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[RobinPy]

Pretty near finished building an Aero-naut Jonny Tug and I want it to tow something. It's powered by 2 race 750 navy brushed motors and seems to reach hull speed on what appears to be around one third throttle. The tug displaces 14kg and is 990 x 308mm on 60mm propellers.
What can I tow? No idea how to size something to to tow or what form it should take.
Any advice or guidance appreciated.

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

A simple deck barge can be a versatile tow. Just add accessories. 

[RobinPy]

Thanks there are some ideas there in your pictures, I guess I would start with a simple barge easy and quick to build.  How do you judge size and weight for a suitable barge. This is my first Tug and really have no idea how much it might pull. Are there any simple rules to follow?

[dodgy geezer]

There are free plans for a Thames Lighter here - intended for just such a situation as this!


http://eezebilt.tk/lightplan.html


For an Aero-naut Jonny Tug I would suggest making them at twice the plan size - around 32"-36" long, and probably out of plywood - at least the sides, bottom and deck.  They are cheap and simple, so you could make up half a dozen and have a multiple unit tow.

Made, they are empty. You can experiment with weights by filling them partially with water and seeing how they behave. I suspect that each one could carry a brick or two if you wanted...


http://eezebilt.tk/IMG_5066.jpg

[Treble]

Suggest you look at Work Boats section of Mobile Marine Models web page where you will find a number of 1/32 options suitable for towing .

[RobinPy]

Thanks for the plans. Guess it's build a Thames Lighter and load it up to to find out empirically what the tug can tow. Think it might need more than a load of  couple of bricks. May need a couple of Lighters full of bricks
Like the EeezeBilt Web site home page message too. Thanks.

[Martin (Admin)]

To be honest, you can just tow bits of wood for practice!

[RobinPy]

If the Tug is 14kg displacement and uses about 3rd power to move at hull speed (i.e. wave at bow and stern) could it tow 28kg with the other 2/3rds power?
That could be a lot of wood. I'm curious to understand what would fully load the Tug.
Another issue might be would would a full load damage the tow winch. 
[size=78%]I suspect the pulling power is more than the scale winch could stand.[/size]

[meechingman]

Here's one of mine towing a fairly hefty barge. Black fish tank 'granules' painted matt black did nicely for coal.


It did zigzag a bit! In fact it was easier doing this with a 1:1 scale real tug and barge! 

[RobinPy]

Okay thanks for the advice
I'll build a 1/32 scale barge then to start with. The Thames lighter barge at 1/32 scale would be about 730mm x 170mm. Plenty of space for quite a bit of weight. I think I can scale up the plans in the link provided by dodgy geezer to get a 1:1 scale relationship between Tug and Barge.
That seems like a really good start.
Thanks all.

[Martin (Admin)]

... and instead of using dead weight, use plastic milk containers, fill them with water at the lake.
     Make a false top of coal, logs, sand, any cargo you like!

[rhavrane]

Bonjour Robin,

Tow yourself     https://youtu.be/Uk6KOFAzD18

[dodgy geezer]

....
I'll build a 1/32 scale barge then to start with. The Thames lighter barge at 1/32 scale would be about 730mm x 170mm....

The real Thames Lighters seem to come in a variety of lengths. The plan shows one which can be built in balsa sheet, of the same scale as the EeZeBilt Beaver tug (1:72) and which can be built out of one sheet of 1/8 balsa sheet. If you double up the size and use ply you are no longer held to that economic limit, and I found that increasing the length a bit gave a rather more pleasing shape...

[RobinPy]

Thanks for the information.
What I did was ask AI the size of Thames Lighters and the answer was just over 23m so I scaled that to 173mm or about 28". Also I'll make it 50% wider.
I guess you would advise a bit bigger than scale length. it's easy as you say to make it longer. I'll do that and probably add some internal structure for strength. I have plenty of 3mm ply so will build with that.

[dodgy geezer]

Picture here of a model with dimensions. https://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=59696.0


The full size ones vary quite a bit, so I don't think you need to be precise!  Remember to add some advertising, flaking paint, rust and graffiti...