Gardner - A little sample of what I do. More added

[MrSpeedy]

I've just finished the complete restoration and marinisation of a 1942 Gardner 2L2 engine, so thought i'd share some Great British engineering with you.

2 Cylinder, 2.8ltr, 20H.P. @ 1000RPM

click on pic for video



It's idling at approx 250 RPM.

The Alternators are 1 off 24V 100Amp and 230Vac 3.5KW

Hope you enjoy

[retrowagen1234]

Thats wicked. Sounds nice too..

what sorta boat is it going in then?

[Davenger]

Love it, absolutely love it.
Top skills!

[MrSpeedy]

It's going in a 55foot traditional tug style narrowboat to replace a Gardner 3LW, which we built 9years ago. Nothing wrong with the old engine, just the owner wanted a 2L2 !

[Brian Damaged]

That's a masterpiece of trad Brit engineering, right there. I love the sound Gardners make. Congrats!!

[retrowagen1234]

Oct 5, 2010 20:37:10 GMT MrSpeedy said:

It's going in a 55foot traditional tug style narrowboat to replace a Gardner 3LW, which we built 9years ago. Nothing wrong with the old engine, just the owner wanted a 2L2 !

Gotta get a vid of it doing its duty if you get a chance....

Or even the engine swap haha... Not sure how ya go about a narrowboat engine swap...

[dude]

Very nice!
Here's what everybody wants in their old boat over here. They were built locally



This one idles a bit high though.

[popuptoaster]

I know nothing about narrow boat engines except that i love the niose those ones you start with a blow torch make.

Nice job on that Gardner, looks lovely.

[e21meister]

I love low-speed engines where you can make out the explosion on the combustion cycle, these kind of engines have a 'rhythm' all their own. My uncle used to be a mechanic in a bus garage working on buses with (I think) Gardner 5LW and 6LW engines. A little different from a 'baby 2L2 or 2LW, but fascinating to see idling closeup nonetheless.

[waveman1500]

A beautiful piece of machinery, well done!

[Deleted]

Oct 5, 2010 21:09:48 GMT Brian Damaged said:

That's a masterpiece of trad Brit engineering, right there. I love the sound Gardners make. Congrats!!

yep, i agree, but then I'm bias ;D

[MrSpeedy]

Just thought I'd share a few others we've done;

[jrevillug]

May 16, 2011 16:53:01 GMT MrSpeedy said:

Just thought I'd share a few others we've done;

Some lovely work there. Is that a Lister CS 12/2? I'd never thought about those as marine engines, but I suppose they're small and light compared to some narrowboat engines.

May 16, 2011 16:53:01 GMT MrSpeedy said:

Mmm, Listery goodness. The Golden Hind yacht run by my school sailing club (was bequeathed to the school in the 80s, now back with the original family) had something very, very similar as original 1970s fitment - although the flywheel was on the opposite end by the looks of things.

It wasnt without problems - on one occasion one of the injector pumps worked loose and cracked the injector feed pipe, filling the sump with diesel - but it did work hard on a few occasions.

On one such occasion (WARNING - this could go on a bit) we were competing in the Round the Island race around the Isle of Wight, when we were asked by the coastguard if there was someone who could assist another yacht which was in difficulties. They were too tired to continue sailing, but their engine wouldn't start. We were the only boat in the area big enough to tow them - although we did have to run the engine flat out to make any progress at all.

We picked up the tow at maybe 3pm, with the tide against us, and the wind about force 5. Over the course of the next 6 or 7 hours, the wind picked up to force 9 - and being on the outside side of the island we were exposed to the channel swell too. We watched thunderstorms sweeping north from the channel and up over the mainland out to the east of us - and we could see the lights on the mainland going out as power cuts swept the area.

We were in constant contact with the coastguard - while we were quite safe, we were concerned about the engine. If it failed then we would have to drop the tow and sail off. As a result I was doing hourly checks of the fanbelt - which drove the cooling water pump - and had a look for fluid leaks. At about midnght, maybe 1am, we handed the tow over to the Bembridge lifeboat. We hadn't realised quite how big the waves were - maybe 6ft high by then - but the engine just kept on thumping.

