Fulton's Folly

Owner: Thomas Hillenbrand

Area: Germany

History

The boiler, engine and paddlewheels were build by Tony Hubner, Victoria Island in British Columbia. I bought the whole steamplant in 2009, it was sended by ship to Germany. In the following years a suitable casco was searched - i found a good canadian styled hull in northern Germany in August 2014. Dimensions of Steam plant and casco were well matched, this hull was a foundation, to build an paddle steamboat. After Hull was completely overhauled, the steam plant was installed. Of course some alterings of hull and engine were necessary. The boiler was converted from wood to gas firing, this was more efficient and also got a better regulation. The boat´s name is "Fulton´s Folly" after Robert Fulton, the inventor of steamboating. First run was in August 8th. in 2016 on river Naab, a tributary of the Danube in Bavaria. Since this time many nice rides were made. Steamplant is suitable and not difficult to regulate. Speed reaches 10 km/h with a pressure of 8 bar.

Here you can see the very shallow draft of only 4 inches