Ok thanks it was me cofused with the talk of two engines on flea bay .. ok got it now..

peter

HI Peter
My engine is absolutely new and unrun it was tiggy_cat who had the engine refurbed.
Graham

tiggy_cat
your comment was that you where talking about 1972ish I was pointing out that I had mine well befor that. I had been asking graham where he had it restored.

Peter

Wish I understood any part of Peters last comment

tiggy_cat

I think you missed a "0" off the rover 2000 came out in 1963 we where getting the new TC version so that would have been 1967 ...

Peter

HI Peter

Remember we are talking about 1972 ish. Nurthens who made the Gannet were still going,just, so it went back to them. They refitted the magneto which it had had originally but had been removed and generally checked it over
they also told us that the original owners had been RCS who had several shops nationally selling kits, r/c equipment etc. They also did a lot of film work etc, so who knows what the Gannet had been used for

I got my Gannet the year the rover 2000 came out, my Father drove to Manchester to buy one and we came back with a Gannet oh and a car soon after, he was sick of helping me try to start the ED Racer that I still have, mine came in a mahogany box with magneto all felt lined.funny enough the racer was in a yes you guessed it a fire tender

so you got a bargin who did the refurb ?

peter

HI Peter,
Including the cost of the refurb on Ians engine making a total of A£50 for his engine in 1972 then the price increase is about 1000% to today !!
I had a Taplin twin too which was fitted in an RM2 in 1963.
I sold the Taplin to a guy in the states a couple of years ago for A£255, I bought it second hand for A£5-00 from Geoff Tipton who at the time worked at Bootle St model shop in Manchester.I was still at school then and bought the Taplin to replace a Force 10 which was a problem to start, the transfer ports were huge, a different piston would probably have cured the problem.
I still have the RM2 model although it is in quite poor condition at the moment. I have also bought another Force 10 engine recently which I was going to fit in My big fire boat until the Gannet came along.
Graham

HI Peter

I think that the magneto equipped one cost my old Dad and I something like A£25 back in 1972, then about the same to have Nurthen's the makers tidy it. The second was part of a little collection of a Gannet, a Channel island Special (poor mans gannet) and a Seal multiple cylinder spark Ignition engine that I bought. if memory serves me, I paid about A£120 for the Gannet

All of the above haven't seen daylight for years and like you, are part of my keenly developed ornament habit. Unfortunately, the second Gannet is not as nice as Grahams but deserves to be used rather than tucked away in a box

I am just getting back into boating in a small way . I sort of gave it up when Dad died as things weren't the same, then marriage came along etc. Possible early retirement has spurred me on to dig all my old kit out to see if it is worth using. This includes my 46" crash tender which was powered by a Taplin Twin diesel when first built ( another ornament in bits in a box!) then an OS50 which I still have.

Looking at the tender this a.m. Still solid despite all its years stored in the garage. The old white metal fittings still there if looking a bit sad!. Might yet get it going on electric power, especially if I could get some appropriate new fittings

out of interest what did you chaps pay for them I saw one a few years ago and though I did not want an ornament that bad ( I am very good at collecting projects (ask Mr Devlin on hear).

after going a bit mad over Xmas on ebay I have not been looking just my luck , it normally happens to me when I have just bought something then something really rare comes along.

Peter

HI Graham

Congrats on buying the Gannet. Saw it on Ebay, second one in a week but yours far better of the two
I have one in a 48" offshore racer "Screwdriver" hull. Mine is quite rare as it has a built in magneto on the back end , so no batteries required for starting or running. in a large crashtender hull it will plane like a dream.
As some of the other posts mention, not ultra fast but bags of torque so nothing stops it.
Think some of the posts go a bit over the top re heat etc, don't know if they have ever run a Gannet, but you simply need a reasonable water cooling flow commensurate with a 15cc engine of any type
One operating tip, if you wear rings of any kind, DON'T touch them on the top of the plug when adjusting the engine. it will stop Immediately, but this won't worry you much as you will be shaking your hand about wondering what happened! The HT side if the gannet is quite powerful.

I also have a second engine , same spec as yours bought off a guy years ago but never used as couldn't be bothered to chase around trying to find a minI coil which is also required as part of the set up.

