[RAMJET]

The center of buoyancy looks very far forward on that hull ,I would think the engine would have to be quite far forward to keep the balance centered over that point . I believe they may have done that to make the boat have that well known tug boat pivot . the flat area of the hull that extends out the back would help stabilize the boat from rocking for and aft with this neutral balance but would still allow a tight pivot .Amazing work , that rudder is massive LOL. cheers .. .

That boat needs the TOYAN FS -200 ,2 cylinder liquid cooled four cycle engine , I think they can be had for $369.00 . I have 2 of the single cylinder engine and they are amazing ..

[BobH]

Hey Roger, thanks for that insight. I remember my Dad talking about the tug pivoting about the bollard and what you say makes sense. He also talked about the stern and why it looked like that. He told me it kept it from sinking when it started to dig in.

This makes me feel better about placing the engine forward because I just wasn't sure. A lot of things pointed to that but its nice to hear from someone else too.

I included a few more pictures, The stern actually sits quite far out of the water showing much of the flat area when she's not working or under way this picture also shows the heat exchanger outlet I mention earlier, I have a few more pictures showing the steam on what would be much cooler mornings.

The picture of the very old tug is from the earlier 40's with my Granddad and his friend Jack McConnell sitting on it. If and only if I decide to do this again I think I would try to research this one. The gas engine you sent me the link for may be a nice fit for it... The picture beside the old tug is my late grandfather on the XIX.

I will send you a picture when I get the rudder servos installed, and set the boat up at the end of the work table and have a game of ping pong with myself. LoL

Cheers Buddy,

[RAMJET]

Exactly right, it also would have needed the buoyancy of the rear portion to hold the back up when pulling while still effectively reducing the length of the hull for pivoting . Wonderful pictures of your family history .. cheers ..

[BobH]

Got up early this morning and brought a picture of XIX as a layer into a AutoCad drawing so I can start getting some arrangement dimensions. The original boat is 42.4' and at 1:10 equals 50.88" as far as my aged math says.

My hull ended up being 51.125" from top of stem to stern, I will say I did that on purpose to take into account for the rake on the stem... I scaled this AutoCad picture to represent the models overall length measurement so any other measurements I require will be available. I will need to do the same with another picture when I need height measurements of the arrangements otherwise they will come up short because of perspective.

Its not an exact science but pretty darn close and when you're trying to build a boat from pictures because everything else has been lost to history, well it just has to do..

Cut the shaft to length and put 2 bearing supports in, only because when I did the prop size calculation for the original engine/rpm I imputed 2 bearings at the time. And it looks cool too... I drilled and tapped a bunch of 440 bolts into them as I am sure something will be mounted down the line. Some days I wish I had a plan to follow.

My son welded a nose to the transmission and I got the electric gear motor mounted to it. Also spent some time cleaning up the rudder and started to add detail to the 12V71 Detroit.

We welded up the engine beds and I will hopefully get them scribed into the hull and epoxy/glassed in place tomorrow. These are the pieces sitting on top of the tug picture, the plate below 90 degree angle on them is 1/8 thick. These will sit vertical below the 90 degree angles on the engine and will be bolted together, that's the plan anyway.

Its a lot of engine for a little boat and it is to scale.

Cheers,

[BobH]

Late start today but a little more progress, scribed and epoxied the engine beds in place and built the rudder quadrant (steel I can weld ).

Also started the installation of the rudder servo tray. I'm not exactly sure how this is going to be arranged yet so I just put a crap ton of tapped holes in the bracket for now... The linkage will be attached above the servo tray arm and below the quadrant arm this much I know at this point.

Cheers

[RAMJET]

very coo Bob .. that engine looks amazing ..

[BobH]

Thanks Roger,

I installed a steel keel today. It turned out to be an all day project, had know idea... it took the longest time to shape the bar so it would lay tight against the fiberglass keel on its own.

I used 1/8 x 1/2" bar stock for it and welded up a few layers for the rudder support to 3/8" at the tail end. I made a blind hole for the bottom rudder shaft but cut two slots in were the metal is laminated so water could drain. Hard to see in pictures.

I used JB weld to attached the steel keel to the boat. I applied the JB weld to both surfaces before joining together. They are not kidding when they say 6 minutes working time, I maybe had a minute to spare. I opened the door to the basement to let the cold air in to give me as much working time as possible.

I made a mini right angle block plane out of aluminium plate stock, basically cut a 1/8 x 1/8 notch out of it and sharpened it in a way that it would scraped the uncured JB weld from the side of the steel keel. I wanted a sharp character line at this joint. I had to re sharpen it a few times throughout the process.

I designed the keel so the the prop shaft could be removed as they would have way back then and I think it looks reasonably accurate to my pictures of the original...

Cheers,

[BobH]

Built the battery trays and dual servo tray support today.

The keel will be up about 3" at the bow from level in still water if that makes sense. This should put the batteries bout level. They are 9lbs 7ozs each plus I have 20lbs lead shot. I will mix this up lead shot into a thick paste with epoxy and place as needed, at this point I do not think it will be enough ballast. It is so expensive to get lead shot now unless you can pick up in person....

I am going to make a 7.5" deep test pool on top of the work bench to get the waterline correct.

If all goes well tomorrow I will get the sheer line bumpers and deck support in place. I will be using 1/16 aluminium sheet for the deck and superstructure, and 1/2" x 1/8" aluminium for the bumpers (this will be laminated in two layers to make 1/4") about a 5" x 2-1/2" bumper in real world scale.

I hope my documentation of this different way to build a scratch built boat is benefiting someone as it is taking considerable effort to do so.

cheers,

[RAMJET]

I'm taking notes Bob . some pretty good ideas you have there . cheers

[Champdriver]

Hello Robert and Bob I’ve been following your posts here and have had a few chuckles along the way. First off I grew up in North Vancouver and used to hang out down near the cates shipyard and would watch the tugs come and go in the 70’s and pretty sure I’ve seen xix running about. The part that makes me chuckle is the connection to Atikokan as I used to fly float planes out of Lac La Croix very close to Atokokan and have been there many times. I am currently building a billing’s bankert tug the first model I have built in 30 years. I’m quit enjoying the challenges and problem solving you two are doing/ providing here. Just had to share cheers and have a great day.😊