Seagull Boomerang effect

[dartmoor]

I thought I'd kicked the habit of these engines for good - I retained one nice featherweight for nostalgia. I dabbled around other old outboards, which of course were more sophisticated, much quieter, more powerful, and of course, less messy. Not wanting to buy a new hyper expensive 4 stroke, I had a couple of ailsa craigs and a yamaha, and for a short while a Johnson 3.5hp. The Ailsa Craig engine superficially is v nice - air cooled, and powerful. But spares are very tricky. And these engines build up more and more heat at anything more than low throttle, and then simple refuse to start. Changing the condenser is one remedy, but that doesn't seem to improve things more than at the margins. Needing an engine that will restart I thought do I take the route of a newer one. And then I remembered the seagull....the featherweight was still there in the garage, having not been started for a long time. The fuel stank v stale. But hung it over the wheely bin full of water, and it just started and ran and ran, the water outflow not even getting warm. Hmmm....that got me really thinking. A seagull is cheap to buy, so easily repaired, has the most basic carb ever invented that anyone with meccano skills can service, a decent sized fuel tank, a gearbox than is forgiving of mixing sea water and oil, bearings that seem to last a lifetime, an agricultural ignition system that is easy to get at, but is very reliable, and an ability to start whenever. Contrast some other small outboards: ignition system that needs a masive engine strip to get at, spares that are hit and miss, impellors that disintegrate, gearboxes that destroy themselves when the seals wear, carbs where the parts diagram looks like a cicuit board for a supercomputer, jets that block on pollen size dirt, and bearings that wear out in minutes when starved of oil, and engines that refuse to start when reed valves fail and crankshaft seals lose a tiny bit of integrity.

So I'm back to a seagull - I'll live with the noise, the rope start, the smell, and the mess. Happy to be back

[headdownarseup]

reminds me of the HAMLET CIGAR advert years ago.

"HAPPINESS IS AN OUTBOARD CALLED SEAGULL"

You've gotta love em

jon

[dartmoor]

Yep - a seagull smokes like a cigar too...

My two favourite seagulls have gotta be 40plus with clutch, and Curlew (the latter I covet - yet to find a working one having let a good one go years ago, not realising just how nice it was!)

[headdownarseup]

i like em all really. (looking forward to using my freshly refurbed model 90 next year)
BUT i do have a very big soft spot for 102's.
Not the fastest or quietest but they just "look " right to me.
Classic all the way.

jon