When I bought mine secondhand back in the early 70's, it went back to the makers who were still just trading then for a check over. They supplied me with an owners manual which I still have somewhere. I will try and find it and copy it for you. if you supply an address to me via PM, I will post it to you. it covers details of the battery required, coil etc

cheers
Ian

HI Guys
Good link Peter. The article say 95 Octane fuel and SAE 30 oil. Valves are 100 ton steel and valve bushes are Phosphor Bronze inserts. I have a classic 1000cc MinI with an "A" frame engine with soft valves. Opinion varies on leaded/unleaded but it is generally accepted that for low mileage usage unleaded may be used. Additives are available or leaded fuel can be obtained from selected garages. The Gannet is reputed to be economical so a gallon can should last for ages.
Dave

as far as I know dont run on lead free petrol you can by an adative to stop the valve seats burning up and wearing out ave a look on the likes of the MG owners club shop etc mgb / midgets /morris minnors well any olsd A or B series needs the stuff a small amout will last a few years.some accesory shops sell it, dont run without it even once as the seats are soft on the Gannet


http://www.modelenginenews.org/cardfile/gan.html

http://www.mgocaccessories.co.uk/acatalog/MGOC_Accessories__Fuel_Additive_177.html

Hello from the colony. Well sparkie engines were my delight 1. The sparkie donks , need good cooling and very much so as they are hotter fueled petrol, but you need to have good large water pipes to enable a high rate of 'heat transfer ' in the water rate flow from the head or a large sized water cooling pipe diameter (say 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch pipe dia) from the pick up and through the model to exit . The principle is actually not to cool off the combustion running temperature of the cylinder but rather to allow for the departure of 'excess heat' from the combustion temperature. So many 'over cool' the engines rather than allow for normal operating temperature ' to continue. Hence engines are fiddled with in the Winter cold having so called poor performance when if allowed to operate at normal temperature they are then so reliable. Similar when in warmer water they need the excess above operating temperature heat to be dispelled. As best Illustrated in air cooled motor mower engines which rely upon the effective excess heat dissipation above that of normal combustion operation. 2. A good quality motor oil is essential and we used basic 'standard '/ 'neat' petrol in those days , probably low octane car unleaded is the equivalent today, however do not go for the ethanol additive fuel sold these days for motor cars as I think it is not suitable as it is a cocktail blend when the old motor pump fuels were more straight petrols without the chemical additives of todays engined fuels.3.Using nicads or nickel hydrides (?) not sure on actual chemical name for Ignition is great these days as they have more kick and do use a auxillairy pair of batteries for booster when starting as to not drain onboard battery supply to the coil. 4. Keep spark plug very clean and try to have a small paper type pad to insert between the points to 'dry" away excess oil to help spark jump across points. As it is the spark which is the only excuse for not too ready starts. 5.Sparkies should be easy to start these days with transistorised Ignition circuits and better current/ oomphah batteries and are easy on fuel gulping as very economical.6. But sometimes they can be a bit noisy but generally a good big 2''/3" daimeter muffler box/pipe say 3 to 4 inches long helps with noise dissipation. The exhaust energy is best dissipated with large rates of expansion in a large chamber then the following contraction into the exhaust pipe say 1/2 inch outlet to air and noise energy is thus lessened, good for all stable running boats but not too much approved by the high speed types who want Mach 1 performance horses and tuned exhausts etc. 7. Also the large capacity Sparkies ( not sure about the smaller capacity sparkies) can throw a heavy flywheel as low down power / grunt on less revs , hence can take a very large daI prop with a big pitch as steam boat props tend to do. 8. Remember it is not a high revving glo at 14,000 to 23,000 and more revs, but a nice high power for its day of latter day design and machining tollerances and mettalurgy. See ya from the colony. Lyle.

Well thanks for that. I have a big fire boat to fit it in instead of a Force 10 glow motor I was going to use.
I collected the Gannet today and it is just superb, absolutely as new.
I will get some pics and post them. Thanks Graham

lucky chap I had one in the 60s and it was great but the radio gear was the old reed sets and not up to spark Ign mine had a magneto on I fitted it in a veron Huntsman 42"
it went very well, you will have to remember they are not a rocket ship engine, compared to a glow engine of 15cc they don't rev anything like it and you have to treat them with care, but they are a beautiful engine and if you get fed up with it let me know.!
a few things the exhaust gets a lot hotter than a glow so watch out for that but they are quieter and they are a low reving torquey engine so reasonable sized metal prop.
there is a oil feed on the front of the crank case that has a screw in the bottom for-flow rate you have to play with it to get it right, use a syringe at the end of a run to remove oil so it does not fill the crank up and make it difficult to start, have more going in than to little for obvious reasons,
have you got a hull for it , they go very nice in the big fire boat, they are just the right power and weight, bit faster than a sea queen as well. lets have some pictures please

peter