I had the 88hp. version in my 50' fifer "the Girl Jean". Massive and turn the flywheel with a bar to bring it up to compression and then crank the handle on the flywheel. Wonderful!!! I remember watching the engine throbbing away when on a _ _ d as we motored down to the Isle of Wight. Unforgettable magic in '73!!
Indirect injection needs petrol to warm up cylinders before changing to diesel. Built at Dobbies Loan Glasgow, 3 and 4 cylinder 66 and 88hp very common on Scottish fishing boats before and after war, almost all hand started. Also a 6 cylinder 132hp engine took some effort to start. 160rpm idle, 750 full speed but tremendous torque. Brings back Sunday night engine room memories trying to get started to go to sea.
Oh I almost get tears in my eyes. What a beauty! An entire day with that music would be amazing. Only one thing I can think of; it takes up a lot of room in a narrowboat.
Wow! Love the vintage engines. It is so great that people still care and keep them going. I love the sound as well. Thank you for sharing and keeping things interesting and fun. Cheers.
Nicely edited video. Liked the engine noise in the background and lack of music. Im glad you added some extras of the engine running without commentary too!
Thank you David, for this and all your excellent vlogs - also for the personal advice today on dinette's! Recently while hunting for a narrowboat with (perhaps) a vintage engine, I was fortunate enough to see and experience no less than 3 Kelvin engines. The first was a K3 in a stunningly beautiful tug called "Barbarian", currently for sale at Billing Aquadrome. The K3 is an extra cylinder on top of the K2, so 12 litres and 1.7 tons weight! Then I saw a trad boat now for sale at Great Haywood with the "baby" Kelvin - a J3 - a mere 1.5 litres per cylinder but probably more suited to a narrowboat. The starting procedure is similar but there are many modifications. This J3 had a diesel vaporiser replacing the petrol carburettor. The owner showed me a full start from cold. After filling the head cups with oil, preparing the vaporiser and oiling various other parts he said: "You appreciate that things will get a bit exciting from now on?!". He turned the engine over (electric starter) and there was a blinding flash of orange flame coupled with a violent bang, and the engine burst into life! Fortunately for us we had been placed on the opposite side of the engine from the flame, but it was most impressive nonetheless - and totally normal starting procedure! Lastly I had the pleasure of visiting a beautiful Norton Canes 70 footer with a Kelvin K2 in excellent conditon. The spark plugs were still in situ but the owner explained that neither the diesel vaporiser, nor the petrol carb were necessary. He uses a "firestick" - a rod with a wick on one end soaked in diesel fuel. He lights this and pokes it well into the engine's intake manifold, then presses the electric start button and within a few seconds she was up and running. Dead simple and very effective, even in mid-winter with a cold engine that had not been run for 3 days! And what a sweet sounding engine that was - just as in your video! Finally I came to my senses and put down a deposit on a 70 footer trad boat with a Beta JD3 - a sort of modern replica-vintage engine. Nothing like a Kelvin or Rusty Newbolt, but easy to start, cheaper to run, and probably much less trouble for my limited mechanical skills!
I think the beauty of what appears to be a relaxing and peaceful lifestyle on the canal is that you have the time to prime and shine before starting a lovely old engine like this. Mr. Bob Goodman certainly looked and sounded laid back with his canal lifestyle. Thanks David for another excellent video.
I've always had a soft spot for those old thumpers. Before retiring, one of my duties at an Aero-Space manufacturer was the refurbishment and upkeep of 1940's era gun drills and bores, engine lathes, crush grinders and 2 and 3 axis rotary mills. The complex engineering that went into these beautifully complex bits of mechanical artistry was every bit as amazing as the latter day CNC machines. I had to repair and rebuild several slipper pumps and petrol powered engine driven machines that had been placed in 'Belt drive' factories, where the belts couldn't provide the power to drive these massive war time machines.
Crescent Shipping on the Medway used Kelvin K series engines in their Thames barges. Folklore is that they could be started from cold on petrol, or when completely hot on diesel & anywhere in-between not at all. So an engine would be left running even when the barge was stationary for hours. Crescent also kept a fully overhauled engine in the shipyard so that a faulty engine could be swapped over quickly and minimise downtime for the vessel.
