A number of years ago we passed through Braunston on a hire boat and spotted an old Gardner powered Atkinson lorry (left) at a diesel engine repair specialist beside the canal. We were contemplating buying our own boat at the time and Simon, having seen the old lorry, started reminiscing about his days as a lorry driver and lorry mechanic back in the 1970s. It was then that he announced that after all those years working with those old engines, when we get a boat it`ll be fitted with a ... nice modern Isuzu. Unlike children, he said, engines should be neither seen nor heard. And so M has a nice 42hp, four cylinder Isuzu buried below the cruiser stern, well away from our eyes and (almost) from our ears. Simon lifts the deck once a week and has a look to see if it is still there and that`s about it.
Well, that`s how it was. Recently, I`ve noticed him wiping it with a rag and starting it up with the deck cover off to "listen to her" or "to make sure she is alright". It all started about three weeks ago on the Shropshire Union at Audlum when we were moored next to a tug called Strider. The boat had an engine that can really only be described as a caricature of an engine. The owner admitted that he bought the engine, not the boat. This was clearly evident by the enormous removable plate in the roof above the engine - for use when the boat wears out and the engine has to be fitted with a new one.
What was special about it? It came out of a 1930`s fishing trawler for a start. It was enormous, covered in brass bits and started on petrol but ran on diesel. If this wasn`t enough, it sounded, even to me, wonderful. It`s tickover was mesmerizing - not a bad thing in many ways as in its original use it would probable have run continuously for weeks on end. The engine was a Kelvin K2 (two cylinder) made in Scotland.
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| The tug Strider at Audlum - with M behind |
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| Strider`s beautiful Kelvin (K2) engine |
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