Lighter DXF file now on the web page.

Note:

1 - I run vintage everything here. Consequently the DXF file was generated by software from the 1980s, and may have compatibility issues with modern code. If you have problems, tell me, and I'll find a way to update it...

http://eezebilt.tk/lightplan.html

2 - The plan was designed for 16"-20" barges to go with the EeZeBilt Beaver. If you go much bigger you will need thicker material or some extra support in the centre to stop a long run of thin material bending. But I guess that you know that anyway...

3 - Modern lighters - as the Spittalfields reference on the web site illustrates - typically carry freight (usually garbage) in boxes like shipping containers. Perhaps I should make up a plan for those too - but they are a fairly simple shape anyway...

Hi Doug,

Good idea to build a couple of lighters for your tug to tow, that would seem about the right size. As far as cargo/ballast is concerned, I think you could make modules simulating different cargoes to fit into the hold. The hatches were rarely covered up. Timber for instance would be stowed in the hold and then quite a high stack above the deck, but even with bulk cargoes there was usually a bit peering over the top. They were, as sailing barges, loaded down to 3" freeboard when in the river. Even if they were being towed round to the Medway from the Thames, they would still have the same 3" freeboard. There are many tales to be told of illegal activities involving lighters, -----perhaps one day!

Nerys

What an interesting article about lighters and lightermen in Spitalfields Life. Thank you DodgyGeezer. Really told how it is and to a great extent was on the London River.
One thing it didn't mention was the way lighters were the bane of a sailing barge's life in the docks. Long strings of them would be towed in and then seemingly left without mooring in roughly the place they were wanted. They would then drift around colliding with vulnerable wooden sailing barges, often causing damage. I remember Centaur having a couple of planks in her side stove in by drifting lighters.

Thanks Dodgy👍 Look forward to that.
Might try balsa and harden it with EzeKote anyway.
Like Martin haven't worked with balsa for years, apart from the new stern for my fish cutter.
And a similar technique worked for my destroyer all those years ago😊
Re water ballast - I'll think about that!
Was pondering using the load modules as ballast.
Cheers, Doug 😎
PS I don't mind doing the cutting out myself, the table fret saw will help there.
Besides, I don't know of any equivalent of Maker Space around her.

At 30" you probably want to make them out of 1/8" ply. If you just expand the plans you'll need to redraw a few slots and clearances - but that would be easy.

They have to have a load for ballast - I found that water did a reasonable job and if it sloshed around a bit that made things even more fun to control...

I'll just stick a dxf download on the website for anyone who wants one...

Hi Dodgy,
A dxf Auto-Cad file would be excellent👍
I can import that into my Corel Designer Tech Suite and scale to suit.
Cheers, Doug 😎

Thanks Nerys👍
My tug is about 1/36, so a 90footer would give a model lighter about 30" (76cm).
So would look pretty good behind a 56cm tug😉
Now to start fantasising about the load module possibilities😁
Cheers, Doug😎

This is how they work nowadays - http://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/09/28/among-the-lightermen/

Hi Doug,
A Thames lighter varied in size , there were some quite small, only about 70ft but the majority were about 90ft long with about 24 ft beam. The proportions of the Eezebilt plan looks about right to me.
Nerys

"That is a good model of a Thames lighter and I imagine the boat that started this post was very much like it before the wheelhouse was put on.
Is it available as a kit, or just the plan?"

It's a standard EeZeBilt 50+ model. That means it's been designed to be cut out of balsa sheet and assembled in the simple EeZeBilt fashion, and the plan has been put out for free download. It's capable of being made at any size or any material, but making it at 16" just nicely uses a single 1m sheet of 1/8"balsa. The idea was to produce simple, quick, cheap model barges so that the tug boys had no excuse not to be pulling a whole string of them.

If you want it as a kit, I can send you a .dxf file and you can get someone with a CNC machine to do the cutting for you. Do you have a MakerSpace anywhere near you?

Hi Nerys,
"A motor barge towing one lighter would very often have her tied alongside. "
What dimensions were these lighters?
Might be fun to knock up 😮 a couple for my Southampton / Wyeforce tug.
And then a few different cargo modules as the mood takes😁
Cheers, Doug 😎
PS I'm sure Red can make a batch of kits from DG's plan👍

"You always come up trumps on here.👍 "
We always get it in the end Bryan! Ouch!😮🤔
Well done Nerys☀️
😎

A motor barge towing one lighter would very often have her tied alongside. Two lighters would be towed as a pair astern.

It should be on the water on sunday at Chichester canal. Thanks for the suggestion of towing a non motorized one, it will go on the to do list. it is a surprisingly fast boat despite the hydro dynamics of a brick!!!

Very pleased we have all been able to help. Let's see your boat on the water before long. You could always build a lighter from the Eezebilt plan for your motorised version to tow. That was quite a normal thing to see when there was a lot of barge traffic on the Thames.

Ok so Now I know it is a Motorized Thames lighter I assume it should be now called a Thames heavier.


Many thanks for the ideas and photos. You always come up trumps on here.👍

That is a good model of a Thames lighter and I imagine the boat that started this post was very much like it before the wheelhouse was put on.
Is it available as a kit, or just the plan?

Perhaps someone would like to motorise this:

http://eezebilt.tk/lightplan.html

These are some pictures I took at one of the annual Thames Lighter Driving Races, the date would have been about 1982. Hope you can see the similarity of bow shape with your model, allowing for a bit of modeller's licence.

Nerys

I have some photos of Thames Lighters engaged in their annual driving race. They were all painted up very fancifully, sponsored and the race was from Greenwich to Westminster Bridge, using the tide and oars only. On the way they had to drop in alongside three separate moored lighters and pick up a token. Huge day out for the lightermen and others who worked on the river. This was in the seventies and eighties and I do not know if it still takes place. I had the pleasure of following it a couple of times on a tug owned by Greenhithe Lighterage. I know I have the photos somewhere but will endeavour to find them and post them.

Has anyone got any photos of them in use?

A couple of these Thames lighters have been converted into sailing barges, so I think a motor conversion is quite likely.

the previous owner did say somthing about the thames so that sounds right

The bow is wrong for most conventional boats, That Swim Head is typical of a Thames Lighter, even to the bollard on the foredeck.

Here are a couple more photos.

Could it be a Clyde coaster?

Martin555.

It looks a bit like the cargo barges from the 1960s on the rhine.
Cheers Colin.

The nearest suggestion that I could make would be a swim headed lighter that's been converted into a motor barge. I've never heard of it being done but I don't suppose it would be impossible.