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Beta or Canaline???


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23 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

You jest, please say you jest........

Why? Lister is an old-established British firm whose engines have a reputation for durability. The Canalstar, as one of the few engines specifically designed for inland waterways use, must surely be considered.

I will admit that I have never owned one, though. Did you have a bad experience with one?

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Just now, Athy said:

Why? Lister is an old-established British firm whose engines have a reputation for durability. The Canalstar, as one of the few engines specifically designed for inland waterways use, must surely be considered.

I will admit that I have never owned one, though. Did you have a bad experience with one?

Don't they have hydraulic valve lifters? Not exactly a bright idea given how many canal boats are maintained.

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3 minutes ago, Athy said:

Why? Lister is an old-established British firm whose engines have a reputation for durability. The Canalstar, as one of the few engines specifically designed for inland waterways use, must surely be considered.

I will admit that I have never owned one, though. Did you have a bad experience with one?

Yes - we hired one from Teddesley - It was very smokey. One thing you don't want in locks is a smokey exhaust. A bit gutless as well

This was in the early days of Beta Maring and I found them more helpful, so I went with them.

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11 minutes ago, Athy said:

Why? Lister is an old-established British firm whose engines have a reputation for durability. The Canalstar, as one of the few engines specifically designed for inland waterways use, must surely be considered.

I will admit that I have never owned one, though. Did you have a bad experience with one?

Please Athy, no joking. They are one of the engines to be avoided in my view. Know several that have never been right from new despite everyone and his father trying to get them to run without hunting. I am amazed that they ever passed the emission regs, smoky.

Yes, hydraulic tappets, horrible rubber seals, short life.

TD'

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16 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Please Athy, no joking.

Don't worry, I wasn't. Suggesting one of the best-known boat engines is surely a reasonable thing to do.

24 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

One thing you don't want in locks is a smokey exhaust.

Oh, I know what you mean. Our first boat had a Petter PH2. We found that, in locks, the engine stop pull was a useful gadget.

It wasn't perfect, but my continuing interest in older diesel engines is due entirely to that Ancient Petter.

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3 minutes ago, Athy said:

Don't worry, I wasn't. Suggesting one of the best-known boat engines is surely a reasonable thing to do.

Oh, I know what you mean. Our first boat had a Petter PH2. We found that, in locks, the engine stop pull was a useful gadget.

It wasn't perfect, but my continuing interest in older diesel engines is due entirely to that Ancient Petter.

As some have indicated for technical reasons probably not. Now if you want to talk Bukh!

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1 minute ago, Athy said:

Don't worry, I wasn't. Suggesting one of the best-known boat engines is surely a reasonable thing to do.

Mebe the pre-war large industrial engines were and are very good and probably better than the Nationals but the small modern high revving engines - no.

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1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

As some have indicated for technical reasons probably not. Now if you want to talk Bukh!

Yes, I have heard good things about Bukh engines, though here again I have no personal experience of them. Perhaps the O.P. should have a look at them.

1 hour ago, OldGoat said:

Mebe the pre-war large industrial engines were and are very good and probably better than the Nationals but the small modern high revving engines - no.

I was really thinking of the reputation on the 1970s/'80s units such as SR and ST, often described as "bomb-proof". 

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Just now, Athy said:

Yes, I have heard good things about Bukh engines, though here again I have no personal experience of them. Perhaps the O.P. should have a look at them.

No, not if he want 50 odd HP, the largest one best for inland use is about 35 BHP so similar to the 1.5 but arguably with better torque in the canal cruising speed range.

 

Unfortunately they cost a fortune when new and there may be emissions complications if fitting one of the ex lifeboat engins

 

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7 hours ago, Eeyore said:

Go along to your local horticultural/agricultural machinery supplier and ask for their opinion on engines by Kubota (used by Beta) and Kioti/Daedong (used by Canaline). Then repeat the exercise at your local plant machinery supplier. The type of usage is different, but you should get a general idea of reliability and longevity; from which you can calculate a very crude figure for cost per hour of anticipated life expectancy. Or you could just buy a Beta 43 ?

 

 

 

Indeed, seen lots of Kubota based plant with over 25,000 hours on them and still going strong.

 

That is an awful lot of boating for the average boater.

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2 minutes ago, Gilsteamin said:

Any more enthusiasm for Canaline engines??? ??‍♂️??‍♂️??‍♂️

I think they were the lot behind the Isuzu marine engines in the UK and they seemed to do a good job on that. Isuzu had a good spares base in the UK from other applications. I am far from sure the same can be said of the Canalline engines. I am also nt so sure about the base engine's quality/longevity.

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I  would go for a kubota based beta, Canaline are probably fine but do they have a strong base in the UK in other areas like plant and machinery instalations? If canaline are the sole importer and they were to pack up where would you go for parts given it is likely to be in the boat for twenty years. I would avoid anything else in that power band just for ease of getting spares.

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4 years of cruising with my 18 year old Beta and no real issues. I used to think it was sometimes a bit smokey, but turns out its a fine layer of oil that accumulates on the domestic alternator and when it gets hot putting out a high amount of amps it burns off. So I suppose you could say the only real problem I have is a very small oil leak from somewhere which comes out in a very fine spray, but haven't been able to locate where it comes from as of yet. 

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Beta every time! Ours is the 1903, 43hp model. Faultless after 18 years. Smooth as silk and doesn’t smoke at all. Always starts first time, even after the winter lay-up.

Edited by KJT
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I put a new Beta 90 in my barge in 2011. Nice engine. 

 

Another Beta was my mother's 1995 Beta 35 in a 55ft narrow boat. It was perfectly good, as good as the RN DM2 I had in my 55 footer in propulsion and reliability terms. Much quieter and cleaner exhaust as well ! We did about a decade of extensive cruising and no engine problems with the little Kubota. It's probably still perfectly happy.  

 

Not sure if Nanni are still going but they were marinising the same Kubota units as Beta marine..

 

Might be worth a look if they are still going. 

 

 

Edited by magnetman
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56 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

 

Not sure if Nanni are still going but they were marinising the same Kubota units as Beta marine..

 

Might be worth a look if they are still going. 

 

 

Very much so, with factories in France and Italy. They are, in our experience, often used in French hire fleets - all our Locaboats over the last five or six years have had them. They do have a U.K. dealer - but I don't know if they offer any advantage over the Beta, which is based on (I assume) the same range of Kubota engines.

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Having had both Nanni and Beta engines I will add the following:

 

Beta very helpful, easy to contact, good range of spares. Build the engines themselves

Nanni dealer difficult to deal with, unhelpful, spares not in stock. 

 

 

Edited by Loddon
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