Is this too big for my 22ft yacht

I sent the picture to my Dad as he used to work in submarines... he tells me that that was the engine they used solely to power the batteries, they had an entirely separate one for drive power!

Can't help thinking that installing that in your garage and connecting it to the national grid you could earn your money back in a few years! :D
 
Fantasie 19 said:
I sent the picture to my Dad as he used to work in submarines... he tells me that that was the engine they used solely to power the batteries, they had an entirely separate one for drive power!

Can't help thinking that installing that in your garage and connecting it to the national grid you could earn your money back in a few years! :D
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I have an 87 year old customer who is an ex submarine officer. In the winter of 1947 during the big freeze his submarine and others were used to keep the power on in ports like Plymouth when no fuel could be got to the power stations. There was no National Grid then, but it has been done as near as they could.

Tim
 
I seem to remember hearing the Russians did / do that with their nuclear sub's...

As far as Vern's big engine goes, well I've seen a car with a Spitfire's Merlin engine, ( had 4 front wheels to take the weight ) - I'm sure some MacWesters' have at least that size powerplant ! :)
 
Many years ago I "April fooled" my nephew into thinking I wanted to purchase a Sea Wych (my sister had bought the business) and install a Spitfire engine in it. He didn't even twig it was a spoof when I talked about putting hydrofoils on the bilge keels "so it would get up on the plane" :)
 
Truth is indeed stranger than fiction; I knew someone years ago who swore blind that his Fantasie 19 ( no relation to the fine chap on these forums with that callsign ) did indeed rise up and plane on the tips of its' keels.

I thought this would make a memorable photograph and offered to take it, ( that was my job ) but for some reason he never got round to demonstrating this ocean greyhounds' jet-like performance.

I did get the impression funny substances might be involved, so he may well have thought he was planing on the keel tips ! :rolleyes:
 
From the info so far it is not and ASR1, they had 16 cylinders, the pre war U & V class boats had 6 cylinder engines and were pure diesel electric, no direct drive, a real novelty for the time. It is a shane the plate is not that clear
 
Seajet said:
I seem to remember hearing the Russians did / do that with their nuclear sub's...

As far as Vern's big engine goes, well I've seen a car with a Spitfire's Merlin engine, ( had 4 front wheels to take the weight ) - I'm sure some MacWesters' have at least that size powerplant ! :)
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video of chevy with merlin engine here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIj2GVfua84
 
maxi77 said:
If it did some one has nicked 10 cylinders. The O & P class boats had 16 cylinder engines, though they could run with 14 and balance weights on the last 2. I served in both.
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I need to put you in touch with him as he did too... :D As a kid I remember visiting Porpoise, Oberon, Odin, and Onslow (which was an Oz boat I think) - my abiding memory is of the smell of diesel and cabbage.. :p

Funnily enough he also lives in the Kingdom - are you ex-Babcock/Faslane by any chance? :)

W.r.t the engine we didn't speak long but I seem to remember that he reckoned it was only used for electrical charging, not for propeller stuff....
 
Fantasie 19,

surely the results ( charge ) from the engine would be used when submerged for electrical drive, indeed ' prop stuff ' ?

Seems a bit of a waste having a separate engine to do it - as opposed to diesel / electric as used in ships, but I'm sure they knew what they were doing.

I have a photo somewhere of Dad on the helm in the Solent, with an 'O-boat' close behind, overtaking at speed; we kept saying "there's a ****** submarine behind you ! ", with the reply " Oh, sure..." he refused to look, so was a little rattled when 'Opossum' went past at a rate of knots.

I was lucky to have an ex- 'Jimmy' ( also Fastnet veteran, M.D.) as instructor on a sailing course, a breed apart and a great guy to have on one's side.

I don't know if they're still doing tours around the 'Alliance' at the Sub' Museum, Gosport ( last I saw they'd let her get into a dreadful state, someone should be shot ! ) but when I went on a guided tour years ago the guide was excellent.

I was told by someone who would know that even the nuclear boats still stink of cabbage, and the marine guards lean back to avoid the serious whiff when the hatches are opened at the end of a patrol ! :eek:
 
IIRR, most of the so called 'Spitfire' engined cars actually used RR tank engines which looked similar. Or the Packard Merlins used in MTBs/MGBs.

The old man went to Loughborough, pre-war, and they had their own generating station. Some enterprising types had 'liberated' the units from U-boats after the end of WW1. DC, of course. And I think he said that they supplied some lighting to the town.
 
DownWest said:
IIRR, most of the so called 'Spitfire' engined cars actually used RR tank engines which looked similar. Or the Packard Merlins used in MTBs/MGBs.

The old man went to Loughborough, pre-war, and they had their own generating station. Some enterprising types had 'liberated' the units from U-boats after the end of WW1. DC, of course. And I think he said that they supplied some lighting to the town.
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Some cars did use 'Mercury' land going Merlins adapted as tank engines, and Griffon engines from Shackleton Maritime bombers, but there was at least one car with a real Spifire's Merlin engine; it was red, looked a bit like a Ford Capri, and had 4 front wheels a la Tyrell Formula One car of much the same period; I think it was lost in a fire, but I remember it howling down Dunsfold's runway on a 'Field Day'.

I heard Rolls Royce were very upset about it having their distinctive grille & badge...

Then again they (R.R.)wanted to take the full size version of Lady Penelope's ' FAB 1 ' from 'Thunderbirds' just to crush it, when it was probably the best bit of P.R. they ever could have dreamed of ! :rolleyes:
 
What you need is a PROPER marine diesel engine -

You get some idea of the size by the chaps in the first 2 photos.
It was fun driving one of these beasts - no reverse gear, the whole engine went the other way in astern !
 
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Interestingly the O&P boats which used the ASR1 engines and the U&V boats which used 6 cylinder engines were true diesel electrics with no direct connection between the engines and the shafts. Most other boats had direct drive.

As for cars with aircraft engines there is an long standing precedent with the real Chitty Bang Bangs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitty_Bang_Bang
 
Rowana said:
What you need is a PROPER marine diesel engine -

You get some idea of the size by the chaps in the first 2 photos.
It was fun driving one of these beasts - no reverse gear, the whole engine went the other way in astern !
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Many many years ago I did some work with a small merchant ship that had one of those slow speed diesels, no gear box at all. Coming alongside was always interesting as you stopped and then rung on astern and you heard the air start kick the engine over and hoped it started, nore reliable though than the old dolphin petrol ingines in yachts
 
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