Beta JD3 Classic Tug Engine.

[riverwolf]

I would be intrested in hearing how this engine performs?Good or Bad,Thanks,Mike.

[churchward]

I would be intrested in hearing how this engine performs?Good or Bad,Thanks,Mike.

I would say it is a good low to mid RPM engine based on John Deere engine well marinised by Beta. I won't have the kudos I suppose of the older/veteran truly low RPM engines but they sound quite nice and more than enough power for the modern narrowboat. They are quite heavy compared to other modern agricultural sourced narrowboat engines but no more weight and indeed lighter than many older thumpers.

Edited July 26, 2009 by churchward

[PaddingtonBear]

They are ok but they will not have the kudos of a proper engine nor of course proper gearbox. you ,as always, only get what you pay for, it is also true that the Beta Tug fakery sometimes gets laughed at as do blinged up RNs. Because of this real men of both sexes have Nationals and Petters and gentlemen have Kelvins and those beyond Upminster have L**ters

Edited July 26, 2009 by PaddingtonBear

[churchward]

They are ok but they will not have the kudos of a proper engine nor of course proper gearbox. you ,as always, only get what you pay for, it is also true that the Beta Tug fakery sometimes gets laughed at as do blinged up RNs. Because of this real men of both sexes have Nationals and Petters and gentlemen have Kelvins and those beyond Upminster have L**ters

Oh dear it's going to kick off now!!

[RLWP]

Oh dear it's going to kick off now!!

 

Yep. All us BMC owners are very amused.

 

Richard

[nb Innisfree]

They are ok but they will not have the kudos of a proper engine nor of course proper gearbox. you ,as always, only get what you pay for, it is also true that the Beta Tug fakery sometimes gets laughed at as do blinged up RNs. Because of this real men of both sexes have Nationals and Petters and gentlemen have Kelvins and those beyond Upminster have L**ters

 

Kudos my ARSE!

[churchward]

Kudos my ARSE!

I think you over estimate the potential attraction of your rear end dear sir!

[Athy]

It looks the part, but when people hear it coming they will think you've come to plough the canal.

[alan_fincher]

It looks the part, but when people hear it coming they will think you've come to plough the canal.

Is that the JD3, or the arse ?

[churchward]

Is that the JD3, or the arse ?

I guess according to some it may be indistinguishable!

[soldthehouse]

I would be intrested in hearing how this engine performs?Good or Bad,Thanks,Mike.

I presume this is a replacement engine your proposing, If so just disconnect one of the injectors on whatever engine you have now and start it up, that will give you some idea of the bd3 effect

[Albion]

I would be intrested in hearing how this engine performs?Good or Bad,Thanks,Mike.

 

A mate of mine has one in a 62ft Hudson and it is fine, plenty of grunt (couldn't keep up with my Gardner 4LK on the tidal Thames from Limehouse to Teddington though ). The only slight criticism I have of the engine is that it is a little bit clattery, not harsh but a little bit clattery, tickety, clattery while it's running. It's fairly compact so the engine room shouldn't need to be too huge

Roger

[GUMPY]

A mate of mine has one in a 62ft Hudson and it is fine, plenty of grunt (couldn't keep up with my Gardner 4LK on the tidal Thames from Limehouse to Teddington though ).

 

Thats not your engine performing its the hull shape.

neither Idleness or Draco could keep up with Willy No name on the Severn and all he had as an engine was a kingfisher

[Byeckerslike]

Well. I must admit that I had neutral opinions on these engines until I had the misfortune to happen upon a "Lame Duck" at Braunston (Why on earth I am a "Lame Duck" magnet is beyond me!!), but, please do read on.

 

I first noticed this new "tug boat" passing our overnight mooring at Braunston, and made a mental note that the swim was way out of water, by at least 15cm (6" to you imperial die-hards!!). We soon met up with this single handed boat after the first locks out of Braunston, and I made the unfortunate comment that his arse-end seemed to be too high out of the water, he quickly explained that this gleaming brand new tug-style boat was a sail away, proudly fitted with a Beta Marine 3 cylinder "Tug Engine", and that the inside was totally empty. I asked to wither his destination was bound and he naively replied that he was duty bound bound for fair St. Albans in but four days!

 

After I stopped laughing, he asked if we had a spare lighter, (for he had purchased a new camping gaz stove, with no means of igniting the gas - for he was indeed a none-smoker)! It turns out that wretch of an individual had also purchased a 5,000,000 candle power torch, but had failed to charge it prior to going through Braunston Tunnel - yes, his mega-torch failed to provide illumination in 5 minutes flat!, apparently, he met 4 boats coming in the opposite direction!. He had even purchased a new sleeping bag, but not a bed roll, or camping bed.

 

We (Heather and I), helped him up the through the rest of the locks out of Braunston towards Blisworth - with me doing all the donkey work, we even charged his megga-torch for an hour on our generator! Once we reach the locks at the top of the Buckby flight, I went on-line to check the canal route finder, I had to tell the guy that he had but 137 miles to go. He wanted to be there in four days, I told him that was totally impossible and that it would take at least 8 days of hard slog!

 

I noticed that every time time he engaged drive there was a clap of thunder, his whole boat quivered and shook, until his swim was under water and the prop finally began to work. He had sailed from Hillmorton, with no means of trimming his ballast, his bow was weighed down by of full tank of water, but he had no means of draining his tank. He had no platform to stand upon and he had to stand on the gunnels, well forward of the tiller. All this time, the exhaust was belching out loads of smoke - we even christened him "Sooty", for his face was covered in exhaust smut.

