Nanni engines and Becton Bunny heating

[songbird2]

Hi

Ive been looking at a boat that has a Nanni 420 engine and a diesel...I think...Becton Bunny heating system. Any one have any experience or advice about either they could give me? I'm a boating newbie...learning fast

[Athy]

We had a Becton Bunny in our last boat. It had a back boiler which drove radiators. Couldn't fault it, plenty of heat, but it was solid fuel, not diesel.

[songbird2]

Thanks for that. The stove was solid fuel but I thought they said the central heating was diesal? Is that possible?

[Guest User]

I've used http://www.peachment.co.uk/ for Nanni spares, always found them very helpful.

[JDR]

Totally possible to have a diesel fired central heating system and a solid fuel stove on the same boat.Common makes are Eberspacher, Webasto, Mikuni and Hurricane. Have a look in the Building and Maintenance section to get an idea of the pros and cons.

[JDR]

Nanni don't make engines they convert engines so they can be used in boats (marinise). They are high quality and normally based on Kubota or similar base engines.They are more common in yachts than narrowboats.Check how powerful the engine is, anything much over 30-40hp is overpowered for a narrowboat IMHO.

[Athy]

A.R. Peachment are the UK main distributors for Nanni, which are Asian-built engines marinised in Italy.

Songbird, not only is it possible to have a solid fuel stove and diesel C.H. - it is desirable. If one heat source lets you down, you have got back-up to keep you warm. So in that respect at least, the boat looks a good bet.

[songbird2]

Hi

Thanks to all for the useful responses. The engines power is 420 HP( 313.32Kw)according to a website. Is that too much? Sorry, engines not my strong point at the moment...Im sure they will be : )

[alan_fincher]

Hi

Thanks to all for the useful responses. The engines power is 420 HP( 313.32Kw)according to a website. Is that too much? Sorry, engines not my strong point at the moment...Im sure they will be : )

If that's correct, I take it we are not talking about a canal narrow boat then ?!!?

 

42 HP would be adequate in most - 420 HP would produce somethiung it was simply not possible to make go slow enough, (to put it mildly)

 

Either it's not that engine, or I guess we are talking a very much larger boat ??

[JDR]

What type of boat is it? A six cylinder 320hp turbo diesel isn't a narrowboat engine.Could be a typo-one of the smaller Kubota lumps?

[bizzard]

Perhaps its the Aston Martin DB7 Cabriolet engine, same max output.

[JDR]

Ìf the boat in question is Steel Aweigh at Barton Turns it is listed on Jim Shead's site as 50hp.

[songbird2]

Ìf the boat in question is Steel Aweigh at Barton Turns it is listed on Jim Shead's site as 50hp.

It is and the man at the sales office said it was 36-37 hp. Who is Jim Shead? Its a nanni 420 which apparently is a converted Kubota engine. The survey says its fine.

[JDR]

Jim Shead has a website with details of his travels plus a very useful search engine that allows you to search for a boat by name and other search terms.The engine will probably be based on the same 4cyl Kubota engine that Betamarine call a Beta 38.Stupidly reliable, very economical to run and easy to service.

[Guest User]

It is and the man at the sales office said it was 36-37 hp. Who is Jim Shead? Its a nanni 420 which apparently is a converted Kubota engine. The survey says its fine.

 

Nanni engine numbers have the first number separated from the next two by a decimal point ... If I recall correctly the first digit indicates the number of cylinders. I suspect you might have the 4.20HE which is listed as 43hp.

 

(edited to add: If you go to the A.R.Peachment site and look at the shop section for service parts you can find engine model listings e.g. if you look up glow plugs http://peachmentshop.co.uk/catalog/heater-plug-glow-plug-p-780.html you'll see there's a drop-down menu that lists most of the engine models.)

Edited September 26, 2012 by Graham!