129. Classic Narrowboat Engines Part 2: Kelvin K2 with Rob Goodman
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
- This is Part 2 of a three part mini-series about classic / vintage narrowboat engines as often heard chugging past on the canal. In this episode, I talked to Rob Goodman about his 1940s-era Kelvin K2 and its unusual starting procedure!
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Theme music: "Vespers" by Topher Mohr and Alex Alena, from the CZcams music library
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.
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.
It's like watching Jay Leno prepare one of his older cars to start it. Prime, lubrication, magneto, advance, etc.
I LOVE arcane, secretive. complicated machinery! Surprisingly few druids and human sacrifices showed up to start this delightful engine!
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!!
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
“If you’re not a fan of these engines, Don’t worry”
I mean, who couldn’t love this engine? Amazing piece of engineering.
A beautiful example of historical engineering a labor of love to maintain.
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
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' ...
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.
These classic engine vlogs are excellent! Well done. 👍
Thank you so much for making these engine vlogs. The relaxing sound of these matches perfectly the relaxed nature of canals.
That start up - it runs the breakfast scene in "The Wrong Trousers" a close second. Fascinating, thank you.
Marvelous old machine-- and so quiet-- even with a dry exhaust.
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!
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.
What a Beautiful piece of Engineering.
Heavens to Murgatroyd. What a splendid thing. What a splendid owner. Impressed!
I'm truly enjoying this series. The history and different engines are fascinating!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
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.
Labor of love. You must do as the owner stated. It's a joy running his unique motor.
Beautiful engineering work and good job to the owners for keeping up with it and its a historic engine as well
How relaxing. This owner knows all the ins and outs of this technology
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!
Sweet sounding baby
Wot a gorgeous engine ....really loved ....and sounds wonderful ....
Beautiful sounding engine
Sounds like it could tick over forever and a day. Lovely sound. Thanks, David.
What a wonderful sound this engine makes
Oh , what a gorgeous sound!
Really 'Amazing Grace'☺
We put an K2 in our Josher in the early 70,s a friend had J2 half the size it had a very simple direct drone cone gearbox which jammed in gear after a long run. It Rickover it would shake the boat sold it for £50 and put in a truck engine for Easter life.
Listening to that beautiful engine is hypnotic, pure magic.
“All very steam punk”. Another beautifully filmed episode . These engines have a wonderful rhythm. Thank you for showing them.
Technically diesel punk.
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
Beautiful engine noise and what a lovely name for the boat ‘Grace’ :)
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.😁
These old slow running engines are very good on fuel consumption unlike today's modern higher revving ones.
The guy built a narrow boat around a antique nautical engine museum. What a thing of beauty. Nice find!
absolutely fascinating - classic engineering at it's best and beautifully illustrated by your good self
Very interesting. An eight liter engine built in Glasgow. Very nice piece of engineering. Very steam punk !
Wonderful series David. More please !
That engine is BEAUTIFUL!
What a beautiful old boat and engine. It spits out a considerable wash with the large propeller I see. Great video. Thanks, David.
This is a brilliant series of videos. Could watch 20 of these in one sitting, with a cuppa of course. Excellent work.
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
I really enjoyed that Vlog David. I could listen to that engine all day . What a lovely piece of engineering.
Allis Chalmers made an engine that starts like that .....its cool as shit ... thank you great video 👍👍👍👍
An awesome old time engine. Thank you,David.👍
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.
Amazing. 4 l each cylinder! And that sound. Great! Thanks for showing it to us.
This motor most likely will still be running smoothly for another 60 years 😃👍👏👏
A pure work of art.
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.
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.
Forget the canal , I could sit and watch that engine all day .
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.
I love that kind of sound (the last minutes of the video is a rare pleasure, thanks for sharing
Just love the very soothing sound of Grace underway. More propwash noise than engine noise, stellar!
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!
As a former collector of vintage engines, I like it very much..
Listen to that engine it's the true sound of a narrow boat, sweet!!
Brilliant video, absolutely love the sight and sound of these old engines. Many thanks for your vlog
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.
Must be honest theses vlogs are great really take you into the depths of narrow boating, very interesting, love them .
great little series -- need to cover the steam power boats too
Not many of them around
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 Marvelous 😊!
Do more. There great, not many of these type of videos about so keep them coming.
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.
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.
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.
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 👍😃
Ah, my Dad (born 1917 and a tinkerer all his life) would have loved this.
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.
Very interesting you should do more of these. Thanks.
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.
Love the sound. Nobody is going to jump aboard and hijack this boat if it's not already started.
I loved it, I'm a almost retired ships engineer myself. I have a older Volvo Penta MD17c in my boat a Fisher 30 and it runs nice but not lie this engine. 👍
Hi David as isaid these vlogs are very interesting I will keep watching🍎
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.
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.
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)
Wow so cool this engine and beautiful ship
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
Sounds lovely. Enjoyed this very much!
WOW! --- How fantastic is THAT!!?
Love these old tech engines, a laid back engine for the hectic life of canal cruising! and the beautiful sound they make.
As a former collector and life-long lover of old iron, there is something mesmerizingly tranquil about the leisurely rhythm of function for these beautiful old mechanical gems.
The essence of self they exude is distinctly reminiscent of a more tranquil, relaxed way of life that makes for an ideal partnership with canal boats because they were the original artificial heart implanted in canal boats when horses were retired by the demands of the industrial revolution.
When anybody who understands them refers to horsepower in association with such old engines you almost invariably hear a reference to 'loads of torque'.
They were designed to emulate characteristics inherent to an organic energy source they replaced as intimated by the very term used to quantify their capacity for work 'horse-power'.
They produce substantial peak torque for a fraction of the frenetic effort necessary for modern buzz-saws and combined with their larger, slow revving propellers is why they make ideal tugs.
Here is a link to an interesting documentary which examines the history of diesel engines and adequately portrays the sort of people who love them.
czcams.com/video/wCA5pInfPpM/video.html
Can get this link to work..
Nostalgia all around. Beautiful!
. . . the last minute of the video - Sublime ! Merci Beaucoup !
I also like the rivets in the hull, classy look.
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..
What a beautiful sound that grace has , you could listen to her all day long no problem 😎
Yet anothe superb vlog David. Don't ya just love the old technology. Lasts much longer that today's stuff.
Marvelous. Bloody Marvelous.
Such a lovely sound from these older engines.
Great to see you back. Wonderful to see that great machine...Thanks, From Oregon
That just brought a smile to my face! Excellent as usual David, thank you!