Small outboard

I just purchased a honda 4 stroke 3.5 hp I think, The reason I changed was cos my old merc didn't have a safety cord. £380. Better value than a 2nd hand unit. unless of course you would like my old merc just serviced and a new shift lever fitted.
 
I was looking at reconditioned seagulls today at the jumble. We used to own a 40+ before it got robbed.

I was and am very interested in the featherweight (?) he had there, a really dinky engine, perfect for the tender. £245.

I am trying to justify why I need one. Just the fact it is half the size of my mercury 2.2 is getting there.
 
I have a small seagullfor the dinghy which also pushes our 22footer at 3 knots so it serves as a back up engine as well.

£245 for a secondhand seagull sounds a bit steep to me.I think I paid about £80 for ours .
 
It looked brand new. I think it was the guy who has the website which sells all the seagull spares. I would guess the exhaust was new and it has all new electrics etc.

I would not pay that much for a 2nd hand motor from the paper for example, I think it is as close as you can get to buying a new seagull.

This would not really push a 22ft boat, it has a teeny prop but revs twice as fast as the standard motors, so the chap was telling me. It stood about half as high as a standard shaft o/b. I was too cold to mess about feeling the weight, but it must have been much lighter then my merc for example.

I am close, very close.....
 
And if you buy it you will probably never need another one,but you may need a bit of canvas to keep the car boot clean /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
The one thing, other than forking out 245 quid that is putting me off is the starter. I really like recoil starts, I used to hate starting our old seagull, on the odd days it decided to play dead, being whipped in the face is no fun. The other sport of retrieving the starter cord from the front of the tender or floating by the tender is no fun either!

But, our 40+ had been over the side twice, both times dropped by my dad, no blame to me and it was still running strong. When it was dropped it stayed under water until the tide went out, not just quick dunks. I am not sure my mercury would survive that sort of treatment without a full strip down.

I also worry about SWMO being able to start it with the primitive choke etc. She did not start driving prior to auto-chokes and has no concept of how to cold start engines whatsoever.

What to do what to do.
 
Yep I agree £245 is way too much for a 40 featherweight even in good condition. £80 is nearer the mark for one of unknown history Maybe a bit more if in very good nick.

I use one on my tender and with a bit of love its as good as the day I bought it slightly used for £70 about 25 years ago. I also have a 40 plus, originally bought slightly used for £70 nearer 30 years ago for use with a Mirror dinghy.

They are a bit heavier than some more modern small engines and rather messy to handle especially if they have not been converted to run on 25:1 mixture.

Anyone with a Seagull should make a note of Saving old seagulls
I notice he is selling an unused 40 plus long shaft for £250 and a completely rebuilt Silver Century Plus for £235
 
Unusually here for an o/b thread, no one has mentioned the Tohatsu 2.5/3.5.... Brilliant motor very cheap. Only difference is N-F selector on the 3.5, and around .5kg weight. My wife has no problem lifting and carrying the 3.5
 
Thanks lads.

Will certainly consider a Seagull if I can find one for £80, but if I have to spend £250 will bite the bullet and go for something like the Tohatsu.

BJ
 
[ QUOTE ]
Will certainly consider a Seagull if I can find one for £80,

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't -ever. Why?

a) heavy dirty engine - Seagulls are always oily because of their open vent carbs. The Older 10:1 oil version was worse as oil would run out of the exhaust as well.
b) Spares very hard to come by
c) Very questionable reliability: a good one lasts for ever a bad one is useless. Owners of good ones do not part with them: qed most up for sale are bad ones.
d) 40 and 40+ came up on test by PBO 30 years ago as having lower pushing power than any other engine they tested.
e) Like their avian namesakes B****Y NOISY! You will hear a Seagull at a mile on a calm day!
f) In small dinghy use, riding solo they are virtually unstarteable: if the silencer leg is too deeply immersed - as it always is when you move aft in a small dinghy, it simply will not start. Exhaust back pressure prevents the engine from firing. (See the Saving Old Seagulls site for details).
g) Environmental Pollution - Seagulls emit far more unburnt oil than other 2 strokes.

Interesting museum pieces, and a relic of the 50's 60's era of small boating, but they have no place in the 21st century. Why else are they so cheap compared to newer better designed engines?

Yes you can drop them overboard, and still expect them to run - but so will most other engines if treated correctly as soon as they are recovered.

Heavy, dirty, oily, noisy tempramental little brutes - just like the feathered variety! I speak from may years experience of struggling with them. (been there - done that!)

Forget it, and buy something worth having - you will not regret it, I promise you!
 
There are two types of people in this world, those who like Seagulls and those that don't. I doubt if many of the modern crop of outboards will be in action as long as many Seagulls.

And as for noise, the Honda 2.5 is at least as noisy
 
You ain't had noisy until you have taken a dinghy out for 2 hours to go angling driven by a seabee 4hp. The things sound like they are dismantling themselves as they run, in fact, we did have to keep pushing the carb back on as it rattled down the inlet manifold.

Saying that though, it was my mates Seabee which taught me how engines work and how to fix them, you only get that kind of knowledge from unreliable hunks of rubbish. Modern engines with ultra reliability do prevent the kids learning how engines work, maybe?
 
[ QUOTE ]
f) In small dinghy use, riding solo they are virtually unstarteable: if the silencer leg is too deeply immersed - as it always is when you move aft in a small dinghy, it simply will not start. Exhaust back pressure prevents the engine from firing

[/ QUOTE ]
Funny that I use one on a small light tender but never have any problem starting it.

On a breezy day the big problem is water coming in over the transom with my weight at the back.
 
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