Seagull engines.

[bazza white]

Any owners/fans here.

Slippery slope. Started with a long shaft but then got these 2. The long shaft no use to me but but want to get something to replace. The other 2 will be staying with the clutched used regular for our tender and the other going to be stripped and polished.

[seapod]

Only for powerboat racing, not for basic tendering

https://foweyharbour.co.uk/events-calendar/lerryn-...

Very serious, international teams last year from ES and NL

https://m.facebook.com/groups/488807355132501/perm...

Edited by seapod on Monday 2nd June 20:15

[seapod]

[Nico Adie]

I had a Forty Plus on our first little dinghy, was totally unreliable and I hated everything about it other than the rich two stroke smell. To be fair the reliability was probably more down to the 9yr old me not knowing what to do properly, but I didn't have any issues with the Mariner 2hp that replaced it.

[Decky_Q]

Why do people like them so much? Is it like owning a grey fergie tractor where it's no longer useful for it's original purpose, or are they actually worth having as a backup? Knowing that a backup needs to be MORE reliable than the main engine.

[Huntsman]

Its possible with a very well set up Seagull to start it by grabbing hold of the flywheel and giving it a spin, no rope, I've never managed.

[hidetheelephants]

Decky_Q said:

Why do people like them so much? Is it like owning a grey fergie tractor where it's no longer useful for it's original purpose, or are they actually worth having as a backup? Knowing that a backup needs to be MORE reliable than the main engine.

Objectively they're in the same realm as TE35s and land rovers, a Tohatsu 2.5 or derivative beats it on every functional criteria, it's lighter, has a recoil start, a dead man's switch, doesn't dribble disgusting oily gunge everywhere, more economic, less vibratory. One in good condition will start as reliably but most aren't these days as the youngest is getting on for 40 years old. They're a terrible choice as a back-up, have one as a hobby if you must.

[2xChevrons]

hidetheelephants said:

Objectively they're in the same realm as TE35s and land rovers, a Tohatsu 2.5 or derivative beats it on every functional criteria, it's lighter, has a recoil start, a dead man's switch, doesn't dribble disgusting oily gunge everywhere, more economic, less vibratory. One in good condition will start as reliably but most aren't these days as the youngest is getting on for 40 years old. They're a terrible choice as a back-up, have one as a hobby if you must.

Well said. And I say that as someone who (with heart, not head) loves Fergies, Land Rovers, Gardner diesels, Lister stationary engines...and Seagull outboard motors.

My Dad acquired one from Beaulieu auto jumble one year - a 40 Plus, for those who care - and easily got it running with a service and a few spares. Contrary to the reputation, it was always an absolute doddle to start. Second pull when cold, almost as soon as the flywheel began moving when warm. It shoved our various sailing dinghys along various Hampshire harbours and Devon River estuaries very nicely, even in some wet, wild and rainy weather, and didn't mind sitting in the garage for months at a time before being plonked on the transom and fired up.

But when, as a family, we graduated to 'proper' boats and needed a tender outboard, we went to the chandlery and bought a Tohatsu 2.5. Much lighter, easier to use (my sister was prepared to countenance actually using it), quieter, didn't ooze oil and didn't leave a haze screen and oil slick in its path.

Just as you wouldn't choose a TE-20 to plough a field if you were a farmer, a Gardner-powered Seddon Atkinson if you were a haulier, a Land Rover Series IIA if you were a geologist in the Australian outback or a BSA Bantam if you wanted to commute to work on a lightweight motorbike.

Seagulls are absolutely in the same 'classic British engineering' as a Morris Minor, a Landy or a Gardner 6LW. Simplistic but not especially simple, some very original thinking going on, some admirable engineering...but all rooted in a world that was disappearing when these things were made and had entirely vanished when these products finally eked out their last days.