I know virtually nothing about narrowboats (but what you've taught me) nor diesel engines (or ANY engines for that matter), but I was smiling uncontrollably during this video. (Past life experience?) Thank you, David. I'm now sad there's only one more of these videos to come.
OMG! I'm in love with a boat motor! What a monster it is, and what a lovely sound it makes while it's ticking over. I can only imagine the torque it puts out. Great video!
I really love these old engines. The looks, sounds and history makes them well worth restoring and caring for. Thank you David for doing the research and sharing with us. Love this type of video.
Splendid ! I may have to go and lie down for a bit. I've seen old semi-diesels that needed a blowtorch on them for minutes before starting, and the famous Field Marshall tractor that used a shotgun cartridge to start it, but this is something else. All that chain driven remote stuff :o) And the redundant spark plug :o) And what a great noise. Must have been quite an expensive engine when new...great to see it David.
This is such a lovely engine and the craftsmanship around it. I'm not an engine or horsepower guy, but this series is just lovely. Thank you for makeing it.
Wow what a lovely part of history. It sounds wonderful to the ears & no great big smoke screen coming from it @ all. I'm so impressed with it. I would love to see that up close & personal. Just to talk with the owner for hours to learn all the history & his knowledge of having a part of history. Thank you for sharing. Can't wait till part 3, Chris
A guy wouldn't want to be too medicated when it came time to start up that old beast! What a piece of engineering though. Continuing to be fascinated with the whole thing. It's nice to find new areas to let my inner geek frolic online!
Absolutely fascinating the interface of the transition from Steam to internal combustion, a great piece of history and the sound going down the canal wonderful.
Hello David hope all is well. I can't tell you how much I love three of these vlogs. What beautiful engines. I simply cant stop watching them. Please Don't stop doing what you do. Your vlog is just lovely viewing and kept me sane whilst in hospital (northern gen Sheffield :) ) with a broken back. I'm O.K. ish now and back at work. I wish you many more years of happy cruising all the best from Jimbo.
You vlog is never boring, always interesting. Those old engines are beautiful looking, beautiful sounding.... I had an SP135 Ford Lehman Diesel in my last boat. I kept the engine and engine room 'nearly' that clean and beautiful..
Really enjoyed watching this David, thank you. Brought back memories of the sound my parents tug made with a lister JP2. Great set of films. More please!
Fantastic can’t wait to own one nexst year leaving Australia when I retire to go back to the Uk to spend the remaining time I have on this planet in a narrow boat wish me luck!, ps bloody good blogs cobber
I've worked with diesel engines since 1967 age 14. First up was an old Ford Dexta (petral start) on a Market Garden in Tickenham (Adge Cutler's old 'neck-of-the-woods'). Then on golf courses for 50 years with more tractors and then came the ride-on mowers from 1970 onwards! This is great stuff David! More please 👍😃
Back in the early 1950's I visited a relative who lived in Chester The canal ran past the end of their small yard I watched the working barges (narrow boats) go by I bet that was the sound they made back then. Wonderful to hear that chug, chug.
Simply splendid! We just don’t see much of these classics anymore. I remember back in the ‘90 s I was canoeing near Vancouver when an old thumper tour boat came past. What an exquisite sound it made and it was over 50 meters long... simply beautiful! Bryan from Vancouver
These old engine's are great, my father had 18 foot clinker style boat with a 4.5 hp Chapman putt in .it could be a bugger to start at times but once it going you could not kill it with a pick handle
How very charming. I can certainly see the appeal of a vintage engine and the slow chug-a-chug blends well with the pace of the narrowboating lifestyle. I wonder how this engine compares to more modern designs in terms of fuel consumption? The slow revs make more sense in a narrowboat, it appears that modern engines never get run fast enough to keep them in the 'sweet spot' of the torque curve where they are happiest. Thanks for sharing and fair winds David.
