Seagull outboards
Discussion
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334060820345?hash=item4...
anyone fancy what looks like about a dozen seagulls in bits. Hateful things that take me back to boarding skool, we had to learn how to rebuild these things then use them on the Deben.
anyone fancy what looks like about a dozen seagulls in bits. Hateful things that take me back to boarding skool, we had to learn how to rebuild these things then use them on the Deben.
In a fit of nostalgia my Dad rescued a Seagull Forty Featherweight from the local tip. It needed a new HT lead,.some repairs to the magneto and the carburettor de-varnishing and then it ran perfectly.
The recurring problem was that it would never start if it was attached to a floating boat. We'd put it on the back of our Mirror dinghy and it just would not ever, ever start. Leave it in the garden shed for a year, drag it out, blow the cobwebs off it, tip in some fresh fuel, set it up stood in a bucket of water and it would rattle into life on the second pull. Put on the the boat transom and it would refuse.
The obvious suggestion was that the exhaust was too deep in the water when it was on the boat and the back pressure on the exhaust was too much. This was certainly supported by the fact that if you tilted the Seagull up so the prop was out of the water it would start instantly but would gradually choke itself to a stop over about a minute if left to idle. If you kept the throttle up it would resolutely putt-putt-putt away for as long as the petrol lasted.
The depth of the exhaust and the relative heights of the propeller, exhaust and transom were all measured and checked against the official recommendations - all perfectly within limits. Plenty of other people used identical Featherweight models on Mirrors without issue. When set up at home in a bucket, with the exhaust set at the same depth as it was on the boat, the Seagull always started on the second pull.
The exhaust pipe was checked and cleaned. Nothing could induce it to start on the boat with the prop in the water. We guessed that maybe the exhaust ports or the upper exhaust tract were partially clogged and that the slightly denser Solent seawater was just enough to disrupt the exhaust scavenging.
I don't remember us ever trying trimming the boat down by the nose a bit or putting a block of wood on the transom to lift the motor a little. We always just started it with the prop out and left the idle a little higher than normal (which, given how much 'shove' a Seagull can give a Mirror dinghy made docking manoeuvres occasionally interesting...)
They Don't Make Them Like They Used To...thank heavens!
The recurring problem was that it would never start if it was attached to a floating boat. We'd put it on the back of our Mirror dinghy and it just would not ever, ever start. Leave it in the garden shed for a year, drag it out, blow the cobwebs off it, tip in some fresh fuel, set it up stood in a bucket of water and it would rattle into life on the second pull. Put on the the boat transom and it would refuse.
The obvious suggestion was that the exhaust was too deep in the water when it was on the boat and the back pressure on the exhaust was too much. This was certainly supported by the fact that if you tilted the Seagull up so the prop was out of the water it would start instantly but would gradually choke itself to a stop over about a minute if left to idle. If you kept the throttle up it would resolutely putt-putt-putt away for as long as the petrol lasted.
The depth of the exhaust and the relative heights of the propeller, exhaust and transom were all measured and checked against the official recommendations - all perfectly within limits. Plenty of other people used identical Featherweight models on Mirrors without issue. When set up at home in a bucket, with the exhaust set at the same depth as it was on the boat, the Seagull always started on the second pull.
The exhaust pipe was checked and cleaned. Nothing could induce it to start on the boat with the prop in the water. We guessed that maybe the exhaust ports or the upper exhaust tract were partially clogged and that the slightly denser Solent seawater was just enough to disrupt the exhaust scavenging.
I don't remember us ever trying trimming the boat down by the nose a bit or putting a block of wood on the transom to lift the motor a little. We always just started it with the prop out and left the idle a little higher than normal (which, given how much 'shove' a Seagull can give a Mirror dinghy made docking manoeuvres occasionally interesting...)
They Don't Make Them Like They Used To...thank heavens!
Rangeroverover said:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334060820345?hash=item4...
anyone fancy what looks like about a dozen seagulls in bits. Hateful things that take me back to boarding skool, we had to learn how to rebuild these things then use them on the Deben.
At £300 for a pile of corroded aluminium, who wouldn't.anyone fancy what looks like about a dozen seagulls in bits. Hateful things that take me back to boarding skool, we had to learn how to rebuild these things then use them on the Deben.
Simpo Two said:
Boarding school near the Deben eh? Woolverstone, Woodbridge, Framlingham?
Moreton Hall (bury st edmunds) headmaster had a 38 ft trimaran, 26 ft monohull plus numerous mirrors, gannets, enterprise etc. the boats would come back to school one at a time for maintenance. standard punishment was "sanding" an area would be chalked off and every bit of free time had to be spent in the boatshed sanding.
Moreton Hall (bury st edmunds) headmaster had a 38 ft trimaran, 26 ft monohull plus numerous mirrors, gannets, enterprise etc. the boats would come back to school one at a time for maintenance. standard punishment was "sanding" an area would be chalked off and every bit of free time had to be spent in the boatshed sanding.
Rangeroverover said:
Moreton Hall (bury st edmunds) headmaster had a 38 ft trimaran, 26 ft monohull plus numerous mirrors, gannets, enterprise etc. the boats would come back to school one at a time for maintenance. standard punishment was "sanding" an area would be chalked off and every bit of free time had to be spent in the boatshed sanding.
Ah right, that was too far away to be on our games list. We got to clean the housemaster's car - not as punishment but simply an 'activity'! I suppose these days your headmaster and my housemaster would be prosecuted for exploiting children, human rights, etc, splattered all over local media and sacked...Rangeroverover said:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334060820345?hash=item4...
anyone fancy what looks like about a dozen seagulls in bits. Hateful things that take me back to boarding skool, we had to learn how to rebuild these things then use them on the Deben.
RHS Holbrook?anyone fancy what looks like about a dozen seagulls in bits. Hateful things that take me back to boarding skool, we had to learn how to rebuild these things then use them on the Deben.
Must be about 40 odd years ago my father bought a small 2hp or so Seagull (brand new for some reason) to propel our Wayfarer around coastal waters of the West Coast of Scotland. I think he had positive memories of the very first Seagulls that he used to see on fishing cobbles as a youngster, perhaps not appreciating that things had moved on since then 
Utter pig to start a lot of the time, but it always went eventually - the time it took to rewind the pullcord was useful to recover from the effort of the first pull. If it started on the third pull that was a very good result - usually gave up and got the oars out after the 10th attempt when using it with an inflatable tender later on. This only happened 10% of the time.
Noise and vibration on long trips was horrendous, and refilling the tank from a 5l jerrican while hanging over the stern bouncing up and down at sea was always entertaining.
My father used to look after it fairly well which seemed to make it more unreliable - it worked much better after he stopped trying to mollycoddle it.
Utter pig to start a lot of the time, but it always went eventually - the time it took to rewind the pullcord was useful to recover from the effort of the first pull. If it started on the third pull that was a very good result - usually gave up and got the oars out after the 10th attempt when using it with an inflatable tender later on. This only happened 10% of the time.
Noise and vibration on long trips was horrendous, and refilling the tank from a 5l jerrican while hanging over the stern bouncing up and down at sea was always entertaining.
My father used to look after it fairly well which seemed to make it more unreliable - it worked much better after he stopped trying to mollycoddle it.
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