Old-fashioned Lister type diesel engines from India.

[imported_ANDREW]

I found several companies offering old-fashioned Diesel engines on the web. www.gangadhar.net (http://www.gangadhar.net) is one of these. These engines are used primarily in agricultural applications.
Does anyone have experience with these type of engines?
Were engines like this used as marine engines years ago?
Yes, I understand that they weigh a ton, still, I think an engine like this would be workable for a small launch. I want to get one and fiddle around with it.
Where can I locate a suitable gearbox? Can these be made to pick up fuel from a remote tank? I have many more questions that I could get into if someone is out there with answers.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Andrew Kelly

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Well, I have not seen one of those (Lister, 12hp, 650 rpm) since....

last time I was at Pin Mill, and Tony Ward came round to collect the six quid for using one of his buoys off the end of the hard!

You get a rather good view of the engine in his launch, now, because the engine box fell apart and its open to the elements.

Should be no end of suitable gearboxes in scrapyards - the gearbox is almost indestructible!

[WWheeler]

Listers were commonly used in lifeboats, since they were apparently bombproof, and could sit around for years waiting to be used. There's one (2 cyl) for sale by Scruton Marine at $1750 CDN. (www.scrutonmarine.com). An interesting possibility for low consumption cruising, as on the recent WB cover, especially since the cost of diesels seems kind of insane.

[ 02-04-2003, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: WWheeler ]

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

On the other hand, you could buy the Real Thing and get one of these, new, absolutely a real marine engine, from darkest Northamptonshire, UK....

http://www.russellnewbery.co.uk/engines.html

These are Fabulous Beasts, hewn from the living rock by gnomes - the original rock crushers, fitted in generations of RNLI lifeboats (until they went in for the high speed variety, that is!)

A friend's boat has one, it took her to Dunkirk and back in 1940 and it takes her there today!

[Ken Hall]

^Well, it's hard to get a better endorsement than that... ;) :D

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Oh, yes, since they don't bother to mention it, the engine in the photo is a DM2, 54 inches long,
27 inches wide, 44 inches high and weighing 1,720 lbs. Horsepower? Oh yes, it's 12 hour continuous rating (RN don't bother with sissified measurements) is 16hp at 900 rpm, but, if you want to go a little faster, you can run it at 1,500 rpm and get 27hp out of it - it does'nt mind at all.

[John Gearing]

Lots of info on old marine engines here, plus some interesting classifieds...

http://www.marineengine.com/cgi-bin/suite/classifieds/classifieds.cgi

[David N.]

New a guy who had a day launch , can not remember if it had a Lister or a Hick's in it .I know you had to plan how you came into or left the berth , as reverse gear was nothing short of pull the compression release and spin the flywheel in the other direction . And you had to oil the lifter's by hand .

But it was a blast to either ride in it or listen to it when it went by , seemed like about every 10 second's you would hear it fire , and the boat would just glide by .

[skuthorp]

Hope they're better than the Spanish and Chinese copies of european and US transfer cases and gear boxes you'd find in s/h 4wd's a few years ago!

[Scott Rosen]

Did anyone save a copy of the old China Diesel thread?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I seriously recommend a Russell Newbery if you want an old fashioned type marine diesel; nothing wrong with their castings, machining and tolerances.

I would be pretty uneasy about Indian copies, or Chinese ones, and I can tell a story about a Spanish Perkins too...

[igatenby]

Listers! - my 8kVa genset in Grantala is powered by an STW2 Lister - a raw water cooled twin cylinder diesel. I saw a small launch powered by the same engine recently. 20hp I think. I've had no trouble getting the parts I've wanted - the priming lever broke on the fuel pump, so I fitted a new pump and some gaskets.

Noisy! Damned noisy! - Boy am I looking forward to getting the engine room closed in.

Ian