That starting system is almost identical to the old IHC UD-8 and UD-16 diesels that started on gas and then switched over to diesel. I can't believe how slowly that thing turns over at idle! That flywheel must be half the weight of the engine.😁
The practical in me thinks what a palaver to go through everyday however the romantic in me goes weak at the knees at the preparation, the firing up and the sound of that gorgeous engine ticking away slowly. If I lived aboard full time I think it would be really hard for me to choose modern over this. The thought of waking up in the morning, pressing a button and I’m on my way is compelling. But then I would have to hear the buzz of a modern engine for the rest of the day... Vintage it would be then, having owned vintage Bikes and Cars one soon adapts to the extra fuss! My favourite yet in this series, thank you.
Love these vintage engines. Grew up on a farm with several vintage diesel tractors that my brother and I learned to work on and run. Thanks for the great vlogs.
Thanks for showing this vlog David this engine is really beautiful and a real bit of engineering. The last time I saw a second starting engine like this one was on a old D9 Caterpillar bull dozer. They had kerosene "pilot" motor which you started first and that would turn over that huge Cat motor. The bloke that owns this keeps the motor in a lovely condition and what a exhaust note! Fantastic thank you John
Please bring this series back, I love these unique engines! 😍
I will do another series like this one day :-)
@@CruisingTheCut Yes please!! These are marvelous engines.
I agree, I love all your videos but these are my favorite
That's not a boat engine. Thats an engine that uses a boat to move it around!! love the monster. Great to see it being cherished and still running.
I had the 88hp. version in my 50' fifer "the Girl Jean". Massive and turn the flywheel with a bar to bring it up to compression and then crank the handle on the flywheel. Wonderful!!! I remember watching the engine throbbing away when on a _ _ d as we motored down to the Isle of Wight. Unforgettable magic in '73!!
Indirect injection needs petrol to warm up cylinders before changing to diesel. Built at Dobbies Loan Glasgow, 3 and 4 cylinder 66 and 88hp very common on Scottish fishing boats before and after war, almost all hand started. Also a 6 cylinder 132hp engine took some effort to start. 160rpm idle, 750 full speed but tremendous torque. Brings back Sunday night engine room memories trying to get started to go to sea.
I LOVE arcane, secretive. complicated machinery! Surprisingly few druids and human sacrifices showed up to start this delightful engine!
Thank you so much for making these engine vlogs. The relaxing sound of these matches perfectly the relaxed nature of canals.
What a lovely great lump of an Engine, and such a hypnotic sound ... I could tinker with that all day and probably break the bank on 'Brasso' ...
A beautiful example of historical engineering a labor of love to maintain.
Oh I almost get tears in my eyes.
What a beauty!
An entire day with that music would be amazing.
Only one thing I can think of; it takes up a lot of room in a narrowboat.
Hope you do more than 3 of these. They're very entertaining.
I only filmed three but may have to do a second series!
I quite like old engines
Wow! Love the vintage engines. It is so great that people still care and keep them going. I love the sound as well. Thank you for sharing and keeping things interesting and fun. Cheers.
“If you’re not a fan of these engines, Don’t worry”
I mean, who couldn’t love this engine? Amazing piece of engineering.
Nicely edited video. Liked the engine noise in the background and lack of music. Im glad you added some extras of the engine running without commentary too!
Thank you David, for this and all your excellent vlogs - also for the personal advice today on dinette's! Recently while hunting for a narrowboat with (perhaps) a vintage engine, I was fortunate enough to see and experience no less than 3 Kelvin engines. The first was a K3 in a stunningly beautiful tug called "Barbarian", currently for sale at Billing Aquadrome. The K3 is an extra cylinder on top of the K2, so 12 litres and 1.7 tons weight!
Then I saw a trad boat now for sale at Great Haywood with the "baby" Kelvin - a J3 - a mere 1.5 litres per cylinder but probably more suited to a narrowboat. The starting procedure is similar but there are many modifications. This J3 had a diesel vaporiser replacing the petrol carburettor. The owner showed me a full start from cold. After filling the head cups with oil, preparing the vaporiser and oiling various other parts he said: "You appreciate that things will get a bit exciting from now on?!". He turned the engine over (electric starter) and there was a blinding flash of orange flame coupled with a violent bang, and the engine burst into life! Fortunately for us we had been placed on the opposite side of the engine from the flame, but it was most impressive nonetheless - and totally normal starting procedure!
