Saving Old Seagulls

Got hold of a 14 foot c craft last year that needs a tidy up, its built like a brick s**t house and rated up to 55 hp, when its fixed up i will post some pictures

Obtained a forty minus (SJM 303B4) earlier in the year with a seized engine and gearbox, stripped it apart months ago and left the power head soaking in diesel and managed to un seize the piston in the bore, pulled the cylinder off the crankcase and found the rings stuck but have managed to release ...

Just had a look at the Pathe site, some good nostalgia of the fifties and sixties,excellent

Found this while looking through You Tube of 1950's river Severn life, just copy and paste to view

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltAW0rWv ... =mh_lolzew

Good ideas for removing piston's, I stuck with the method of loads of heat, soaking in oil and found a socket that fitted well down the bore with minimal clearance and a lump hammer to hit said socket with. A few good blows with the hammer and it started to move, the piston looked ok, bore not too b...

Tried warming the block up with a blow lamp to expand it before hitting it with wood and a mallet.I'm going to leave it to soak longer and have another go in a few weeks trying various things that have been mentioned, thanks for the replies everyone and will post how I get on soon.

I have tried to knock the piston out with a wooden dowel but it will not budge, it has been soaked with WD40 and light oil for a few weeks before trying to free it off. The main of the rust seems to be between the rings around the piston through the air/fuel intake spigot port, might try and soak it...

It's good to see some people sticking up for their beliefs and a good read, seems to me that in Countries like ours and others that out of sight out of mind.

Yes pig ugly but makes starting easier but to be honest its not that hard just using the rope around the flywheel.
Will try and remember to put pictures on tomorrow. Thanks for the information about the fasteners

Got hold of this fourty minus to do strip and un-cease for a mate, cannot move piston in cylinder bore and drive shaft is well stuck on the end of the crank shaft square drive. Think this has either been for a dunk or stored in a damp place or on the back of a boat near salt water for a long time by...

The ones I took out were slotted cheese head screws not bolt headed, but they have probably been replaced in the past with wrong ones. Trying to get hold of anything but metric in stainless these days is getting hard, used too get everything from a place called Moorehouse fasteners, but they do not ...

Not a Seagull meet more a few chaps having a break from the misses and visiting the local pub's on the way, I have to check this route out soon and see how far it is and see if it's possible against the river flow. There are two of us with Seagull's that are going to participate if it's possible, mi...

I know what you mean about making the engine looking ugly but was going to use engine for a two day trip down the Severn and maybe try and do the Thames later in the year and thought it may be easier to use when stopping and starting with the refreshment stops on route, will try and post pictures to...

Does anybody know what the thread is in the four holes that hold the recoil starter part to the frame that bolts to the crankcases as the ones in there are rusty and one is obviously wrong or the thread is stripped as it has a nut on the back of it.

I noticed this one and had a chuckle at the guy's comment about the string wearing out or something along those lines

Looks as if it's been looked after and not much use in salt water