting it out and living there for a while.
You can get the long boats new for around US$500. The engines are usually
ripped out of cars, little 3 cylinder or sometimes 4 cylinder jobs. The
shaft is literally bolted/welded onto the flywheel with a prop bolted onto
the other end. The engine itself sits on a heavy hinge, so they helmsman
can tilt it up out of the water easily in the shallows, and have control
over depth at all times. They have some dinky other inventions there too, I
saw a setup on another boat (maybe a crab boat?) which had most of the
driveline of a car on it; engine, gearbox, driveshaft, rear axle (im
guessing the spider gears on the diff were welded) and a rim on each axle.
These were used to pull lines in.

Life can be too much fun, i need another adventure!
Shaun

I tossed up for a long time over the Yamaha 2.5 4 stroke and the honda 2.
The Yamaha seems a clear winner in pretty much all areas; quieter, smoother,
more power, less fuel consumption, it was even a bit lighter i think. The
Honda is just so simple though, and air cooled. It doesnt use an oil filter
which actually frightens me, but makes servicing easy. Impellors and
general cooling blockages seem to cause problems for most small outboards,
especially for lazy liveaboard owners. Everyone i spoke to who has the
honda said the same thing; noisy as all hell, very unrefined, but lasts
forever and always starts. Sounds like just the thing for what i need ;-)

For the yacht, a 10 seems about me and the Yamaha 9.9 4 stroke looks good.
I tossed up over 2/4 stroke for a while, and nowadays there's not much in
it. The modern 2 strokes are just as quiet and smooth as their 4 stroke
cousins, in some cases even more so. They aren't really smokey either,
except at startup. I've had a few guys cruise past me with modern two
strokes up to 50hp trolling, and i wouldn't have even known they were on.
They are lighter, but to me that's not a huge deal. Initial buy-in cost is
also probably small beer in the bigger picture. What it all came down to in
the end for me was two things; oil, and fuel. having to buy/carry/fill up
or be concerned with 2 stroke oil just seems like a pain. I'm not really
that disciplined so i have visions of myself caught out with a lee shore and
being out of oil. On top of that, vie owned two strokes, bikes and
outboards, and i always spill the oil, like, every single time i put it in.
The cost of the oil, even at 50:1, even at 100:1 is still a sting on top of
the $1.40 /litre that we're paying for fuel in most parts of aus, and that's
*not* for premium. I bought my small outboard as a 4 stroke for that
reason, and i'm thinking to get the bigger outboard as a 4 to keep things
consistent, stop me from having two sets of fuel tanks and going mad too. I
know if i had fuel with oil and fuel without i'd eventually either get them
confused, or i'd run out of fuel without oil and be kicking myself.

Fuel is the other one. While a lot of 2 strokes are fuel efficient, the 4
strokes seem to be better. While i havent done the math, and i don't even
really have any data on it, my feeling is that the cost in fuel and oil is
going to be many times over the cost of initially buying the outboard. even
small savings in fuel can add up to a lot.

I guess if i had to rank my priorities in order for a 10 horse it would be
(in this order)

Should last as long as possible
must be extremely reliable in terms of starting every time. when i want
that outboard to start, i need it!
good on fuel consumption
should be quiet(ish) and not vibrate to the point of shaking teeth out
parts should be easy to get

If i can get most of what i want, i don't mind paying more ;-) I have to
admit, off the record that i have very sexy dreams on an outboard that is so
quiet, and has such great thrust that i can actually maneuver around docks
and the like without people even knowing that i have an outboard running,
but will still cruise along happily at 5 or 6 knots without giving me a
headache or requiring tonnes of fuel. It would give me incredible control
of my vessel to the point where i could hold it easily on the spot in front
of a swing mooring in any and all wind/wave conditions, but it would also
have an espresso attachment for wonderful morning coffees.

Shaun



Honest Mistake, I've been known to get them mixed up standing next to one.

All the "High Thrust" versions I have actually been able to get real
specifications for to date have:
1 - A higher numerical reduction in the lower unit
2 - A lesser pitch propeller
3 - A larger propellor diameter (sometimes not very much)

Yes - this allows the engine to get up on the cam at zero boat speed, so
yes it necessarily runs a higher crankshaft speed at the same boat speed.
With boats like ours, you just don't need this.

