The Ship Model Forum

Yes, interesting footage on the KNRM, Pascal! Thanks for posting that.

The wooden 'Eierland' class which is the topic of this thread is also shown, with its tracked beaching cart, its Danish heritage is told in the voice-over.

An interesting film on the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtKLarCYR6o

[youtube]QtKLarCYR6o[/youtube]

:smallsmile: Thanks, Wefalck, Jim and Pascal! It's now really down to the details.

Btw: together with Wefalck I already anticipate building a German 'tin' standard rowing boat, much in the same way.
These were really from galvanised steel plate, pressed into a pattern that made them look (superficially) like clinker built boats. Using the 'Francis' patent of 1830. These formed the backbone of the German rescue service DGzRS for over seventy years until 1942, and in the DDR even to around 1956!

It's going to be a great model :thumbs_up_1:

That is a good looking model already--

nice work ! :thumbs_up_1:

JIM B :wave_1:

It's coming on nicely !

Time for an update!

I added the frames into the boat sides, and the top bar above.

Next was the engine compartment, this was added to the existing boats from 1953 onwards, the new built ones got it right away of course. The Kurt Carlsen was the first that received it. I will add details to the rear face, and it will serve as basis for the radar mast in PE too.

Of course it will remain as a separate part, to be added by the builder.[attachment=0]1200px IMG_0030.jpg[/attachment]

[quote]Would be really nice if we could find the dimensions and some plans of this one![/quote]
Maxim sent me an article from the German model ship building magazine 'Das Logbuch' -- which included the plans of this MRB![attachment=0]MRB 1.jpg[/attachment]
Length of the boat was 11m, width 3.15m. I guess these were too heavy to be used as transportable beach rescue boats, the Germans stuck to the stamped metal rowing boats discussed above until 1942 - so well into WW2 it seems. The MRBs were launched on rails from their sheds, just like the larger Danish MRBs. This was also the case with the first Dutch MRB 'Eierland', until roller tracks became in use as a good alternative by 1930. From then on all Dutch beach rescue boats got this feature, until the present day.

The design of these very seaworthy double ended small boats is quite universal. I have some minor experience as a Cox'n of the 26' Motor Whaleboat, but of course not in the conditions these rescue craft were employed.

I think there are some images in the R4 Tractor manual that might be useful, of the lower frame and track units removed, as these parts are not so easily observed in place. For the D7 I did for the APA and LSM projects, I had found a lavishly illustrated construction of a WWII version of the tractor on one of the Tank/Armor sites. In the large scale he was using, every small part was visible.

Regards: Tom

@ Wefalck

You noted earlier that the German DGzRS also had similar motor rescue boats. I just found this little note:
[attachment=2]1200px MRB Oberinspector Pfeifer 1911.jpg[/attachment]
I guess this is the particular type which come closest to the Dutch/Danish wooden boats that are the main topic here, am I right?
Some more pictures of 'Oberinspector Pfeifer' -please not the uncommon spelling in German, 'Inspector' with -c- (instead of -k-) and 'Pfeifer' with only one -f- in the middle.[attachment=1]15 das erste Motorrettungsboot Oberinspector Pfeifer.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]16 anfangs mit Petroleum, später mit Dieselmotor.jpg[/attachment]
Would be really nice if we could find the dimensions and some plans of this one!

Phil:

I got good belly laugh out of that one!

Tom

Tom,

Your comment about "which coast" reminded me of a story about a Coast Guard ship off South Vietnam in the late '60s. The ship had been deployed to WESTPAC for years with no plans to return to the States. The crew went over the side to repaint the somewhat rusty ship (rust really shows on white hulls). The sailor who was repainting the Coast Guard emblem on the bow changed the motto "Semper Paratus" (always ready) to "Simply Forgot Us."

Phil

Here in Alaska on the shallow rivers, the ultimate tunneled prop boats, the so called "jet Boats" can in some cases run in very little water indeed. The surf men are very skilled at what they do, often combining that with great local knowledge. During WWII the Coast Guard was often involved in manning and training of landing craft crews. My Dad used to joke that when guys signed up for the Coast Guard they didn't tell them who's coast they were going to guard.

I flew with a lot of Coasties and they were generally pretty good pilots as unlike the AF they had real, and challenging missions on a frequent basis. Where the sea, sky and shore meet is a challenging environment. The old advice about early aviation was to "avoid the edges of the sky", this also applies to the sea.

Tom

[quote="Fliger747"]The cross section drawing along the centerline is interesting in the protection of the propeller. It is certainly possible that WWII landing craft somewhat copied this system. The LSM has a similar hump in the underwater profile to protect the propellers in this shallow draft vessel, with skegs on both sides.

Such surf boats must have been a wild ride!

Regards: Tom[/quote]
Hi Tom,

Yes, you might be right, the idea of propellers in tunnels is definitely used in case of many boats operating in shallow waters, for the risk of hitting the bottom and damaging the screw/rudder/brackets.

For rescue boats there is an additional reason, the danger of people in the water being hit/wounded by the propeller.

Such tunnels were not new in the 1920s. They have been used on shallow-draft craft since at least the 1860s. I have drawings for French river and coastal gun-boats from that period that show such feature. They were also used on river tugs and act almost like water-jet propulsion, sucking in water from below and expelling it horizontally.

