Mess Deck: General Section > Tugs and Towing

Cullamix tug

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battleshipman:
I recently built a Cullamix tug and I wondered if there were many others.  I'm on the west coast of Canada (Victoria) and I've never seen one in this part of the world.  I'll try to attach some photos.
I want to build a couple of lighters or barges to tow with Cullamix, and I'm looking for any photos of similar lighters.
My Cullamix is about 40", with a geared 800 series motor driving a 4" prop.  It has serious pulling power!

JimG:
I built one in the early 80's, powered it with a Stewart Turner 10V steam engine and a Scotch boiler. The engine was a machined kit from Stewart Turner but the boiler was self built based on a design by K.N. Harris in his Book Model Boilers and Boilermaking. It initially used a gearbox to give reverse but this was changed to a variable pitch propeller as the gears proved noisy. The hull was planked with ply strips and while it had a good finish at the start it it soon showed the wood grain under the paint with use so the hull was first glassed than Cataloy filer was used to produce dummy plating, this has held up well over the years. As with yours there was plenty of pulling power, it was used on a number of occasions to tow a full size rowing boat with one passenger on board.
I cant find any photos of the completed boat but here are a some of it in it's pre finished state.
Jim

dodes:
You should be able to download plenty of photos of the type of barges she pulled, they would have been standard swim head/budget stern Thames lighters of about 250ton lift. Usually about 6 at most towed astern in pairs, also as it was river work the barges were loaded to about 3 inch's freeboard .

battleshipman:
Thanks.  Haven't found anything specific for the Blue Circle Cement Co., but I think I'm going to build a couple of very simple/generic lighters that will take a lot of abuse in transport.  I always find that the fancy & delicate models take up all the room in the vehicle, so these lighters will have to be "robust".
I plan to build two lighters at 1/2" = 1 foot (same scale as my Cullamix) so they will be about 52" x 14".  Hopefully I can post some pictures but I'm not having much luck so far.

derekwarner:
Without complication of the the question, the Thames Barge WEB site a few days posted an image of a Thames Sailing Barge noting that it was built for or purchased by the Blue Circle Cement Co


The reason my eyes picked up is we in Australia, have the same Blue Circle Cement Co just 50 miles from me......


There is little point in me finding the posting as the Barge in question was probably circa ~~1900


Derek

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