Saving Old Seagulls

102 cloverleaf 9 1/2" I belive?





You can send me that prop Keith.P and you can have my one!

I don't even own one, they are old ebay pictures, I think that prop is just awful looking, I've seen them for sale quite often, but no, I don't like the look of them, I have props LS, swept back, bow-tie's, as most do.

Bingo!!!

Now the question, any idea what year of motor this prop came from originally?
Nice one Nudge. Thanks



Now to try and find a 102 that still has one of these fitted!


Jon

Jon this series of props have been called "Cloverleafs" for as far back as I can remember, I don't remember who came up with the name, but I'd probably blame CharlesP, it seems a shame to change a name that most understand.

My impression is that these props were produced from the mid 50's for 10 or 12 years, if you ask a prop specialist, he will tell you that the reason for those shapes was cost of manufacture, not their ability to move water.

Whereas the Hydrofans which replaced them, were obviously designed by someone who knew prop magic, you should try accurately comparing them, using the correct props, a rev counter & a GPS, I'd be very surprised if you didn't see a 5% increase in speed!

Hydrofans were clever marketing, a new style prop to upgrade your Seagull, that could be recognised as a Seagull prop from 100 yards & they did what it said on the tin!

If you try a 3 bladed Cloverleaf in weedy water you will understand that the "W" in no way stands for weedfree!

Not me, old chap. I had 'flu that day...

British Seagull were advertising that "for some time now" their motors had featured four bladed propellors in 1954/5, and shortly after that were informing their customers that adding a "Turbofan" propellor would yield an additional 10% performance. This was roughly the time they were advertising that their motors were now "fitted with Instarter Magnition" which would ensure that the things would "practically refuse to not start". Mind you, this was in the days before the Advertising Standards Agency.

I have 102's with three and four blade clover leaf props, both big and little.

Cleaver blades have a trailing edge that is cut in a straight line, usually along the rake. A cleaver blade is usually very thin at the leading edge while the trailing edge is the thickest point. Cleaver propellers are best suited for elevated engine installation that allows the propeller’s blades to break the surface of the water.

what about this one.
SD 9000 motor.

Quite so Keith - we (sailing club) shared a lake with hydroplane guys (45+ years ago), and all the props I recall were thickest at the tailing edge ( 5 -6mm?), and in a straight line.
Looked like you could shave with the leading edge - no idea what the blade section was, but didn't seem to have a huge curvature.
From memory , all the boats had inboard engines - Hillman Imp and the like at that time.

Rick

Just another thought - are we drifting way off topic now?

Perhaps this will put us back.

Five 102 Cloverleaf props & one Century 100 one.

Top row centre, and bottom row right is what i refer to as "meatcleaver". (straight trailing edges)
All the others i refer to as cloverleaf.

Sorry if there's confusion with any of this, but this is how i've laid things out in my data sheets and i aint about to go changings things around for the umpteenth time. It's just easier for me to identify stuff that's all.


Weird camera angle Keith, but that looks like a bargie box to me. Never have liked those 3 bladed jobies
But they are what they are. They all fit somewhere in the history of 102's.

Back on track now
Moving on

Jon

Meat clevers cable ties and duct tape. YOU GUYS ARE SENDING ON A DOWNWARD SPIRAL. might go a wander through the woods.

I can tell you, that will never fit a seagull.
That's the problem with a seagull, the prop goes in the wrong direction to be easily modified.

Some welding/burning should make it fit..surley

probably a bit too big for a gull too. Allright if you want to go backwards all day long. Whatever did they come off Tam?


Jon

Probably a useless fact but all seagull props on every model spin clockwise apart from the Marston OF, OG and OK... a bit of trivia I guess.