I was at the helm of my 47-foot wooden cruiser Puffin with the Gardner 6LXB diesel purring away below when a familiar voice called out a Pan Pan over the VHF. Robert aboard Paragon, one of the boats that was following us across Dixon Entrance, reported that he was halfway across the sound and dead in the water. Dixon Entrance straddles the border between Canada and the United States. It is one of two open ocean crossings on the Inside Passage and it’s not a good place to lose power.
As I reversed our course, I told my crewmates to break out the towline and looked for Paragon’s AIS position on the GPS plotter. Robert reported that his boat had an electrical issue, and that his diesel had stopped without warning. The sea conditions weren’t too bad, but Dixon Entrance has a reputation for rapidly changing weather. In the time it took to hear from Robert that his engine had restarted, the ride to reach Paragon was filled with tension.
When we reached the boat, Robert assured us that he wouldn’t need a tow. He had accidentally brushed against the electrical switch for the Cummins QSB 4.5L, which had caused it to shut down. We ghosted him for the 45 miles to Ketchikan, but it reminded me that there is a distinct difference between today’s diesels and the diesels that were built decades ago.
Today’s diesels are totally reliant on electrical power and controlled by computers. Remove the power from a computer and inevitably everything shuts down. Gone are the days when the skipper could say that as long as the diesel engine had fuel, air and cooling water it would keep running.
My own boat was built in 1966, and she has a Gardner, an engine that is very different from the diesels that are installed on today’s boats and rely on electronics. For the uninitiated, the first reaction to a Gardner is that it’s huge. Horsepower for horsepower, it’s much larger than most modern engines. Compared to a modern diesel of equivalent horsepower, the Gardner 6LXB is more than a foot longer (5 feet overall), many inches taller and at 1,660 pounds about 30 percent heavier. With a Gardner, there is also no mistaking where each part of the engine is. The 10.45-liter 6LXB has two stacks of 3 cylinders for a total of 6 cylinders. The fuel pump itself looks like a small multiple-cylinder steam engine, and there is no attempt to cover up vital functions with false shields or shrouds. Gardners are simple, economical to run and clean. To my eye, a Gardner is a thing of beauty. Some of the parts can be polished to a high shine causing some to say that ‘one could eat off the engine.’ And for those who like to put a wrench to an engine, maintenance is joyful.
Gardner engines are the pinnacle of mechanical engine construction and the 6LXB is one of the most reliable diesel engines ever invented by man. It is revered by the fishermen and yachtsmen who know them.
The engines were made in England starting in 1903 and were used in everything from Bentleys and Rolls-Royces to trucks, busses and boats. They were never mass-produced. Each engine was assembled by one person, in a process called craft production.
In late May and early June of 1940, during Operation Dynamo, some of the privately owned little ships that plucked British troops off Dunkirk’s beaches were powered by Gardner engines, and during World War II Gardner 4LK engines were used in the Royal Navy’s X and XE class midget submarines.
After the war, larger 8-cylinder Gardner engines were used in locomotives and large yachts, including the maxi yachts Condor and Condor of Bermuda, which were fitted with the 240-hp 8LXB engine.
In 1977, Gardner was purchased by Hawker Siddeley and in 1986, Perkins Engines purchased the company. Turbo power and emissions regulations were major factors in Gardner’s eventual demise. In order to comply with new automotive emission regulations, Gardners would have to be completely modified or redesigned, which never happened. The marine industry’s shift to more modern marinized automobile engines, which were lighter and offered more horsepower per pound, spelled the end for Gardner manufacturing in the mid-1990s.
But because of Gardner’s reputation for longevity there are still lots of these engines running on commercial fishing vessels and yachts. They are renowned for operating for tens of thousands of hours and sometimes hundreds of thousands of hours, without pause or fuss. Parts are still produced for most models, though most must be ordered from England or Ireland. One company, Gardner Marine Diesels in Canterbury, England, still utilizes original Gardner machinery, tooling and procedures to rebuild and service Gardner engines.
Gardners have numerous noteworthy features, including decompression levers on each of the cylinders that allow for, if necessary, hand starting. The fuel lever can also be used to test proper cylinder operation, by briefly shutting off the fuel to each of the cylinders and listening for an appreciable change in engine pitch. This helps to verify if an injector is not working properly and can provide additional information to keep the engine running at optimal capacity.
Gardners also are derated from maximum absolute designed horsepower by more than 100 percent. They range from 127 hp at 1500 rpm up to 175 hp at 1800 rpm. With low operating temperatures of about 142 degrees Fahrenheit, low oil pressure and low operating rpms, Gardners don’t suffer the strain that today’s crop of diesels might, with their higher horsepower, lower torque and higher rpms.
This summer, my own 6LXB ran for over 500 hours, purring away and pushing my 88,000-pound boat through the water at an average of 7.4 knots and burning just under 3 gallons of fuel per hour, which is more efficient than modern diesel engines. Other than changing the oil at the 400-hour mark, engine wise, the trip was remarkably uneventful.
L. Gardner and Sons Ltd. started production on the first direct injection diesel engine in 1929 and started producing the LX model that I have in Puffin in 1958. More than 73,000 LXB engines were made before production ended in 1979. Most are still running and continue to move a multitude of vessels in an amazing variety of waters without pause and without complaint.
In a world where the throwaway has become the norm, Gardner engines are loved for their simplicity and smooth running. I cannot imagine a better mate for my Puffin than her Gardner 6LXB. In marine power, this is indeed, as good as it gets.
