Stuart Twin

Does this mean you are coming out of retirement George? :-) The P55 (assuming it is one of they and not the diesel) is a very pretty engine but not light. Apart from all the usual and obvious checks I'd make sure the water cooled exhaust chamber is sound. New ones from Fairway Marine would require a re-mortgage. ttfn

Been here all the while Roland, I really like the exchanges on this group but there are far more knowledgeable people here than myself.

Due to family and health problems I have not been able to rally for the last 18 months so have not had any real contribution to make.

Our first rally in 18 months brought offers of several engines our way so things might just get interesting over the next week or two while we follow them up.

Think I might just have a dabble at the Stuart, the price is very low and polished up I might persuade herself that it would make a nice ornament next to the hot air engine over the winter.

Will let the group know how we get on and take some pictures.

Regards

In message , Roland and Celia Craven writes

Many thanks for your reply Colin,

I have downloaded the manual and parts list from Internal Fire and have found some pics and a write up of a restoration at

Could have thrown the singles my way........8-)

Once again thanks to all that have answered. I promise to post some pics when I have the engine.

Regards

In message , Colin Osborne writes

There must be a lot of ST stuff about. I'm quite attracted to their products and have - more or less by accident - gained three P55 marine engines, two P55 industrial engines, two dinky little model N marines and an early model P (hi Pete!)

They are bloody heavy as has been said and the twin blocks in particular are very prone to salt water corrosion and (I suppose) frosting. One of the marine blocks I have is virtually useless - the bores are fine, but the jacket is so badly split away from the base, the core plug holes - you name it - and this from salt water corrosion. I'm not one to give up easily and I spent hours cleaning the block, washing and drying it, boiling water, vinegar etc to try to neutralise the salt that had crept into the casting. But clean though it was, a day or so in the dry conditions of my well insulated workshop would see lines of tell tale rust bubbles forming as the salt pulled yet more water out of the air. I gave up eventually and used a spare set that I had been given - even those were split across the top of the water jacket access plate as so many are, but Araldite fixed that one.

Thirsty brutes for their size, but as Roland pointed out to me, they are powerful for their mass. 7 hp and 8 hp for the higher revving P66. Imagine the mass and consumption of - say - a Ruston Hornsby 7IP

There is also a P5 in the garden all covered up now I think of it................

Regards,

Kim Siddorn.

Don't do that again - yell in this direction!

Brian L Dominic

NB Rumpus

Web Sites: NB Rumpus:

With this talk of Stuart singles, I did see a very attractive restored marine single on a wooden plinth at a local West Wales rally last weeke.

My eye was caught by the info board claim that "many" of the Dunkirk boats used 1.5hp engines. I'm a big fan of good info boards at rallies, so I'm very curious. I wouldn't like to be in the Channel in any form of rough weather or time pressure with a 1.5hp pushing me along, but I'm well aware that beggars couldn't be choosers at that time ..........

The P55 line was typically driving boats from 20-30ft, but the P5 & predecessors would normally have driven much smaller boats, unless on permanently still water.

I can easily understand that the twins were active around Dunkirk, but would be interested in any feedback that confirms that the singles did make it. It would be an amazing feat of endurance for engine & boatman..... & well worth a good write-up in SEM. I know folk have rowed over in baths, coracles etc, but that's a bit different from being part of a flotilla, under fire, in the dark, & needing room to pick up folk.

There's always a big parade of Dunkirk boat survivors at the Traditional Boat Rally at Henley (due any week now), but most of those are 30ft+, & no singles to be seen.

Incidentally, there are usually a few Stuarts on display at that show(most appropriate, given the locality & the subject!). Last year, the company that today makes Stuarts was also there with engines & many spares.

Colin

Snip

It is very likely that the claim is true. Small Stuarts were often used as auxiliary engines in yachts. Others were used in fishing boats of the time as a wing engine, when tow-lining the main engine was shutdown and the small engine was run at more or less maximum revs which gave an ideal speed and good fuel economy for the task. Tow-lining was usually done at less than three knots and even very small engines have little trouble getting a 30 or so foot boat up to that speed or more, if going in the same direction as or across the tide.

Apparently many quite small boats were towed across for use to transport troops from the beach to boats with draughts which did not allow them to reach the shallows.

Changing the subject slightly, it seems that more and more marine engines are appearing on the rally scene, I recently saw a single cylinder Albinco and a Norman with quite a few Stuarts at the recent VVMS show. If I recall correctly a two cylinder Albinco was fitted in a fishing boat which I used in the late 50's early 60's. They were fairly uncommon at the time, most of the smaller fishing boats were fitted with either a Stuart or a Brit, the very small ones with an outboard, usually a Seagull. The Stuart had a good reputation for reliability but was not liked by those whose fishing methods involved leaving the engine at idle speed for any length of time, in those circumstances they were notorious for oiling up the plug and cutting out, not a huge problem if a mile or two off-shore, but when pulling lobster pots near rocks in an onshore wind it's the last thing you need.

One fishing boat I had a share in was fitted with a two cylinder hand start Thornycroft diesel engine, this had a decompression device which had a wheel with seven (if I recall correctly) pegs on the end of a shaft, with each turn of the handle a lever behind it hit a peg until the seventh one, when the decompressor closed. If you were feeling really fit the thing usually sprang into life but if you were not up to speed by the time it closed the handle stopped dead which was pretty painful.

Many thanks gents for the information in reply to my question regarding the purchase of the Stuart Twin.

It did indeed follow me home during the week and currently resides in the trailer from where it will have to move under cover.

Following another lead which came from our last rally I have just returned from Dark Satanic mill country where I have agreed to aquire several interesting pieces which include a Lister D petrol/paraffin which looks like a rust bucket but only missing a few bits, a compressor of unknown origin and a Chaff cutter which I am assured was run by the Lister D on a local farm. These will be collected next weekend.

There were several air cooled engines available at the same time and the guy seemed to be just the sort to find our type of odds and sods on a regular basis.

One more lead to follow up from the same rally so perhaps the winter projects will increase yet again.

Once again many thanks for your help.