Overhauling a Lister Petter AD1 Diesel Generator to install in a boat. Lifeboat Conversion Ep80 [4K] 

Okay, I'm very selective on my support of stuff, but the idea of buying Alan a drink was just too flippin' hilarious. Hopefully Alan enjoys it.

2:36 the switch you didn't understand changes how the coils are connected inside the generator to produce different voltages. You can actually read on the label that the options are 220, 380, and 500 volts.

I'm SO excited for you to go on your maiden voyage all these years later!! Truly what a cool adventure it has been watching you build this thing. And to think its a shame that you didn't get to go when you planned originally but the silver lining is that this boat has been truly transformed into real exploration vessel. Usually all the Brits I know truly suffer during our Canadian winters, I kinda laugh at my British friends when we go out winter camping but you put my Canadian ass to shame. haha

Proud to say Alan will be traveling under his own power for at least 1 day thanks to yours truly!

This episode made me happy. That generator will outlive us all.

Im eagerly anticipating seeing Alan in action after all the meticulous preparation. There could easily be hours of "content" in just following up on how well everything worked, from the engine itself to the drain holes for the windows. Such is my curiosity to see it all perform in the field I'll gladly chip in for the fuel despite the dismissive tone struck regarding the voltage that runs my home.

Have a few gallons on me my friend, and thanks for the videos :)

Ahhh, now I know why the genny looked so good. Nice job 👏 👍

Have been watching for a long time now and wish you all the best and safe passage on your journey. Contributed a day of motoring for you, from myself, my Father and Mother. My Father was also Alan, was a boat builder by trade on Canvey Island and Leigh on Sea. He sadly passed away in December 2022 aged 74 but got great pleasure from the knowledge of you and your journey and his namesake which he got to see and take a photo of last year. Thanks for the entertaining channels.

Little advice, when welding thin steel, clamp a piece of alluminum flat bar on the underside, so that you dont blow hole threw and helps weld thin steel easier because allumium wont weld to steel and keep molten steel from dripping down threw, and you can weld holes closed, fill in cracks, and easy to bridge together thin steel.

Bought him a small drink, but every little helps

Old welding tip for welding sheet metal, take a scrap piece of copper pipe and hammer the end flat. Use the flattened piece of copper (call it a spoon) and put it behind the sheet metal where you are welding. The weld puddle won’t stick to the copper and it helps you from burning holes through the thin metal since the copper acts as a heat sink.

I am sure you are aware but thought it worth mentioning that as a "yacht in transit" you will pay next to nothing in tax on diesel in the right ports. Gibraltar is the best in my opionon but a bit off your route. Worth checking to keep costs sensible.

How did you fall off my radar over a year ago?!? Why was I not subscribed?!? It was so refreshing (after having something randomly remind me "didn't I used to watch some crazy Englishman with great scripts and dry wit converting a lifeboat to an explorative vessel?") to find myself back here after so long, pick this - one of so many vids I have missed - and feel instantly at home! I have some catching up to do!

Four thoughts; 1. The generator will output allot of noise. A nice old lister thump. Have you thought about sound insulation or mounting it externally? The exhaust looks like it may need improvement too! Unless Alan likes this sort of thing. Might remind him of when the engine was tested in his working past. 2. It will also produce allot of heat, which for where you are going may be useful! 3. Something I have been meaning to raise for a while. Have you considered ventilation, specifically condensation? With humans living aboard a small closed, cold environment there will be lots of water vapour from breathing, sweating, cooking. This will condense at the coldest spots e.g. inside lockers or on the face of any cold(er) external areas as you well know! It might be worth looking a Mechanical Ventilation / Heat Recovery (MVHR) unit. Domestic units for bathrooms are probably sized appropriately for Alan's capacious internal volume. The heat recovery will help on reducing heating fuel requirements. In simple forms they are a air heat exchanger. Cold fresh dry air in, damp warm air out. Designed to dump condensate outside, a fan, and if Alan is feeling flush a humidistat and computer gubbins to alternate from boost, normal and low flow modes. These will also help remove any pongs. 4. Freezing through hulls. Does Alan have many through hulls (e.g. Engine cooling, Shower/sink drains). These could freeze, esp those that have fresh water vs salt water. 12V heater coils might solve the issue, although if the surrounding water is frozen this may not help much.

