Stop! Stop! Stop!

Way back Which? did a survey on outboards. As said earlier, Seagulls came out last in all tests, BUT their owners all said they would have no other. Still, it was way back..

Andrew (40+ owner)
 
Well here's another promisingly offensive post from a newbie! (do you have to serve an apprenticeship on here before expressing an opinion, offensive or otherwise?)

I reckon somebody is doing a roaring trade in rose tinted spectacles! Hey! nostalgia is cheap, a bit like senile dementia!

I'll bet these self same Shitehawk fans look back on the British Motor Cycle industry and British Leyland with same warm cuddly glow of ................nost.......senile dementia! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
OY!!! - PANTHERS RULE!!! - OK!!!!!

IMG.jpg


'nuvver excuse to show fave brit machine..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Putting on my rose tinted spectacles again, you have to remember that before the Yamaha 2 and its clones came along in about 1976, all the other small outboards were rubbish compared with a Seagull in terms of functionality and life, so it was not surprising that Seagull were the market leaders. I joined them just at that time, and it quickly became clear that its days were numbered because not only was the competition better technically but the price came tumbling down. I remember the 1979 Boat Show when nobody published prices as they were scared of being too expensive.

However, all this does not alter the fact that for its time it was a great bit of kit and still has much to commend it (except the pollution, although in the whole scheme of things it has little impact) for the job it was designed for.

If only we could have found a way of retaining the good features and making it better and cheaper.

By the way I am lucky enough to own a 2003 Morgan - a car which shows what can be done to retain character but keep up to date on the essentials. I have had less trouble with mine than any other car I have had and yes, I do use it all year round. And no, you don't need rose tinted spectacles to drive it, just appreciate it for what it is.
 
[ QUOTE ]
...Like the 10:1 oil mix of the early ones...

[/ QUOTE ]
My first outboard was a 1948 102+ with a clutch. Could never get to grips with 10:1 when dealing with 8ths, so it was one pint of oil to one gallon of petrol - 8:1 - dead easy. Always started second pull and could still be running now for all I know - shouldn't have corroded or seized with all that oil. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
And another good thing about British Seagull was the series of adverts they ran - masterpieces of marine art. They rank alongside the old Cunard posters and the covers of the OS maps of the 20's - 50's.
 
An old friend of mine had a Seagull, he used it on an old avon inflatable.

We used to go Wind surfing around Wales. (anywhere from Gower up to Newport Pem) There were six of us, 3 guys and three girls. Guys were in to windsurfing and the gals were in to sunbathing (weather permitting)

We would find a suitable cove for the day, only access by water, he would ferry the girls to the bay (along with he BBQ etc) in his 20 yr old avon powered by an even older seagull, towing his windsurfer behind, whilst we windsurfed there.

The old seagull very rarely let us down, if ever it was due to a loose spark plug cap, which was also the prefered method of stopping the thing.

I rate the Seagull as the marine version of an old A series engine. Not the most refined engine ever built, but you can keep it running at it will always get you home.
 
[ QUOTE ]
A series engine

[/ QUOTE ] Oh yes we had a A35, terrible thing to drive but you only had to wave the keys at it to get it to start. (Mind you SWMBO had heard someting about "drying the leads" so she used to do that ..... the battery leads!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

P
Fitting a fuel polisher
Replies
2
Views
248
NormanS
N

Share this page

Top