The cross section drawing along the centerline is interesting in the protection of the propeller. It is certainly possible that WWII landing craft somewhat copied this system. The LSM has a similar hump in the underwater profile to protect the propellers in this shallow draft vessel, with skegs on both sides.

Such surf boats must have been a wild ride!

Regards: Tom

No, actually not, I don't have drawings for these boats. I should write to the DGzRS in order to see, whether they have anything in their archives. I didn't do this (yet), because I did not have a concrete plan to build a model. One could also write to the museum in Bremerhaven in order to see, whether they took off the lines of these boats - their move to a different location following the restructuring of the museum would have been an opportunity to do it.

I have seen a couple of the other boats in their sheds at their (last) original location. However, they were difficult to photograph due to the narrow shed and the pictures were taken in my pre-digital age. At some stage I will have to scan them.

@ Iceman 29: thank you Pascal, for this beautiful story about 'Papa Poydenot' from the Breton coast at Penmarc'h! Like the story realated by Jim Baumann earlier in this thread this is a good hommage to the brave people risking everything to save seamen and passengers in distress!

@ Wefalck, thank you Eberhard for those details on the 'Spiekeroog' boat in the Bremerhaven museum. I had been wondering what boat it actually was: one would guess at first sight it's a wooden boat.

I had read the Dutch rescue service had acquired one such boat from Havighorst (Bremen) in 1896 for the 's-Gravenzande station, just south of The Hague, and used until 1910. Apparently it got no sequel. I read this about the type:[attachment=0]Einheitsboot.jpg[/attachment]
Here it describes the German design was in fact a combination of the wooden Beeching-Peake plus the corrugated metal of the Francis boat, and then called the 'Einheitsboot'. However, you have studied the topic in detail so I will try to get hold of your article in 'Das Logbuch'. It seems there are seven other survivors of the type, not a bad score! These are: 'August Grassow', 'Unser Eiland', 'Otto Hass', 'Fürst Bismarck II', 'Magdeburg II', 'Generalpostmeister' and 'Geheimrat Heinrich Gerlach'. [url]https://bos-fahrzeuge.info/einsatzfahrzeuge/161314/Ruderrettungsboot_August_Grassow_aD/photo/497353[/url]

Do you happen to have dimensional data and maybe even plans of this type?

Prompted by this discussion, I have dug out the pictures I took in 2011 in the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven of the rowing and the sailing life-boat and created a dedicated page for them on my Web-site: [url]https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/dsm/DSM-DGzRS.html[/url].

Another remarkable preservation of a lifeboat in France at Penmarc'h, Bretagne:

[img]https://survoldefrance.fr/photos/highdef/24/24037.jpg[/img]

THE OLD LIFEBOAT PAPA POYDENOT
The Papa Poydenot is a teak lifeboat, with sail and oars. Unsinkable, it is self-righting and self-draining. It belongs to the Papa Poydenot association, whose main goal is to preserve the memory of the crews of sailing and rowing lifeboats. Since 1992, it is classified as a historical monument. The history of sea rescue, its organization in Penmarc'h, the action of the brave Penmarc'hais rescuers and the evolution of lifeboats are also to be discovered.

The Papa Poydenot is located in its shelter at the tip of Penmarc'h in St Pierre, behind the lighthouse of Eckmühl.

3 RESCUE STATIONS AND A FAMILY HISTORY
Three lifeboat stations were created in Penmarc'h: the first in Kérity in 1868, the second in St Guénolé in 1889 and the third in St Pierre in 1901. The Papa Poydenot was the first lifeboat of the St Pierre station. Madame Caroline Poydenot financed the construction of the boat in homage to her husband Jean Bernard Paul Poydenot who died in 1890. He himself financed in 1888, a lifeboat for the station of St Guénolé named Maman Poydenot.

This lifeboat is with sails and oars. It is unsinkable, self-righting and spontaneously self-emptying. Built in 1900, it was presented at the Universal Exhibition in Paris. It was given to the Saint-Pierre station in 1901 when it was created by the SCSN (Société Centrale de Sauvetage des Naufragés).

CREATION OF THE ASSOCIATION PAPA POYDENOT
In 1990, the Papa Poydenot association, whose main goal is to "preserve the memory of the crews of the sailing oar lifeboats", found a boat of the same type in Port Haliguen (Quiberon peninsula). This boat was used by the Glénan nautical center. The association bought the boat and renamed it Papa Poydenot. The renovation began at the Pichavant shipyard in Pont l'Abbé. A cart to transport it was built at the shipyard of St Guénolé.

The boat was launched in the port of St Pierre on May 30, 1992, and participated in July of the same year, in the gathering of old riggings in Brest. It was classified as a historical monument on November 6, 1992.

https://www.penmarch.fr/evenement/lancien-canot-de-sauvetage-papa-poydenot-2020-09-01/

Clic to enlarge:

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[img]http://jose.chapalain.free.fr/Papa_Poydenot_7-reduc.jpg[/img]

[img]http://jose.chapalain.free.fr/papa_poydenot_a7-reduc.jpg[/img]

[img]http://jose.chapalain.free.fr/papa_poydenot_a5-reduc.jpg[/img]

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