Jump to content

gardner 4lw


kris88

Featured Posts

30 years ago I was passing under a bridge on tick-over when I highly knowledgeable sort stroked his beard and nodded towards my HA2.

"Gardner?" He queried.

"Human Resources Manager" I corrected him.

just call me "Chauncey" is tempting too.

 

With ref to Peter Sellers' greatest film "Being There".

Edited by mark99
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We viewed Echo last spring. Lovely boat with a gorgeous engine but not a liveaboard and not enough headroom for anyone 6ft tall. Also bathroom is tiny and no stove in the back cabin so anyone sleeping in there outside of summer is gonna be cold.

 

 

Anyone who has seen our engine room cannot fail to see the copious "Gardner" engine badges plastered all over..... but I still get asked by beardy types who look inside "is it a Lister?"

 

image11.gif

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:) bless 'em.

 

IIRC there are 9 (maybe 10) Gardner ID's in the engine room. Here is one side

 

IMAG2778_zpscc0167e3.jpg

 

And this, amongst others is on the other side.

 

_35_zps71ad0e2b.jpg

 

Very nice??

Edited by Cloudinspector
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Yes I get this too!

 

I tend to just answer 'yes!', as them as ask clearly don't know their Gleniffers from thems Kelvins.

 

 

MtB

I used to get that with the Seffle. In a lock one day, I had a guy that said " your Bolinder doesn't sound right',when I inquired as to why he replied"It's not missing your fuel pump pecker is set up all wrong, you want to get it fixed before you break something , because if you've been running it like that it"s obvious you know nothing about it" When I told him it wasn't a Bollinder his reply was " well if you are so thick you don't even know the make of engine you've got, it's a lost cause to get it to run right,. I'm a Bollinder expert you know"., by that time the lock was full so I motored out. A couple of months later, i was in the area having a drink in the pub with a couple of working boat mates, when same guy came in. I had not said anything, but he must have shot his mouth off about me. Did he get some stick in the time it took him to down his pint. He left with my mates words, & his Bl***y Bolinder still sounds funny

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used an open-topped Rover for a couple of years as my daily drive, and there was a very short list of stock questions that it could be guaranteed that people would ask.

 

The boat I have now has a 4LW hidden deep in the bowels, with no external identification, so we're spared the usual gongoozler or 'expert' questions. Just occasionally someone who really knows, based on the sound, will ask whether it's a Gardner. Otherwise the stock question is "was it (or occasionally is it still) steam?". I don't mind that, it's a perfectly reasonable question given the big funnel and general appearance.

 

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gongoozlers can be useful. Each year when we moor for the Cropredy Festival I give the engine a good clean, affix a brief history of it to the engine room side doors, and invite people who have enjoyed looking at it, listening to it and photographing it to toss a coin into a dish beside it. This money goes to the Cotswold Canals Trust. Last year we raised £29.

 

The idea came from Mrs. Athy who, about four years ago, noticed that a lot of passers-by would pause to look at the engine, and some would take photos of it (they usually asked first). She jokingly said that we should charge people for looking, and from that came the fund-raising notion, as we had recently joined the Cotswold trust. So far the 2LW has raised over £100 for the cause. I realise that it's not the world's greatest engine and the amount raised isn't huge, but every little helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't reliably recognise engines from their sound, my hearing is shot and I struggle to manage a conversation in a noisy place. It all becomes a blur.

 

I'm inclined to be most interested in air cooled Listers but the Gardner is a well engineered thing of beauty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't reliably recognise engines from their sound, my hearing is shot and I struggle to manage a conversation in a noisy place. It all becomes a blur.

 

I'm inclined to be most interested in air cooled Listers but the Gardner is a well engineered thing of beauty.

I guess that air-cooled Listers, for example of the SR species, can be heard some way off by anyone who is not actually stone deaf! Don't get me wrong, I do like the sound.

 

Thanks for the kind words about Gardners. I suspect that Mrs. Athy might consider ours more of a thing of beauty if it was green instead of grey.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess that air-cooled Listers, for example of the SR species, can be heard some way off by anyone who is not actually stone deaf! Don't get me wrong, I do like the sound.

 

Thanks for the kind words about Gardners. I suspect that Mrs. Athy might consider ours more of a thing of beauty if it was green instead of grey.

 

Green is a perfectly legitimate colour for Gardners ;)

 

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Green is a perfectly legitimate colour for Gardners wink.png

 

Tim

Yes, I've heard that some were outshopped in green, also red and I have even seen silver ones in buses. But I am referring to the engine's aesthetic appeal. Ours has always been grey so that's the colour that I want to keep it.

 

One of the most visually appealing engines I have ever seen was in fact royal blue - a three-cylinder Kelvin (J3?), utterly immaculate, in a boat called Eclipse which moored near us last year. As well as the dazzling appearance, the sound had to be heard to be believed: it was like a whole rhythm section rather than just a beat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Yes I get this too!

 

I tend to just answer 'yes!', as them as ask clearly don't know their Gleniffers from thems Kelvins.

 

 

MtB

 

Yep so do I. Kelvins are very confusing beasts. All that copper and brass ought to signify a steam engine and spark plugs on a diesel - what's that all about?

Mind you I've several times been asked about the power steering on the butty and one gongoozler, spotting the hydraulic pipes, wanted to know how the brakes worked.wacko.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I've heard that some were outshopped in green, also red and I have even seen silver ones in buses. But I am referring to the engine's aesthetic appeal. Ours has always been grey so that's the colour that I want to keep it.

 

I don't recall ever seeing a red Gardner, but green, black and white are all potentially authentic colours.

I did once have a blue 2L2, but I doubt that was the original colour.

 

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I don't recall ever seeing a red Gardner, but green, black and white are all potentially authentic colours.

I did once have a blue 2L2, but I doubt that was the original colour.

 

Tim

 

 

I used to look after a pair of Mather & Platt fire pumps driven by 6LWs that were painted a scarlet harlot red. As bad as it sounds.sick.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.