Seagull Outboards- trusty workhorse or obsolete headache

ooo: You are absolutely right! That had to be it. The non-starter I had was a L/S on a S/S boat. Well done but the wife will not let me have another one because we both wore ourselves out pulling the cord. Thanks for solving that mystery - restored my faith in Seagulls -brilliant machines :
 
I've got a whole flock of 'em!
40's 75's 90's and Kingfishers.
All start at worst second pull and as long as they're maintained will long see me out.
I've tried to drown a couple of them but they still thrive.
I'll bet they outlast anything bought new today.
 
The other method, mentioned, I do believe, in the handbook, is to get your crew to sit in the bow, reducing the draft aft until the engine starts!
 
I've not had much practical experience of these motors, but I do know that John Willians of Saving Old Seagulls, not only has a decent range of spares, as mentioned, but will service your motor for a reasonable charge, probably cheaper than a service of a modern outboard. Once they're sorted they should chug on as they're dead basic...
 
Oh - and a bit of less-known Seagull trivia. In the film 'The Talented Mr Ripley' Dicky (played by Jude Law) is trying to start a Seagull at the beginning of the very nasty scene in the dinghy. He is shouting and getting unreasonably agitated with his companion Tom (played by Matt Damon), and I suspect that part of his ire stems from the fact that he can't start his Seagull.
 
I can see why he is losing his cool...my 12 year old son assures me that he is the envy of his friends because we have a Seagull and he can start it, which is reckoned to be dead cool, unlike endlessly pulling on a recoil cord.

Of course, the really cool trick is to start it first pull, not second, and to close the petrol tap at just the right distance so that the engine expires as we come alongside..
 
My biggest problem with shutting the petrol tap at the right time is - catching my arm on the flywheel, or worse, grabbing the top of the spark plug instead!
 
Stopping prob solved fit a toggle switch under the flywheel in the back plate and switch the LT to the contacts it cuts the engine immediately and looks so good when you cut it at the right moment. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Don't forget to switch on when you want to restart. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Possibly you missed the point? It's easy enough to stop the average Seagull - just close the throttle (or run over someone's mooring line!). The nack is to run the carb dry, so it doesn't gush 2-stroke everywhere when you tip it up!
 
Stopping was supposed to be by shutting the throttle down completely. It should be adjusted so that it closes the throttle slide right down and kills the engine.

One Seagull I had the throttle cable was stiff, so with the tiller arm in the running positon (horizontal) the engine would tick over. Pushing it up to vertical allowed the throttle slide to close off and stop the engine. Neat! ....at least, till the throttle cable seized altogether and left the thing running flat out with - er - interesting results! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Yes; mine stops when you close the throttle. The shutting the petrol off at the tank trick is to avoid dribbles when tilting the motor and to avoid leaving 2-stroke in the carburettor when putting the engine away.
 
I agree if you are going to tip or remove the engine yes run it dry.
I mostly use mine on the back of a 14ft clinker so tipping it up is not is not an issue for me. I can not recall having a problem of leaking fuel when I have tipped up.
May be the float chamber vent is in a good place so it does not run out. I must go and have a look.
If removing then I do run it dry.
I must admit to having tried to judge it right but it has never worked.
Yep I have just had a look and the hole on the side has been plugged and one of the top vents plugged as well the remaining vent is facing aft so it would have to be tipped back wards to leak. This must have been modded by a previous owner I have had the engine for some 20 years now and not noticed the mod although I have had the carb apart on a number of occasions it never occurred to me.
Thanks for the nudge it just goes to show you do learn something new almost every day.
 
On mine throtte down results in slow tickover (which I want). To stop, as above, switch off fuel 'in advance'. 'Emergency' (sorry, that word is just a bit too err, energetic ?) stops are effected by closing the throttle & banging the hand over the intake, simultaneously closing the choke. Thats suffocates the engine.

The resultant hand full of oily petrol is an added benefit ...
 