Wonderful. And, if nothing else, a functional emergency anchor 😅.

Ive got a generator just like this which i recently got running again. Used to use it to run the house electronics during storms. Your restoration really gave me insight into what I can improve on it electrical wise. I have to agree with you the 240/110 switch is really something that baffles my understanding and the fuel filter being internal really was a pain the last time I replaced it. Overall enjoyed the video

I have enjoyed my virtual time with Alan. Enjoy the well earned drink.

I read the comments below and someone has already mentioned it, but don't forget to inspect the brushes as they're a wear item. Usually AC brushes wear far less than DC but on a generator that has been in a dusty shed I'd recommend a check. I'd carry a spare set as they're usually fairly cheap. Get genuine if you can.

Strange to see a Lister in red, rather than green! Looks like a good bit of kit though - hope it serves well.

If you have the schematics for the generator power head, check to see if it has replaceable brushes. And if so, check into just how difficult it is to do so and also source some replacement brushes for it. I live on the coast and for some reason generator brushes only last about 3 years here before they need to be replaced. I think it has to do with the salt plus the humidity. Since you are currently off of the Thames your are dealing with fresh water not salt water, but once you get going, you don't want to find out it is an issue when you are hundreds of miles from a parts house. I know on 2 of my generators, replacing the brushes are easy and simple just like changing the brushes on a grinder or a drill. For my mother's generator however we had to separate the power head from the engine and unbolt the casing to access the brushes. My other generator is a brushless one, so I don't have issues with that one other than it's only 1,100 watts vs 3.4 KW and 6 KW.

Best of English here, Great watch, wish I was with you, I worked in lowestoft on golden eagle accom module for offshore, lovely place try Sargent peppers berger ow my days best I've ever had anywhere n uk, 😢🎉🎉🎉.. good trip chap

When you broke out the diesel genny I immediately thought of the Post Apocalyptic Inventor, he has a great YT channel and he refurbishes old generators with the emphasis on the electrics. He’s in Germany but he may help with an inquiry.

I donated via Paypal now as somehow my Danish card was rejected :P Might be my fault and I hope Alan will get some nautical miles extra that way!

I do not know much about UK electrics, but the yellow outlets might be 220v single phase while the other one is 380 3-phase.

Couple of gallons coming your way, great stuff love this channel

With that size geni you could do a Brupeg and add an electric get home motor to the drive.Great episode

You sneaky bastard heading north in a week wow congratulations. No drowning or becoming a plaything for polar bears

Great Video again! You probably thought about this, but your new air intake might make the generator just as loud as one of those outdoorsy machines, inside ALAN… But as it is only supposed to run occasionally the smaller footprint may be worth it. Exited for the Installation and where you found the space for it. Best wishes.

Very good sir

The wiring looks neater. Oh I might even spot Alan if you pass Saltburn. 👀 Great update👍

I'd recommend fitting a proper air box and filter in the intake. That mesh filter will work but will be really noisy. Those Lister engines are loud enough without added intake noise. For health and safety reasons UK construction sites require power tools to run on 110V, which is why this generator has 110V outlets. Technically speaking it's generally 55V split phase: 55 - earth - 55. That way if you do accidentally get a shock you are only getting 55V which is enough to hurt but unlikely to do you serious harm even if you are in wet conditions. That brings up an important point. Check how it is earthed on the 240V side. A mismatch in earthing between the generator and your existing wiring could result in a shock hazard or some very expensive smoke. Some of the tests I'm about to recommend involve taking measurements with the generator running. If you are at all unsure about what you are doing, get a qualified electrician to do the work. Get a multimeter and set it to the resistance range. With the generator stationary and the breaker off measure between earth and the body of the generator. It should be pretty low, only a few ohms. If not you need to add a secure connection between earth and the body of the generator. If the engine is on anti vibration mounts you also need to make sure the frame is securely earthed as well. Next turn the breaker on and measure between earth and neutral. It should be pretty much the same reading as you got in the previous tests. If you get a high reading (100 ohms or more) your generator is probably unbonded. To confirm this connect a small load such as a light bulb between live and earth and run the generator. The bulb should not light. Stop the generator and wire the bulb between neutral and earth then restart the generator. Again it should not light. For completeness check between live and neutral. The bulb should light. In this case I'd recommend converting it to TN-S earth bonding by connecting earth and neutral before the breaker. If you do have a low resistance between earth and neutral you need to confirm what earth bonding scheme it is using. With the generator running put the meter on a suitable AC volts range and measure between earth and neutral. You should get pretty close to 0V. A volt or two is fine. Measure between live and earth. You should get roughly 230V. Anything between 210-250v is fine. If you see something like 55V or 110V between neutral and earth you have a problem. While this wiring scheme is arguably safer if the generator is used on it's own it will not play nicely with your inverter or any of your existing mains wiring. Consult with a generator specialist to see if your generator can be converted. This video explains the different earthing schemes ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mzCGE5wnWos.html For safety bonus points I'd recommend adding an RCD or replacing your existing breakers with MCBOs, which are combined RCD and over current in one unit. For a site generator it's probably overkill but in your boat where there is a reasonable chance of salty moisture it adds a worthwhile extra layer of protection.

