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Lister 3 cylinder


Leap of faith

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14 minutes ago, Leap of faith said:

Hi all, another day another engine... seriously how about a Mermaid XLD? The overplating, engine charging issues and overpriced is concerning me so maybe bin the SR3 boat, Heh ho the search continues.

I await incoming --------

 

You don't half pick them, I await you finding a Lombardini next. The LXD is the Ford OHV engine ex Sierra and such like so spares should be very easy BUT    --   and for me its a HUGE BUT  --  its a belt driven camshaft and nothing would persuade me to have a belt driven camshaft engine on a boat. If the belt rusts to the sprocket over a winter layup it may snap at the next start. Also in a vehicle oil and coolant leaks drip onto the road and there is no chance apart from driving through a flood that water can get to the belt. On a boat its not difficult to get  astern gland leak and end up with oil and water over the belt. that tends to rot them.

 

If the belt  fails on a diesel you are probably looking at a four figure sum for repair or another engine.

 

Finally to minimise the chances of belt failure they need changing a regular intervals so make sure there is enough space between the engine and the bulkhead in front of it for you to get there and work on it. When refitting the bet if you get the timing wrong you may again  wreck the engine.

 

Sorry to be so negative.

 

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1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

I await incoming --------

 

You don't half pick them, I await you finding a Lombardini next. The LXD is the Ford OHV engine ex Sierra and such like so spares should be very easy BUT    --   and for me its a HUGE BUT  --  its a belt driven camshaft and nothing would persuade me to have a belt driven camshaft engine on a boat. If the belt rusts to the sprocket over a winter layup it may snap at the next start. Also in a vehicle oil and coolant leaks drip onto the road and there is no chance apart from driving through a flood that water can get to the belt. On a boat its not difficult to get  astern gland leak and end up with oil and water over the belt. that tends to rot them.

 

If the belt  fails on a diesel you are probably looking at a four figure sum for repair or another engine.

 

Finally to minimise the chances of belt failure they need changing a regular intervals so make sure there is enough space between the engine and the bulkhead in front of it for you to get there and work on it. When refitting the bet if you get the timing wrong you may again  wreck the engine.

 

Sorry to be so negative.

 

Agreed.  Changing a cam belt on a car is a stiff back but easy, in the bottom of a boat its horrible.

 

Heaven forbid, not a Lombardini next, I still have cold sweats about the first one I fixed, never again.

 

Why don't you find a boat with a nice easy Beta, or Perkins or BMC?

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Oi!  I have a Lombardini!   LDW 602.   Been running a 6 kVA built in generator since about 1997.  Been as good as gold.  (Touches wood).  Starts easily if you use the heaters. Somewhat noisy, but  it is thrashing round at 3000 rpm.  Bits from Bryco, Daventry.  Cam belt OK to change. With new water pump and tensioner it takes about a morning including moving start battery for access. Timing and re- tension easy enough.  Much less mess than a Kelvin oil change.?

Would not want one as a propulsion engine mind you.

N

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14 hours ago, Rose Narrowboats said:

When we sold her some time ago she was powered by an ST3 (so 30hp and plenty of oomph) with a large front pulley and a 70Amp A127 with one of our own design Ampower Services alternator controllers. Central heating was by an Alde 2928 gas boiler, fridge (with freezer compartment in the top) was 12v. About four hours cruising a day was "steady state" in terms of fully recharging the batteries.

 

She's clearly been modified (including the addition of solar) somewhat since we sold her though.

 

I still regret forgetting to take the stickers of the side before we sold her.

Brokers have be known to be a bit vague on such detail, worth checking if an SR3 has been installed  or may be they just got it wrong and it is still the original ST3 with the enhanced charging

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Apart from the belt and the speciality fuel system the thing that gets me was the attitude of Lombardini UK technical. When BT asked TVU to put on a diesel familiarisation course for their engineers who they were multiskilling I found some small exchanges used Lombardini emergency generators so as i did not understand their injection system I contacted their (Lombardini) technical to ask for some information. Other vehicle/engine makers were happy to help in some way or another but not Lombardini. Despite me explaining to them that we wanted the information so we could warn the students about what not to do and what not to tamper with all they kept repeating was refer them to out service engineers. Not a lot of help so I concluded their systems is so "way out" they had lots of problems with it. Not something I would want on a boat. For that you need an engine all "engineers" stand a good chance of understanding at first or second glance.

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18 minutes ago, Phoenix_V said:

Brokers have be known to be a bit vague on such detail, worth checking if an SR3 has been installed  or may be they just got it wrong and it is still the original ST3 with the enhanced charging

The OP says he asked the broker to confirm with the owner and the owner confirmed an SR3. personally i would not trust the majority of boat owners to know the difference, 3 cylinders, air cooled, Lister - must be an SR3. Does the owner even know about SLs and STs? I can't see it likely that the engine would have been changed for an "inferior" one.

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Just now, Tony Brooks said:

The OP says he asked the broker to confirm with the owner and the owner confirmed an SR3. personally i would not trust the majority of boat owners to know the difference, 3 cylinders, air cooled, Lister - must be an SR3. Does the owner even know about SLs and STs? I can't see it likely that the engine would have been changed for an "inferior" one.

exactly they all look similar

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And as far as I know the ST has all the SR's virtues, plus, being a newer model, a slightly wider availability of spares.  It also has most, if not all, of the SR weak points.  Rose have clearly tackled the charging issue but I am still not sure that as a liveaboard I would want to listen to an ST for four hours a day to keep the fridge going.

 

N

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No need for apologies for being "negative". I would rarer hear it as it is than buy a lemon!  Shame about the Mermaid engine the boat practically ticks all my want boxes. I now know why both boats have been on for sale for a couple of months. I will not be picking a Lombardini anytime soon (apologies to Lombardini owners!). I did a bit of research on this forum about them a while back.  

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