The Lister Lives..!

Remember this…?

Our first look at the little boat, which was full of water and floating debris. And a three pot Lister that was obviously somewhere one stored one’s junk.

John pretty soon removed the junk so he could see what he had…
It’s a Lister SL3 with round cylinders, producing 12.5hp at 1800rpm. Last made in 1958; after that the cylinders were square and produced more hp at a higher rpm.

Not sure about the carving knife and steel though.

He’s finally been able to throw a bit of time at it…

So, that said, let’s see if the old girl will run…

Scary moment.

But one I wanted to witness, though I stayed on the back deck just in case.

Here goes…

Not yet…

Nope…

Start again…

Not quite…

And there she blows – cor Blimey, what a noise…!

Where’s John gone? The smoke has swallowed him up!

The exhaust isn’t rigged up so no silencer. In fact nothing is properly ‘plumbed in’ as yet but well enough for these purposes.

Seems the back deck might not have been such a good idea. I am right in the line of fire – well smoke to be more precise. Of which there is A LOT. (You might have spotted that but I have a degree in stating the bleeding obvious and like to make use of it occasionally.)

Some of the immediate neighbours are looking concerned. Not sure if that’s because of the deafening decibels or the dense, choking smoke. Or simply amazement that the Lister is actually running.

Is this the look of dejection…?

Surely not.

Nope, there it is. The grin…

The Lister lives..!

Of course, there’s a long way to go but at least we now know it runs and is worth more time and effort. And probably money will need to be thrown at it too. It’s a boat thing.

There will be injectors for cleaning, new gaskets (all cork), leaks to seal, timing issues to address and on and on.

Proper ‘plumbing in’ too/deciding where to mount the starter button/how and where on earth to route the exhaust pipe – in fact make the exhaust pipe.

But it’s a labour of love for the John. I can’t tell you how utterly shocked delighted he was when she finally fired up but maybe the little boy grin in the last pic says it all. Quite something on a freezing cold winter’s day when it hasn’t run for a very long time that we know of and probably a lot longer than that.

I am well pleased too – despite the black face and sooty nose. This means we are one tiny step closer to getting her in the water.

And that will be a day…

“Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow – but soon.”

Can’t wait..!

Tags: Lister 3 cylinder engine, Lister boat engine, Lister SL3