RN DM2 info

[Richardcn]

Hi all

 

Can you give me an understanding of what I would be getting/letting myself in for in buying a boat with an DM2 strapped to it? I'm more than happy to get my hands dirty (my lungs are another topic altogether ). How would it suit a long-term liveaboard distance cruiser? How much is it going to cost to look after her, servicing frequencies etc? And any other comments please. I have read a fair bit from older posts already but need to get a clearer picture please. Also is there anybody on the forum (midlands area - can be more specific later) who would be available to check one over if the need arises?

 

Richard

[Ray T]

This site may be able to help:

 

http://rnregister.org.uk/index.html

 

and the supplier:

 

http://russellnewbery.com/

[billS]

There are a few on he duck at the moment - including Dover...

[Richardcn]

This site may be able to help:

 

http://rnregister.org.uk/index.html

 

and the supplier:

 

http://russellnewbery.com/

There are a few on he duck at the moment - including Dover...

Thanks for the speedy replies guys, I have had a look in those places but they're not really giving me the 'living with' answers that I need. Thanks anyway.

 

Richard

[mrsmelly]

 

Thanks for the speedy replies guys, I have had a look in those places but they're not really giving me the 'living with' answers that I need. Thanks anyway.

 

Richard

 

I have a good friend who lives aboard full time with a RN 3 if he could be of any help I could get in touch?

 

Tim

[Mike Tee]

We lived on board not with a RN. We now have a holiday / weekend boat with a RN.

Given my chance all over again, I would not hesitate to get a liveaboard with a RN. It uses little diesel, we've had ours 5 years and (touch wood, so far) its never missed a beat (and what a beat!!), it has more than enough power to deal with anything likely to occur in normal boating and I just love it!.

Ed Boden has serviced and looked after our boats for 15 years or more. He checked it over and changed oils etc once a year, and if we were doing extra long trips, I'd change the oil myself. Allow about 2 - 3 hours of relatively expensive labour unless doing things yourself. I'd reccomend the RN Owners club as they offer discount spares should you need them, plus if you go to their annual rally, you are in contact with a vast knowledge of th RN beast.

[Richardcn]

I have a good friend who lives aboard full time with a RN 3 if he could be of any help I could get in touch?

 

Tim

Very possibly but I'll see what happens in the next 24 hours and get back to you via pm.

 

Richard

We lived on board not with a RN. We now have a holiday / weekend boat with a RN.

Given my chance all over again, I would not hesitate to get a liveaboard with a RN. It uses little diesel, we've had ours 5 years and (touch wood, so far) its never missed a beat (and what a beat!!), it has more than enough power to deal with anything likely to occur in normal boating and I just love it!.

Ed Boden has serviced and looked after our boats for 15 years or more. He checked it over and changed oils etc once a year, and if we were doing extra long trips, I'd change the oil myself. Allow about 2 - 3 hours of relatively expensive labour unless doing things yourself. I'd reccomend the RN Owners club as they offer discount spares should you need them, plus if you go to their annual rally, you are in contact with a vast knowledge of th RN beast.

Now that sounds positive if ever anybody needed it

 

I thought I read somewhere about 100 hr oil changes and cold start difficulties, can anybidy shed light on thise sort of things please?

 

Richard

[David Mack]

There's a good few boats running around with RN DM2s and the very closely related National 2DMs which are now about 80 years old, so that should give you some confidence that these engines last.

 

Fulbourne's National has no particular problems with cold starting - there are no heater plugs. We have a copy of the manufacturers Erection and Maintenance instructions for the D series (industrial rather than marine), which gives the oil change interval as 450 hours for the 2D - although we change the oil more frequently than that.

Edited April 28, 2015 by David Mack

[Richardcn]

There's a good few boats running around with RN DM2s and the very closely related National 2DMs which are now about 80 years old, so that should give you some confidence that these engines last.

 

Fulbourne's National has no particular problems with cold starting - there are no heater plugs. We have a copy of the manufacturers Erection and Maintenance instructions for the D series (industrial rather than marine), which gives the oil change interval as 450 hours for the 2D - although we change the oil more frequently than that.

Excellent news, thank you David.

 

Richard

[Timleech]

How old is it?

If it's one of the original-ish design, a major repair could cost a lot more than if it's a later (1950s on? not sure) engine with modern con rods and thin walled bearings.

Also, being older the need for major repair could be seen as more likely.

 

Tim

[alan_fincher]

The price of a new one is more than many people pay for a complete boat, (about £20K, before installation, the last I heard).