Lastly I had the pleasure of visiting a beautiful Norton Canes 70 footer with a Kelvin K2 in excellent conditon. The spark plugs were still in situ but the owner explained that neither the diesel vaporiser, nor the petrol carb were necessary. He uses a "firestick" - a rod with a wick on one end soaked in diesel fuel. He lights this and pokes it well into the engine's intake manifold, then presses the electric start button and within a few seconds she was up and running. Dead simple and very effective, even in mid-winter with a cold engine that had not been run for 3 days! And what a sweet sounding engine that was - just as in your video!
Finally I came to my senses and put down a deposit on a 70 footer trad boat with a Beta JD3 - a sort of modern replica-vintage engine. Nothing like a Kelvin or Rusty Newbolt, but easy to start, cheaper to run, and probably much less trouble for my limited mechanical skills!
12 litres is a bit excessive for a narrowboat engine!! Hope your new purchase gives you years of joy. Cheers
That start up - it runs the breakfast scene in "The Wrong Trousers" a close second. Fascinating, thank you.
These classic engine vlogs are excellent! Well done. 👍
Beautiful engineering work and good job to the owners for keeping up with it and its a historic engine as well
It's like watching Jay Leno prepare one of his older cars to start it. Prime, lubrication, magneto, advance, etc.
How relaxing. This owner knows all the ins and outs of this technology
This is a brilliant series of videos. Could watch 20 of these in one sitting, with a cuppa of course. Excellent work.
Listening to that beautiful engine is hypnotic, pure magic.
Marvelous old machine-- and so quiet-- even with a dry exhaust.
I think the beauty of what appears to be a relaxing and peaceful lifestyle on the canal is that you have the time to prime and shine before starting a lovely old engine like this. Mr. Bob Goodman certainly looked and sounded laid back with his canal lifestyle. Thanks David for another excellent video.
What a beautiful old boat and engine. It spits out a considerable wash with the large propeller I see. Great video. Thanks, David.
“All very steam punk”. Another beautifully filmed episode . These engines have a wonderful rhythm. Thank you for showing them.
Technically diesel punk.
Heavens to Murgatroyd. What a splendid thing. What a splendid owner. Impressed!
I've always had a soft spot for those old thumpers. Before retiring, one of my duties at an Aero-Space manufacturer was the refurbishment and upkeep of 1940's era gun drills and bores, engine lathes, crush grinders and 2 and 3 axis rotary mills. The complex engineering that went into these beautifully complex bits of mechanical artistry was every bit as amazing as the latter day CNC machines. I had to repair and rebuild several slipper pumps and petrol powered engine driven machines that had been placed in 'Belt drive' factories, where the belts couldn't provide the power to drive these massive war time machines.
Beautiful engine noise and what a lovely name for the boat ‘Grace’ :)
Sounds like it could tick over forever and a day. Lovely sound. Thanks, David.
The guy built a narrow boat around a antique nautical engine museum. What a thing of beauty. Nice find!
Crescent Shipping on the Medway used Kelvin K series engines in their Thames barges. Folklore is that they could be started from cold on petrol, or when completely hot on diesel & anywhere in-between not at all. So an engine would be left running even when the barge was stationary for hours. Crescent also kept a fully overhauled engine in the shipyard so that a faulty engine could be swapped over quickly and minimise downtime for the vessel.
What a Beautiful piece of Engineering.
absolutely fascinating - classic engineering at it's best and beautifully illustrated by your good self
I really enjoyed that Vlog David. I could listen to that engine all day . What a lovely piece of engineering.
I love that kind of sound (the last minutes of the video is a rare pleasure, thanks for sharing
David, learning these things is literally a gas;) So darn much fun. Thanks so much for all of the varied information. It just keeps getting better.
