PBO Article from late seventies Conversion of Outboard to TVO or Paraffin

[tobytronicstereophonic]

I read one of my dad's PBO articles and it was how to convert one of the numerous low HP 2-stroke outboard motors to run on paraffin. I've searched for the last 40 years to find a copy of the magazine. I can remember a few passages word for word.

My late father was the most wonderful person. We built a brick garage together when I was eight. I hand-mixed the entire concrete foundations and mortar for it.
He then bought an 18-ft fibreglass hull. £90, but he had to promise to give up smoking...
I helped him build the cruiser. He taught me so, so much. Spent his entire Christmas holiday building me a KeilKraft Phantom balsa model aircraft, Cox .8cc glow-plug engine.

The article would mean so much to me as it was ten years since he passed away.
I still have the British Anzani 4hp outboard. Never run, in my workshop.
If anyone can help with a copy of the magazine:
It was around three pages in total. Discussed TVO or tractor vaporising oil as an alternative to paraffin. The need to start on petrol, lowering compression ratio, the sentence "paraffin has a sickly smell" stands out in my memory?
Mid to late seventies to early eighties?
Thanks in advance, Donald.

 

[rotrax]

I have done this with a motorbike.

All I did was turn the paraffin off and let the engine stop. A small -one pint-oil tin with a tap soldered in the bottom and a bit of fuel pipe allowed me to pull off the paraffin supply pipe, attach the petrol pipe from the one pint tin, fill and tickle the Villiers carb and start it up next time from cold. Once going on a carb full of petrol, the tap was turned off, pipes swopped over and the paraffin turned on.

We used to roar around the fields on this old three speed Fanny Barnett. Using paraffin made it cheaper........................

 

[scottie]

We used to have an old gaff cutter circa 1890 with a petrol paraffin AilsaCraig or thorneycroft on one occasion he ran the said engine on release oil in error he had access to both from the works and the storeman was anxiously waiting his reaction on return from summer cruise
Any problems he was asked no engine just leaked more than usual the reply

 

[neil_s]

Evening hay - making with the Allis Chalmers model B TVO tractor. It ran a little rich on paraffin so always had an eerie blue flame above it's exhaust pipe.

 

[LittleSister]

A friend bought a boat with an old petrol start / paraffin run inboard engine in it. This would have been late 70s or early 80s, I think. He replaced the engine, and donated it to a museum! (Museum somewhere around Pitsea Marshes, Essex, IIRC?)

 

[dgadee]

Ferguson tractors were petrol/paraffin. The wee gray one which replaced my grandfather's horse in the 1950s. Is my memory correct?

 

[Sandro]

we have a very old Pasquali rototiller (correct term?) with a Lombardini petrol/paraffin engine.
The cilindrical tank is divided in two sections; the fuel tap has two inputs and three positions: shut, petrol, paraffin.
Rust has pierced through the internal partition, so it is all paraffin. To start we just pour some petrol in the air filter.

 

[Slowboat35]

Surely an engine would have to be designed to be dual-fuel, or were earlier and cruder engines just more forgiving?
istr that Fergies came in different guises, straight petrol and - was it called 'gas-oil' - petrol/diesel spark ignition hybrids?
Surely no normal traditional petrol engine will run on kerosene? thinking say 1960s/70s 4 cyl Fords?
Still , if a Franny Barnett did so - or are two-strokes different?

 

[rotrax]

Surely an engine would have to be designed to be dual-fuel, or were earlier and cruder engines just more forgiving?
istr that Fergies came in different guises, straight petrol and - was it called 'gas-oil' - petrol/diesel spark ignition hybrids?
Surely no normal traditional petrol engine will run on kerosene? thinking say 1960s/70s 4 cyl Fords?
Still , if a Franny Barnett did so - or are two-strokes different?

I did not know if it would work until I tried it. Petrol was four shillings and sixpence a gallon IIRC. Paraffin was half a crown. No contest at 15 years old.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

When in Svalbard on field work, we once refueled our skidoos from the wrong drum, and they ran fine on Avtur (basically kerosene) rather than 2-stroke mix. Pretty smoky, but they ran!

 

[B27]

I remember petrol/TVO tractors.
Start on petrol, switch to TVO when the engine is warm.
These were old tractors in mid 70s, only dragged out for peak haymaking time.
This was on a farm where the 'newer' tractor had a pre-65 reg no.

I recall my Dad loaning a mower to a a 'friend' who rain it on paraffin, which seemed to do it no good at all!

Some of the Yacht Clubs have libraries with old bound volumes of the comics, I don't think mine has any PBO, but I will look tomorrow.
I don't know if any part of the public library service would have copies?

 

[scottie]

Surely an engine would have to be designed to be dual-fuel, or were earlier and cruder engines just more forgiving?
istr that Fergies came in different guises, straight petrol and - was it called 'gas-oil' - petrol/diesel spark ignition hybrids?
Surely no normal traditional petrol engine will run on kerosene? thinking say 1960s/70s 4 cyl Fords?
Still , if a Franny Barnett did so - or are two-strokes different?

You are trying to compare mid sixties with mid thirties remember and that’s 80-90 vintage

 

[tobytronicstereophonic]

Thank you so much for the replies!
One year on and no success finding the PBO article. I'm usually quite good at finding things too.
I recently found the British Anzani outboard motor, a Super Single (?) which is new and unrun from when he bought it mail order from he Freeman's mail order catalogue.
I need to improve my carpentry skills to make a suitable dinghy for it.
Have a great Easter weekend on the water or at B&Q

 

[fredrussell]

I would write a letter to PBO with this query. Your opening post very much captures the spirit of PBO - I’m sure they would be keen to help. I love the idea of a father and son building a boat together. Must have been a fantastic project!

 

[Thistle]

I would write a letter to PBO with this query. Your opening post very much captures the spirit of PBO - I’m sure they would be keen to help. I love the idea of a father and son building a boat together. Must have been a fantastic project!

Failing which, you may find that the British Library may hold a copy. In both cases it would help if you could narrow down the date of the issue to a few months.

 

[dgadee]

Failing which, you may find that the British Library may hold a copy. In both cases it would help if you could narrow down the date of the issue to a few months.

They suffered a cyber attack and the catalogue is down. You also need to apply for a reader's pass. The BL's magazine holdings were never too extensive.

 

[Rappey]

I repaired a yamaha 8 2t last year that ran on petrol and kerosene. The fuel piping from both sources to carb was a little complex but other than that it was like any other engine.
Yamaha, tohatsu, suzuki and many Chinese manufacturers still make kerosene outboards up to 40hp aimed at the Asian market as they can get kerosene up to a third off the cost of petrol.