 

I have heard some horrendous prices quoted for spare parts, and if you look at the cost of a whole engine, perhaps that is not that surprising.

 

That said we were seriously looking at buying a boat that had one, (but a later 198os version of it).

 

Versions of this engines have been made for about 80 years now, so knowing whether you are looking at a 1930s one, or a 21st century one probably has a bearing on the answer.

[Athy]

_{This is only hearsay rather than first-hand experience, but the company has had several owners over the years, and the engines made when it belonged to Vero Engineering in Southampton (c. 1990 to 1998) have a less reliable reputation than those produced before or since.}

 

_{Now of course someone will tell us that he's had a Vero-made one since new and it's been as good as gold...}

[Mike Tee]

I've never seen any statistics on Southampton engines being less reliable, ours is one of them and is fine. This is going back nearly 20 years, so I would think those that were going to fail would have done so by now and would have been repaired. History on an engine is important, so the more you can glean from supplied paperwork the better.

Plus using this forum will help if the boat is known, although its not easy owning up to an interest in a (perhaps) historic boat as everyone has an opinion - and who knows whether that opinion is accurate!!!

[Athy]

I've never seen any statistics on Southampton engines being less reliable, ours is one of them and is fine. This is going back nearly 20 years, so I would think those that were going to fail would have done so by now and would have been repaired. History on an engine is important, so the more you can glean from supplied paperwork the better.

Plus using this forum will help if the boat is known, although its not easy owning up to an interest in a (perhaps) historic boat as everyone has an opinion - and who knows whether that opinion is accurate!!!

I rest my case m'lud! This could be good news for Richard, though.

[alan_fincher]

There are a few on he duck at the moment - including Dover...

 

I'm quite surprised how many.

 

Can easily find at least 8 narrow boats for sale on there with DM2s. Build dates from about 1985 to 2009. Prices as low as £32K, but up to £85K.

 

I had not really expected there to be this many.

 

However, if you are offered this one tread carefully. The owner has a habit of deciding he is not selling after all!

[captain birdseye]

I have a DM2 in my boat and it is at least as easy to look after as any modern engine. Check the oil before setting off, turn the key and go. Change the oil and filters, the same as any other engine and that's about it. Apart from the nice sound and good looks that is.

Far nicer than either of the modern four cylinder engines I our last two boats, and dare I say it than the JP2 in one of our other previous boats.

Only had the boat for two years but still can't stop smiling every time I am on the back steering it

Purely a subjective opinion of course

Edited April 28, 2015 by captain birdseye

[mrsmelly]

To the OP you have some good responses here and would not wish to sway you either way. Only thing you now need to ask is how many of the clunk clunk engine users actualy do live aboard FULL time every day, winter and summer year after year. Some of them will but remember that battery charging off grid is a very major part of full time living aboard so you need to know if the engine is at all intrusive and are they used as a prime charging source. If they are as good as a modern engine then yipee and they may well be I have never lived with a RN however I have LIVED with Listers in engine rooms and berlimey you know they are running wherever you are in the boat.

 

Tim

[captain birdseye]

Tim, it depends whether you are talking about a water or air cooled lister. A water cooled JP sounds a lot different to an air cooled HR for instance. No I don't live aboard full time, but find the engine noise quite pleasant when running it to charge batteries, but I will say not as quiet as a cacooned modern engine. It all depends what you want.

 

Edited to get rid of annoying auto correct

Edited April 28, 2015 by captain birdseye

[mrsmelly]

Tim, it depends whether you are talking about a water or air cooled lister. A water cooled JP sounds a lot different to an air cooled HE for instance. No I don't live aboard full time, but find the engine noise quite pleasant when running it to charge batteries, but I will say not as quiet as a cacooned modern engine. It all depends what you want.

 

Hi

 

Yes thats all fine I am not knocking whatever peeps have I just want the OP to understand all aspects of living aboard full time and charging batteries is often overlooked by new people as for obvious reasons they have lived a life plugged in to the mains as we all once did. This forum is great and all knowledge is good knowledge but for prospective liveaboards I personaly like to inform them there is a huge difference to weekending or just a few months now and then to full time living aboard.

 

Tim

[Timleech]

_{This is only hearsay rather than first-hand experience, but the company has had several owners over the years, and the engines made when it belonged to Vero Engineering in Southampton (c. 1990 to 1998) have a less reliable reputation than those produced before or since.}

 

_{Now of course someone will tell us that he's had a Vero-made one since new and it's been as good as gold...}

 

I believe that one issue during the Vero period was that they ran out of one type of cam, ISTR inlet cams. Rather than getting a new batch made, they simply assembled both camshafts with the same type of cam. The engines worked, but people spent frustrating hours and days tweaking the settings trying and failing to get a clean exhaust.