I know virtually nothing about narrowboats (but what you've taught me) nor diesel engines (or ANY engines for that matter), but I was smiling uncontrollably during this video. (Past life experience?) Thank you, David. I'm now sad there's only one more of these videos to come.
Oh , what a gorgeous sound!
Really 'Amazing Grace'☺
Labor of love. You must do as the owner stated. It's a joy running his unique motor.
An awesome old time engine. Thank you,David.👍
OMG! I'm in love with a boat motor! What a monster it is, and what a lovely sound it makes while it's ticking over. I can only imagine the torque it puts out. Great video!
Must be honest theses vlogs are great really take you into the depths of narrow boating, very interesting, love them .
Wonderful series David. More please !
Wot a gorgeous engine ....really loved ....and sounds wonderful ....
That engine is BEAUTIFUL!
Just love the very soothing sound of Grace underway. More propwash noise than engine noise, stellar!
I really love these old engines. The looks, sounds and history makes them well worth restoring and caring for. Thank you David for doing the research and sharing with us. Love this type of video.
Brilliant video, absolutely love the sight and sound of these old engines. Many thanks for your vlog
Splendid ! I may have to go and lie down for a bit. I've seen old semi-diesels that needed a blowtorch on them for minutes before starting, and the famous Field Marshall tractor that used a shotgun cartridge to start it, but this is something else. All that chain driven remote stuff :o) And the redundant spark plug :o) And what a great noise. Must have been quite an expensive engine when new...great to see it David.
This is such a lovely engine and the craftsmanship around it.
I'm not an engine or horsepower guy, but this series is just lovely.
Thank you for makeing it.
Wow what a lovely part of history. It sounds wonderful to the ears & no great big smoke screen coming from it @ all. I'm so impressed with it. I would love to see that up close & personal. Just to talk with the owner for hours to learn all the history & his knowledge of having a part of history.
Thank you for sharing. Can't wait till part 3,
Chris
Amazing. 4 l each cylinder! And that sound. Great! Thanks for showing it to us.
A guy wouldn't want to be too medicated when it came time to start up that old beast! What a piece of engineering though. Continuing to be fascinated with the whole thing. It's nice to find new areas to let my inner geek frolic online!
What a wonderful sound this engine makes
I'm truly enjoying this series. The history and different engines are fascinating!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Absolutely fascinating the interface of the transition from Steam to internal combustion, a great piece of history and the sound going down the canal wonderful.
Beautiful sounding engine
Hello David hope all is well. I can't tell you how much I love three of these vlogs. What beautiful engines. I simply cant stop watching them. Please Don't stop doing what you do. Your vlog is just lovely viewing and kept me sane whilst in hospital (northern gen Sheffield :) ) with a broken back. I'm O.K. ish now and back at work. I wish you many more years of happy cruising all the best from Jimbo.
Broken back?! Crikey. Glad you're better.
This is a great mini series David and perfectly presented. Very many thanks.
That is amazing.
A pure Picasso in working order. A PROPER JOB.
We were fortunate to have a Gardner 4LK in one of our boats again a Picasso.
You vlog is never boring, always interesting. Those old engines are beautiful looking, beautiful sounding.... I had an SP135 Ford Lehman Diesel in my last boat. I kept the engine and engine room 'nearly' that clean and beautiful..
Really enjoyed watching this David, thank you. Brought back memories of the sound my parents tug made with a lister JP2. Great set of films. More please!
Just one more (for the moment)
Beautiful sound , i was listening to a 3 cylinder Gardner today on an old barge in the docks at Goole. these old engines make a great sound.
i strongly agree. it's very soothing.
Yet anothe superb vlog David. Don't ya just love the old technology. Lasts much longer that today's stuff.
Fantastic can’t wait to own one nexst year leaving Australia when I retire to go back to the Uk to spend the remaining time I have on this planet in a narrow boat wish me luck!, ps bloody good blogs cobber
Fantastic. Hope the move goes smoothly. Cheers
Do more. There great, not many of these type of videos about so keep them coming.
