Model Boat Mayhem

Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: slug on March 29, 2014, 08:29:33 pm

Title: seagull outboards
Post by: slug on March 29, 2014, 08:29:33 pm
looking about whilst mayhem was sick,glad to see it all better,the old seagull outboard seems to have a collector appeal.ican see why the are like a lot of british things,they do a job simply and reliably without all the covering up and fancy style of others.they have an appeal of their own....am I looking through rose tinted glasses......tony
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: TheLongBuild on March 29, 2014, 08:48:28 pm
Great little engine, we used one from a friend to get up and down the lakes when my wife was training to swim the Channel..
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: Wetwater on March 29, 2014, 09:31:50 pm
Sold one for a friend on E+++ recently.  Also various new and used spares which went to Bermuda.
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: slug on March 29, 2014, 10:29:02 pm
saw one on e/bay in spalding,if I wasn,t ill I was tempted,something to play with.....tony
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: mike_victoriabc on March 30, 2014, 04:26:21 pm
Interesting - have my Father's old Seagull tucked in a corner of my shed - somewhere I have the old manual. Tried to get it to start some years ago - should probably pull it out again on a sunny day. Seem to recall it would pump water up the shaft for the cooling. Must be from the late 50's early 60's.
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: slug on March 31, 2014, 09:14:14 am
seagull outboards seem to have quite a pedigree,googled yesterday ,seems they were started by the sunbeam motorcycle company.later bought by the Bristol car company.over 2million made many still around tucked away in sheds etc.
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: derekwarner on March 31, 2014, 09:55:54 am
hey slug.......without pinching your Seagull thread on old engines......  %)

About 60 years ago I remember my dad taking my elder brother & I out fishing on a lake on the south coast of NSW in OZ.....[Narooma?]

From memory it was about a 15ft clinker hull with a single lunger inboard petrol engine with a flat leather strap around the flywheel to get it going
Steering was via a tiller  {:-{

I distinctly remember being concerned about the water in the bilge under the [boum boum]   <:(............. it was raining & I wanted to go back to shore..... :embarrassed:....

At the same little boat yard were the same 15ft clinkers with what I believe were Seagull single cylinder [put put] outboards.......Derek
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: Netleyned on March 31, 2014, 04:40:13 pm
This thread takes me back to around the late fifties.
The sound of a seagull outboard on the river  on a
quiet summer evening as we motored home from
conger fishing around the moorings of HMS Warrior
when she was being used as an oil terminal for the Admiralty.
Sounds of Seagull and British Anzani outboards carried a long way
on calm Summer nights.


I can hear them now  8) 8) 8)


Ned

Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: Wetwater on March 31, 2014, 10:39:09 pm
A very good website here.  www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk (https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=firefox-a&hs=GqQ&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=sb&q=www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk&spell=1&sa=X&ei=8d45U9mUGcua0AXcm4DQCw&ved=0CCgQBSgA)   Probably the best.  No connection, only used it to gain information when I was selling parts for a friend.
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: wee speug on April 01, 2014, 02:35:13 am
I,ve got one its 46 years old, and it puts out about 4hp....and still runs sweet as a nut....
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: Grumpy Dave on April 08, 2014, 09:13:34 pm
Seagulls.Read the manual (of common sense) " If it will not start after the third pull , change the sparkplug. Do they do it? No! and then they blame the engine" my quote may not be quite right but near enough. The big problem with Seagulls is the cost of running them with fuel at 10:1 and the cost of oil. I still have a Century clutchless which pushed a 36' steel canal boat 10 miles back to our yard when it's engine blew up.
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: nick_75au on April 09, 2014, 01:22:07 am
I reckon they are a pile of ....


We brought one to power a large canoe, on the recommendation of a friend, it lasted all of one outing before it conked out leaving us in the middle of a large channel and the wind coming up.


After getting home I managed to figure out the coil had failed, replacing it was nearly as much as what we paid for it, ended up selling it for parts and got nearly as much as what we paid for it LOL


 Brought a nice reliable new Evinrude as a replacement, It did hundreds of river miles  ok2  before I sold the canoe and motor
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: Nordsee on April 21, 2014, 11:24:56 am
My father bought a Seagull, back in 1955. My younger brother is still useing it on his dinghy, regularily. Never failed him. It lay in his Garage for nearly 10 years before he tried to start it after my Father died, Clean the carby, fresh Petrol and the correct oil at 16 to 1 Ratio and 4 pulls and away she went. Good wash out after saltwater use and a bit of TLC is all they need. I like the words "Do not remove" cast into the cylinder head,  and we never did either.
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: tony23 on April 21, 2014, 04:54:45 pm
I sold my dad's Seagul Centry long shaft in loot a good few years back for £150 , go on tell me it's worth a fortune now that's the story of my life!

 
On another note don't get too attached to them as nearly all lakes have banned 2 stroke engines for some while due to oil going into the water.
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: Grumpy Dave on April 21, 2014, 10:30:58 pm
I was thinking of putting a Stuart Turner 2 stroke in a canoe until I was told you cannot licence them for rivers. I never checked it out, but changed my plan anyway.
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: BailingBen on April 21, 2014, 10:58:27 pm
I love my segull hardly fails me and when it does it's normally my fault and easily rectifiable ,it's good for dinghys if I take the big boat somewhere and take the tender ashore it's safer to lock an old grubby segul on the back and leave it than a nice shiny 3.3 merc on disadvantage being that they have no gears well some had a clutch but most don't so you pull the cord and the tender I normally take with me is a light inflatable so the tender jumps forward quickly , that took some getting use to , other disadvantage is lack of reverse but for tender you don't normally need it aha




      Kk
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: Grumpy Dave on April 22, 2014, 10:10:53 am
Clean plug, clean petrol, but keep passengers out of the way of the flying rope end! Mine  does not have the recoil starter. No reverse? Get the 360 deg steering kit, great fun!
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: derekwarner on April 22, 2014, 10:20:12 am
Don't be bashful KK  :D......... what about a picture of the bigboat  O0 ..... "if I take the big boat somewhere"..........Derek
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: slug on April 22, 2014, 11:06:53 am
another simple outboard was the Seabee,air cooled exhaust didn't go under water,british anzani was another one now long gone......tony
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: discovery man on May 26, 2014, 01:35:24 am
hi did the make a seagull outboard motor that was electric/battery power...as a guy on a local carboot had both..petrol and one electric..both of the seagull motors was on stands..and had a few offers on them...some one did buy them..as at the end of the carboot sale they had gone..
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: BailingBen on May 26, 2014, 08:50:09 am
Pic of the "big boat"

         Kk
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: Neil on May 26, 2014, 09:25:32 am
hi did the make a seagull outboard motor that was electric/battery power...as a guy on a local carboot had both..petrol and one electric..both of the seagull motors was on stands..and had a few offers on them...some one did buy them..as at the end of the carboot sale they had gone..

yes, I believe they did in the late 50's-60's
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: discovery man on May 26, 2014, 11:34:10 am
its first time iv ever seen one tho...let alone on a carboot...the guy did show them working..i think he wanted around £70 for them..they was about four foot odd tall..............thank you
Title: Re: seagull outboards
Post by: discovery man on May 26, 2014, 11:37:56 am
im not into the ..real boats lol.......so when did they stop making seagull outboards.....