It`s like the old series Landrover arguement........lovely old smelly noisy classics.......great to collect and drool over but not a patch on better engineered designs. Landrover and Seagul .......made that way because it was the only way they knew how at the time. I have a 14 yr old Honda 8. It has over 2500 hrs running on oil and spark plug changes. The same with my 5 from the same stable...1500hrs and a 4hp yam4stroke with 1200hrs. I still have the Seagulls.one is a nice 102 which did me well.........but you wouldnt use them now.........deafen you and poison you they would

Alex
 
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It`s like the old series Landrover arguement........lovely old smelly noisy classics.......great to collect and drool over but not a patch on better engineered designs. Landrover and Seagul .......made that way because it was the only way they knew how at the time. I have a 14 yr old Honda 8. It has over 2500 hrs running on oil and spark plug changes. The same with my 5 from the same stable...1500hrs and a 4hp yam4stroke with 1200hrs. I still have the Seagulls.one is a nice 102 which did me well.........but you wouldn't use them now.........deafen you and poison you they would
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Well Not on your modern plastic or rubber duck.
But on a 1925 14ft Norwegian Clinker I would like to think it was perfectly in place. A modern 4 stroke would be quite out of order in my mind. Especially at an OGA gathering.
 
Even on my modern rubber duck the seagull looks good & always gets noticed. Would you complain about the noise/smell of a Vincent motorbike or an early Fordson tractor, or a hot bulb marine diesel? I doubt it, it's pretty much the same with a Seagull, they get noticed but are seldom complained about. I get far more people remeniscing about their own experiences fromyears ago.
 
We take ours up the Macclesfield canal on the 14ft Clinker and it is quite surprising the number of Bar-gees who will reminisce about them. I also have another old engine in my gaffer a 1936 air cooled Enfield Diesel.
 
Many years ago a lock keeper gave me a Silver Century LS which he'd fished out of the Thames. He'd had it in his shed for 20 years he said, never did anything to it after recovering it - just stored it.
It was seized up so I stripped it - it had clearly been running when it went in as the crankshaft was bent. Hammered that straight on the old man's coal-bunker top, by eye, oiled everything up & replaced it with same gaskets & plenty of Hermatite. Had some stiff spots but piston went up & down. Cable and carb slide spring had rusted through, replaced those, also the spring on the prop had broken so replaced that. Fuel tank was full of a greenish sludge so flushed and refilled with clean 10:1 mix.

It started so it went in a locker as an "in case". 2 yrs later it earnt it's keep when we got foul of fishing gear in the Solent and it brought us back to Bembridge preceded by a choking cloud of blue smoke (it was a near windless day). Given the hammered straight (ish) crankshaft I'd say these things are bomb-proof, can't imagine the current tender's Mariner working after hammering the crankshaft straight!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Even on my modern rubber duck the seagull looks good & always gets noticed. Would you complain about the noise/smell of a Vincent motorbike or an early Fordson tractor, or a hot bulb marine diesel? I doubt it, it's pretty much the same with a Seagull, they get noticed but are seldom complained about. I get far more people remeniscing about their own experiences fromyears ago.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmmmmm, well Steve, it always makes me smile a bit the way us Brits like to don the warm cosy pullover of nostalgia, and rose tinted specs! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

For myself, I am not an enthusiast, in reality, they were a product of their day, although that day, what with minor developments lasted quite a long time. Things have moved on though, I would not swap my Mariner 2 stroke 5 hp for any Seagull motor!

Seagulls are noisy, they vibrate ya teeth out, and never mind the fastenings of your boat, they stink, they pollute, even with a 25-1 conversion, and on top of that, they look like a dogs breakfast! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.....alright, a bit cruel, but they do look like that bloke Robinson designed 'em.

I have often had a conversion with people that expound the virtues of Seagulls, but when I say to them, well, what are you using now, they usually quote some modern motor or other, and when I say oh, not a Seagull then? the answer is usually, Um, well, no, I use a................whatever. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If operating a Seagull is somebody's idea of fun, then fine who am I to argue? (there are some pretty odd people about), but come on, get real, they are yesterdays technology. Personally, I would sooner use a pair of oars! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

PS. Apologies to Old Salt (David)..........I know you are not very odd, that Steve fella though, well................. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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