We eventually moored up in Portsmouth harbour at about 3am - the engine having run flat out for at least 12 hours. At 11am the next morning, the engine was still too hot to touch. A seriously impressive bit of kit, IMO - and in fact it ran better than ever after that punishment, presumably due to bore de-glazing.

[MrSpeedy]

The CS is actually a 20/2. They're still being built in overseas. We imported that one brand new, stripped it down and rebuilt it, marinised it and it is still in my Dad's boat being tested. So far 500+ hours and hasn't missed a beat !

The Listers are all prone to fuel in the oil. Usually from a fractured leak off pipe under the rocker cover, but I've know then pump screws come loose and injector pipes crack also
The one you had was probably an SR/LR or ST as these have the gearbox on the flywheel end. They're the smaller sibling to the one above. (which is an HRW)
Not the most refined of engines, but a bloody good workhorse and generally very reliable. We had an SR2 come in that was "knocking a bit". We found that the knocking was the pistons hitting the cylinder heads because there was 1/8" play in the big ends !!!

[jrevillug]

May 17, 2011 16:58:42 GMT MrSpeedy said:

The CS is actually a 20/2. They're still being built in overseas. We imported that one brand new, stripped it down and rebuilt it, marinised it and it is still in my Dad's boat being tested. So far 500+ hours and hasn't missed a beat !

The Listers are all prone to fuel in the oil. Usually from a fractured leak off pipe under the rocker cover, but I've know then pump screws come loose and injector pipes crack also
The one you had was probably an SR/LR or ST as these have the gearbox on the flywheel end. They're the smaller sibling to the one above. (which is an HRW)
Not the most refined of engines, but a bloody good workhorse and generally very reliable.

The CS is a lovely design - I'd very much like one as part of a CHP type system. What was the quality of the remanufactured one like?

The pipe fractured about half-way between the injector and the pump - we only spotted it by shining a torch down the pushrod casing with the engine running. STW2 rings a bell now you come to mention it. And no, not very refined at all.

May 17, 2011 16:58:42 GMT MrSpeedy said:

We had an SR2 come in that was "knocking a bit". We found that the knocking was the pistons hitting the cylinder heads because there was 1/8" play in the big ends !!!

;D

[scruff]

Out Narrowboat has a 3LW but it needs a 2L2 to bring it back to original spec.
It's the barrel bottomed icebreaking tug 'Governor' built in the 1940s with boiler plate.

It's a bit of a monster as it has direct drive (No reduction) and a massive prop.
as a result the boat draws 3' and picks up every bit of rubbish in the cut
Until we sorted the tickover the slowest it would go was around 4mph...!

However, on a, *ahem*, private bit of deep water (OK the Severn with no one about) the bow wave was tall enough to flood the front deck and the following trough went clean under the boat...! We were fair shifting then... The water was so deep that the wave didn't reach the bank either!

The previous boat had a 4LW as my dad 'aquired' it from MCW when they stopped building busses... over powered was an understatement!

Aren't they still making Gardners?

[MrSpeedy]

Hiya Mr.Scruff.

We know 'Govenor' very well. I knew it first when Bob May had it and then it went to John Humble. We wondered were it had gone

Can't help you with a 2L2 but could do you a Kromhout 2LS which is very similar if you're interested ?

Gardner's are not still building engines, they stopped building the LW's in the late '90s and infact the company was split up and sold off. The original factory site now being a housing estate

We still deal with what's left of 'Gardners' on a daily basis for parts and hold a lot of stock for them.

[scruff]

Small world it is - I'm one of John Humble's sons - we've probably met over the years!

Governor is still owned by my dad and is currently at Streethay Wharf, Lichfield, in need of a bit of TLC as the paints a bit faded and scruffy now. It's having a bit of work carried out to bring it up to scratch so it can be hired out to a select few.

Me and the better half will be taking it out in September from the Daw end rally up to Ellsmere port and back to the Black country museum working boat rally and it'll be out and about in between too.

[MrSpeedy]

Ah well. It is indeed a small world. Especially in boats !

Good to know the boat is still in good hands.

If you're going to the working boat rally at Braunston next month come and say hello, we will have a stand there.

[scruff]

We won't be there but the boat might - I'll find out.

Rich