I've worked with diesel engines since 1967 age 14. First up was an old Ford Dexta (petral start) on a Market Garden in Tickenham (Adge Cutler's old 'neck-of-the-woods'). Then on golf courses for 50 years with more tractors and then came the ride-on mowers from 1970 onwards! This is great stuff David! More please 👍😃
Hi David as isaid these vlogs are very interesting I will keep watching🍎
Back in the early 1950's I visited a relative who lived in Chester The canal ran past the end of their small yard I watched the working barges (narrow boats) go by I bet that was the sound they made back then. Wonderful to hear that chug, chug.
Such a lovely sound from these older engines.
Simply splendid! We just don’t see much of these classics anymore. I remember back in the ‘90 s I was canoeing near Vancouver when an old thumper tour boat came past. What an exquisite sound it made and it was over 50 meters long... simply beautiful!
Bryan from Vancouver
These old engine's are great, my father had 18 foot clinker style boat with a 4.5 hp Chapman putt in .it could be a bugger to start at times but once it going you could not kill it with a pick handle
Very interesting you should do more of these. Thanks.
How very charming. I can certainly see the appeal of a vintage engine and the slow chug-a-chug blends well with the pace of the narrowboating lifestyle. I wonder how this engine compares to more modern designs in terms of fuel consumption? The slow revs make more sense in a narrowboat, it appears that modern engines never get run fast enough to keep them in the 'sweet spot' of the torque curve where they are happiest. Thanks for sharing and fair winds David.
A pure work of art.
You just can't beat the sound of an old diesel. There also something nice to look at. Thanks Dave, I enjoyed it very much.
Forget the canal , I could sit and watch that engine all day .
Love these old tech engines, a laid back engine for the hectic life of canal cruising! and the beautiful sound they make.
Sounds lovely. Enjoyed this very much!
Great to see you back. Wonderful to see that great machine...Thanks, From Oregon
Really enjoyed this series, a fascinating engine with the petrol starting a bit like some of the vintage tractors, and 8 litres WOW!
That just brought a smile to my face! Excellent as usual David, thank you!
Sweet sounding baby
Nostalgia all around. Beautiful!
Another great vlog David, Thank you. Wow, what an engine, Its Sublime I love it. Hats of to Rob Goodman he's an ace.
Listen to that engine it's the true sound of a narrow boat, sweet!!
Fantastic, that sound is just what you would expect a narrow boat to sound like.
That starting system is almost identical to the old IHC UD-8 and UD-16 diesels that started on gas and then switched over to diesel. I can't believe how slowly that thing turns over at idle! That flywheel must be half the weight of the engine.😁
Simply Marvelous 😊!
great little series -- need to cover the steam power boats too
Not many of them around
The practical in me thinks what a palaver to go through everyday however the romantic in me goes weak at the knees at the preparation, the firing up and the sound of that gorgeous engine ticking away slowly. If I lived aboard full time I think it would be really hard for me to choose modern over this. The thought of waking up in the morning, pressing a button and I’m on my way is compelling. But then I would have to hear the buzz of a modern engine for the rest of the day... Vintage it would be then, having owned vintage Bikes and Cars one soon adapts to the extra fuss!
My favourite yet in this series, thank you.
Superb. If I can get the money together for a narrow boat, vintage engine will be a must.
. . . the last minute of the video - Sublime ! Merci Beaucoup !
WOW! --- How fantastic is THAT!!?
Love these vintage engines.
Grew up on a farm with several vintage diesel tractors that my brother and I learned to work on and run.
Thanks for the great vlogs.
Very interesting. An eight liter engine built in Glasgow. Very nice piece of engineering. Very steam punk !
Thanks for showing this vlog David this engine is really beautiful and a real bit of engineering. The last time I saw a second starting engine like this one was on a old D9 Caterpillar bull dozer. They had kerosene "pilot" motor which you started first and that would turn over that huge Cat motor. The bloke that owns this keeps the motor in a lovely condition and what a exhaust note! Fantastic thank you John
Love the sound. Nobody is going to jump aboard and hijack this boat if it's not already started.
Fascinating vlog with great cinematography and narration. Thank you.
Well watched you for four hours today. So informative. Fantastic. Thank you.