 

Tim

[Richardcn]

I have a DM2 in my boat and it is at least as easy to look after as any modern engine. Check the oil before setting off, turn the key and go. Change the oil and filters, the same as any other engine and that's about it. Apart from the nice sound and good looks that is.

Far nicer than either of the modern four cylinder engines I our last two boats, and dare I say it than the JP2 in one of our other previous boats.

Only had the boat for two years but still can't stop smiling every time I am on the back steering it

Purely a subjective opinion of course

Loving the boat love Captain Gives me confidence that it wouldn't necessarily be a bad decision to have one. How old is your engine?

 

Richard

[Richardcn]

To the OP you have some good responses here and would not wish to sway you either way. Only thing you now need to ask is how many of the clunk clunk engine users actualy do live aboard FULL time every day, winter and summer year after year. Some of them will but remember that battery charging off grid is a very major part of full time living aboard so you need to know if the engine is at all intrusive and are they used as a prime charging source. If they are as good as a modern engine then yipee and they may well be I have never lived with a RN however I have LIVED with Listers in engine rooms and berlimey you know they are running wherever you are in the boat.

 

Tim

Tim, it depends whether you are talking about a water or air cooled lister. A water cooled JP sounds a lot different to an air cooled HR for instance. No I don't live aboard full time, but find the engine noise quite pleasant when running it to charge batteries, but I will say not as quiet as a cacooned modern engine. It all depends what you want.

Edited to get rid of annoying auto correct

That is a very good point Tim and as we have only relatively recently come across to considering this type of boat and setup I'm glad that you have brought it up, this is the forum (and its members) doing what it does best. However, at quite an early stage in our planning (early last year IIRC) we decided that we were going to have solar and a gas converted gennie to avoid excessive engine usage and wear & tear (we are aware of all the aspects of owning/using a gennie, I researched it until my head popped) so that may not be too much of an issue in our case. I was thinking, in fact, that with a bit of clever design MAYBE having the engine room could provide safe running space for said genny. Of course I am aware of the danger from the exhaust (the same as if it were petrol basically) but with the right set up, canal side hatch open, security grid on the towpath side hatch (open) etc maybe there's a way to avoid the in use theft risk there? I don't know for certain and I'm not going to do anything stupid, just saying maybe.

 

Keep the good info coming, IT REALLY IS HELPING

 

Richard

[MoominPapa]

That is a very good point Tim and as we have only relatively recently come across to considering this type of boat and setup I'm glad that you have brought it up, this is the forum (and its members) doing what it does best. However, at quite an early stage in our planning (early last year IIRC) we decided that we were going to have solar and a gas converted gennie to avoid excessive engine usage and wear & tear (we are aware of all the aspects of owning/using a gennie, I researched it until my head popped) so that may not be too much of an issue in our case. I was thinking, in fact, that with a bit of clever design MAYBE having the engine room could provide safe running space for said genny. Of course I am aware of the danger from the exhaust (the same as if it were petrol basically) but with the right set up, canal side hatch open, security grid on the towpath side hatch (open) etc maybe there's a way to avoid the in use theft risk there? I don't know for certain and I'm not going to do anything stupid, just saying maybe.

 

Keep the good info coming, IT REALLY IS HELPING

 

Richard

Do not. Repeat. Do not run a gas or petrol generator in an engine room. If the CO doesn't get you, the gas or petrol vapour explosions will.

 

We live aboard and have a thump-thump engine that rattles the whole boat when running. We very rarely run it for battery charging,

that's done with a petrol suitcase generator. When we're likely to need that is when we're hanging out in a secluded country mooring,

so there's no-one for it to annoy, and no-one to nick it. I just put it in the towpath hedge in a long lead, far enough from the

boat that we can't hear the noise either.

 

MP.

 

ETA Solar is good. It doesn't have to be massive. If the solar makes power at half the rate you use it, then it takes

twice as long for the batteries to go flat and the generator to come out.....

Edited April 28, 2015 by MoominPapa

[Rufford]

It is possible to fit a diesel generator in an engine room with an engine already installed, thats the best bet.

[captain birdseye]

Loving the boat love Captain Gives me confidence that it wouldn't necessarily be a bad decision to have one. How old is your engine?

 

Richard

She's a late eighties Dagenham built. If you are going to have a genny get something like a diesel Panda properly plumbed in. If you do buy one get it checked out and join the owners club. Out of interest where would you be based