 

We approached the Blisworth Tunnel as it was getting dark, and Heather was keen to push on through the tunnel, in the blind belief that the tunnel would be empty, I reluctantly agreed, and with Heather at the tiller, and "Lame Duck" behind, with his mega-torch blazing a path through the tunnel we duly entered. Within 5 minutes his mega-torch died, I had to rush up to the stern of our boat and attempt to illuminate his way with a small hand torch. I had previously purchased a 60 bulb LED inspection lamp, that I kept in the back of of the control panel, I turned this on, and luckily, it had enough luminance for him to follow us through the rest of the Blisworth Tunnel, but I must admit that there was one or two scary moments when his boat's bows tried to over-take our stern!!

 

Through various contacts that I have, we manage to find him means of having his boat sailed down to St. Alban's, and my sincere thanks goes out to all who have been involved.

 

I must admit, that once we had ceased laughing, Lame Duck was a like-able and generous guy, and we both wish him well with his naively ill-planned journey!

[robkg]

They are ok but they will not have the kudos of a proper engine nor of course proper gearbox. you ,as always, only get what you pay for, it is also true that the Beta Tug fakery sometimes gets laughed at as do blinged up RNs. Because of this real men of both sexes have Nationals and Petters and gentlemen have Kelvins and those beyond Upminster have L**ters

I,m not sure if the gentleman comment is a compliment or not, but our boat is powered by a Kelvin K2.

My last boat had a Ruston 2VSO. I have in the past spent a few days on a boat fitted with a Beta Tug engine.

If you want a nice sounding, nice looking engine get a genuine vintage (The Russell Newbury or Gardners are possibly exceptions).

If you want a modern, hidden away, quiet as possible engine, then I suppose the Beta engine is a possibility (but not the quietest)

But if you are planning to get a Beta tug engine with a view to "displaying" it in an engine room:- Don't do it.

 

Rob

[denboy]

They are ok but they will not have the kudos of a proper engine nor of course proper gearbox. you ,as always, only get what you pay for, it is also true that the Beta Tug fakery sometimes gets laughed at as do blinged up RNs. Because of this real men of both sexes have Nationals and Petters and gentlemen have Kelvins and those beyond Upminster have L**ters

I aint one of them

[leolady too]

We have a Beta BD3 Tug. It is in an engine room, forward of a boatmans cabin on a Trad stern. The engine room was added to show off the engine by a previous owner. There are doors either side which allow lots of admiring remarks from people at locks etc. It has lots of brass and copper which I polish and it looks good. It seems (famous last words) to be reliable and is easy to maintain. It seems to have plenty of power (she's 62 ft) although I believe that has to do with gearboxes and props's and other complicated technical things.

 

Everyone who comments says nice things and that does, I have to admit, puff one's feathers up a bit. No one has been rude enough to comment that it's a fake although I know it is really. After all, it is a tractor engine at heart and the exploded parts diagram even says "John Deere" at the top.

 

It isn't really slow revving (compared to a real vintage engine). I am not a lover of vintage engines particularly and if I had a choice I'd have an invisible totally silent engine but my crticisms of what we have are:-

 

It is very noisy. Much more so that a proper vintage engine. You cannot hear anything much at the tiller other than the engine and that includes those on the bank, or passing boats or even someone at the bottom of the steps in the boatman's cabin. Basically, it sounds like a bus and after a day's cruising, that's not too great.

 

The rest of the boat is also affected by the noise but also by vibration because the engine is mounted straight on to steel bearers.

 

The exhaust comes out of the roof and I end up breathing it some of the time, depending on the wind direction.

 

I'd have either a proper vintage with a quiter real sound which doesn't deafen you (and get a long exhaust chimney), or go for a quite silenced modern engine.

 

For every opinion there is someone with the opposite view.

[charles123]

I would go for a 2 cylnder Greaves, one day I am going to visit them and will take a video camera and post it on utube, for my own reasons I want to see if its a viable alternative to an old vintage engine

 

http://www.longboat-engineering.co.uk/pic2ywm.html

 

Charles

[carlt]

for my own reasons I want to see if its a viable alternative to an old vintage engine

If you don't know if it is a "viable alternative" is it a good idea to be recommending them?

 

I do think they look like a nice engine, though.

[Athy]

I am pleasantly surprised to see the Greaves still on sale over here. I assumed that it was a victim of the new emissions regulations introduced two or three years ago. The chap at Longboat Engineering, whose name is something like Phil Jupitus, used to advertise them in the boatimags but no longer does so. I don't think you can buy a Kingfisher engine in the UK any more either.

[canalchris]

I,m not sure if the gentleman comment is a compliment or not, but our boat is powered by a Kelvin K2.

My last boat had a Ruston 2VSO. I have in the past spent a few days on a boat fitted with a Beta Tug engine.

If you want a nice sounding, nice looking engine get a genuine vintage (The Russell Newbury or Gardners are possibly exceptions).

If you want a modern, hidden away, quiet as possible engine, then I suppose the Beta engine is a possibility (but not the quietest)

But if you are planning to get a Beta tug engine with a view to "displaying" it in an engine room:- Don't do it.

 

Rob

snob

[riverwolf]

Many thanks to All!I must say i do like the look of the Greaves engines and the price too!Do we have any members running one of these?Mike. Edited July 27, 2009 by riverwolf

[GUMPY]

I would go for a 2 cylnder Greaves, one day I am going to visit them and will take a video camera and post it on utube, for my own reasons I want to see if its a viable alternative to an old vintage engine

 

http://www.longboat-engineering.co.uk/pic2ywm.html

 

Just a thought that website hasn't been updated since 2004 and most of it was done in 2002.......

[Chertsey]

snob

And what's wrong with that?

[riverwolf]

Woops!!!Oh well,have emailed!