You see the black O ring on the inside of the 230 sockets unless you seal. Those with? Silicone or something. You gonna have a water leak

Although your poor choice of engine brands doesn't deserve encouraging, I broke with my educational scorning and bought you a gallon. Good sailing my friend.

Did you wet the o-ring with oil before tightening the oil filter on? Not to be pedantic but the air filter looks a bit small, might be a restriction. Great job.

No expert as you know haha, I wonder when you're back if you wanna continue working on Alan, would you consider transitioning it to a diesel electric boat? Maybe keep the original motor as an emergency backup. Connect the output shaft to a clutch that goes to the prop, then at the prop end you can add a basic pulley system connected to electric motor/generator? Maybe Vice versa depending on efficiency. It sounds like work for sure but would add redundancy without adding too much gear that isn't already in it. My only fear in regards to the powertrain of Alan is if the engine builder intended for it to be used for long duty cycles? I imagine that a lifeboat engine needs to be stable for long periods of time but maybe there's a trade-off in order to achieve that. It take some knowledge about those engines to really know and that's not me. You're more prepared than just about any explorer/boat person I know so I'd imagine you took this into consideration already.

@5:03 generator tag 😂

I'm really not a friend of Diesel generators. They are hard to start, and they can clog up if your Diesel contains some Biodiesel and you leave it in too long without running. Once I used a Petrol one, there was no going back. However, I guess if you run it frequently and you have lots of Diesel anyway, it kind of makes sense

Do generators have brushes? Like brushed motors have brushes. If so should check the life on those.

Nice one! Is there a diesel pump?

Does the air filter centre bit unscrew? I think they often do. Then you could get it out the way.

Never heard the term “earthed”. I believe the corrected term would be bonded. It’s was all bonded to the chasis for grounding or earth is British term I guess. I know ground is a noun and can be used as a verb but I having never heard earth as anything but a noun. Guess that is just a difference in dialect from one English speaking country to another hahaha. End of the day we can understand. Some slang doesn’t cross over but that certainly does. I will say that grounding in electrical terms doesn’t mean it’s bonded to the earth. In the case of Alan it will never be electrical bonded to earth directly but grounded out through the salt water or has a floating ground that is electrically uniform across the ship. I don’t imagine ships would ground to salt water as that’s just asking for corrosion and voltage potential issues. I’m not a marine electrical engineer though so I wouldn’t know. Hopefully someone else can chime in with the knowledge and expertise. Obviously way late comment but better late than never.

It would of been good to keep the 110 sockets incase you get any 110 site tools etc, i had one of these sets i restored i think i sold it for £120. I have a video on my channel😎

Is this meant to power an electric outboard motor?

watching this dogs breakfast in progress is painful

You probably already know this, but a diesel engine will soot up the engine oil in mere minutes. Changing oil on a diesel car is messy and leaves your hands smelling wonderfully for days.

electricity and heat! hey wait.. am I the second?

That filter is to small for the engine size they even can restrict a 4 stroke 50 cc moped, trust me iv had to remove many to fix people bikes, you need at minimum 2x that amount of surface area or it with restrict the amount or load/power it has

✌😎✌

You bought yourself another problem.

Can i come?