We do not yet have enough history with the friends HT Honda to know if he
does burn more fuel than I do, but early results say yes, but not a great
deal. I do 6hr at 6.1~2 on 3 US gallon, he thinks he can do 5.5 hr under
the same conditions, but we have not done a side by side run.

I like the Yamaha with the shift on the tiller, but I just drilled a hole
on the shift and plug the hiking stick in there when manuvering.

I sold off my '73 350-4 a couple of years ago. Insurance cost more than
the fun was worth.

Don't bother looking for diesel. The Yanmar are too big and heavy and the
little chinese are just as much junk as you think - at least the two I
have seen - and parts are not simple to get.

2 Strokes with modern ignition systems and the ashless lube oils are not
the ecological disaster or maintenance headache that they were in my
youth. If you run into a good one at a good price, you could save a lot
of money at the cost of some fuel rate, but also save 20kg of engine
weight.

Fair Wind and Smooth Sea
Matt Colie
Lifelong Waterman, Licensed Mariner and Pathological Sailor


Shaun Van Poecke wrote:
Sorry Matt,
I must have had Honda on the brain last night..... Cant stop riding
Honda bikes either ;-)

The motor im holding out for is a *yamaha* 9.9 high thrust. Ive heard
really good things about this outboard a long life and good running.

Is the same thing true of all high thrust outboards/props? Not knowing
much about it, im guessing a high thrust motor differentiates from a
standard motor only in prop, and the prop would be larger in diameter,
but with less pitch? If so, does that mean any high thrust motor will
consume more fuel/require higher higher RPMs to sustain a decent cruising
speed?

Thanks,
Shaun

Surface drives.

Duck hunters and others down here in Alabama use them. A popular brand name
is Mud Bug. Shallow draft is the objective and they work well. Kinda noisy
but you'd expect that from an air cooled motor.

Butch
"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in news:v4Tlh.16219
:

It might not be a bad concept, but im sure there'll be
lots of issues with life, spare parts, non stainless fasteners and
protection from weather.



I remember a Chinese outboard a couple years back that was diesel, too.
It had a horizontal shaft engine with a belt drive to a pulley on the
pedestal it sat on and there must have been right angle drive gears top
and bottom of the vertical shaft. Very queer looking cheap outboard.
Probably they run 20 years in the Chinese swamplands powering sampans
full of stuff...(c;

I remember the "outboards" in Asia. Horizontal shaft engine hanging
inside the boat with a long drive shaft with a prop on the end of it.
The engines were air cooled...no cooling problems. To steer it, they
tillered the whole thing to change the center of thrust on the
stern....and they would FLY down the river.

The rich call them "surface drives"....(c;



--
http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/verichip.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriChip
http://www.verichipcorp.com/
Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax.
Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads:
17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name...

"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in
:

They have some dinky other inventions there too, I
saw a setup on another boat (maybe a crab boat?) which had most of the
driveline of a car on it; engine, gearbox, driveshaft, rear axle (im
guessing the spider gears on the diff were welded) and a rim on each
axle. These were used to pull lines in.



When I was a kid, long ago I'm sorry to say, a neighbor of my grandfather
built a pontoon barge about 16' wide and 32' long. He tried an outboard
motor of-the-day, but it was too small to power it, especially into the
wind or current. In his yard sat a rusted out old late 40's Chevy pickup
truck with a good engine/transmission/rear end. He mounted the whole
drivetrain into the center of the deck of the big pontoon barge and added
two more pontoons for more bouyancy. (Made from 55 gallon oil drums for
free) The rear axle was bolted to the deck with motor mounts for
vibration control under it. Extending shafts were welded to both sides
to bring the power for the home made paddle wheels out over the edges and
paddle wheels inside splash pans were made, a total guess but pretty
correct in size. Twin rudders were added to the stern to provide
steering, but later brake bands over drums that were welded onto the
drive shafts were added, which provided really neat power control to the
paddle wheels. You could apply the port brake, lowering the port paddle
power while the differential added power to the stbd paddle. Lock a
brake and she'd turn around nearly in her own length!

We kids spent many a great weekend camping out on that barge powered by
Chevrolet. As upstate NY hardly ever gets "warm" for more than a week in
summer, the radiator heat was redirected into the little cabin to keep us
warm from the waste heat.

Fishing from it was a disaster underway. The slapping of the paddle
wheels entering the water scared away the fish for miles!....(c;



--
http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/verichip.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriChip
http://www.verichipcorp.com/
Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax.
Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads:
17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name...