Hello all,
For our family outings, we bought ourselves a Drascombe Longboat Cruiser. 22 feet, empty weight appr. 480 kg.
I have 2 engines, a Century 100 and a 102 plus. Which one I have to take, I really don't know, but I can try it out.
More important: how shall I treat my engine? I never used my engines in salty waters untill now, and the former owners didn't do that too.
Is it necessary to backflush with clean water after every use?
Their appearance now is: used but still allright. Now I spray them with some WD40 after each time I used them, but will that hold in a salty atmosphere?
Any advice appreciated,
Happy Seagulling
Albert
salty seagull
Moderators: John@sos, charlesp, Charles uk, RickUK, Petergalileo
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Andrew Craig-Bennett
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:01 am
- Location: Woodbridge, Suffolk
I would certainly recommend flushing through with fresh water each time you put the engine away - not necessarily each time you use it if you are going cruising for a few days. Once the deposits start to build up in the water passages, the temperature of the cooling water starts to rise, which results in more scale being deposited, as the action is temperature related.
Que scais-je?
Re: salty seagull
Hi Albert.albert wrote:For our family outings, we bought ourselves a Drascombe Longboat Cruiser. 22 feet, empty weight appr. 480 kg.
I have 2 engines, a Century 100 and a 102 plus. Which one I have to take, I really don't know, but I can try it out.
Once you've tried both engines on the boat, I'm sure all of us would be very interested in hearing your performance report.
The Longboat is a fine boat, sadly I've not seen any model of Drascombe here on the west coast for many years.
Colin
Northern Star
Vancouver BC.
Northern Star
Vancouver BC.
Flushing with fresh water is the ideal, but it isn't always practical as the larger engines are heavy to take on and off boats. Another easier solution is to use a large plastic bottle with fresh water in it, and a squeezy cap, and back flush through the water outlet. It's not as thorough, but better than nothing, and has the advantage that you are flushing immediately after use, rather than taking the engine home, when it will already be dry inside by the time you start it up in fresh water.
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Charles UK
When cylinders for a Silver Century & a 40+ are the oldest cylinders currently available & cost new more than most owners paid for the complete outboard, a fresh water flushing whatever the salty circumstances would seem to be the obvious order of the day!
I've probably bought more than 10 motors with cracked blocks due to poor maintainance after saltwater use, ranging from wartime 102s right up to Kingfishers & broken most for spares as repair was not cost effective.
The tell tale water temperature is affected by many factors apart from the state of your water jacket, high compression & weak fuel mixtures also raise the temperature quite considerably.
Normal running Seagull's tell tale water is about the same temperature as fresh urine, so if in doubt, pee on you hand then wash it off under the telltale if they're within 20 degrees of each other then you both should live for a few more boat trips, providing you don't do the comparison in front of your wife.
I've probably bought more than 10 motors with cracked blocks due to poor maintainance after saltwater use, ranging from wartime 102s right up to Kingfishers & broken most for spares as repair was not cost effective.
The tell tale water temperature is affected by many factors apart from the state of your water jacket, high compression & weak fuel mixtures also raise the temperature quite considerably.
Normal running Seagull's tell tale water is about the same temperature as fresh urine, so if in doubt, pee on you hand then wash it off under the telltale if they're within 20 degrees of each other then you both should live for a few more boat trips, providing you don't do the comparison in front of your wife.
-
Andrew Craig-Bennett
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:01 am
- Location: Woodbridge, Suffolk
Re: salty seagull
Colin wrote:
Once you've tried both engines on the boat, I'm sure all of us would be very interested in hearing your performance report.
Hi Colin,
It will take some time, but I will give you a full report!
For now I'm busy with bringing the Cruiser Longboat in good order..
Charles wrote something about the telltales of myself and my Seagull.
Well Charles:
The telltale of my Seagulls depends most of the temp. of the water. In summer it is a bit warmer than my own, in winter much colder.
So I believe, we both are in good running condition.
And to all:
Thanks for your replies!!
Once you've tried both engines on the boat, I'm sure all of us would be very interested in hearing your performance report.
Hi Colin,
It will take some time, but I will give you a full report!
For now I'm busy with bringing the Cruiser Longboat in good order..
Charles wrote something about the telltales of myself and my Seagull.
Well Charles:
The telltale of my Seagulls depends most of the temp. of the water. In summer it is a bit warmer than my own, in winter much colder.
So I believe, we both are in good running condition.
And to all:
Thanks for your replies!!
Re: salty seagull
[quote="albert"]Colin wrote:
Once you've tried both engines on the boat, I'm sure all of us would be very interested in hearing your performance report.
Hi Colin,
It will take some time, but I will give you a full report!
For now I'm busy with bringing the Cruiser Longboat in good order..
Full report:
First I tried my Century 100. Enough power for this boat: This engine can beat at least Bf.6 on our inland waters without loosing much speed.
Then I tried the 102plus: A really heavy engine with lots of push but not really lots of more speed than a Century 100 (half a knot extra?). Its push is really immense with its enormous 13 inch prop. In fact you do not need such an engine on a Drascombe, but we used it for 2 weeks with lots of fun and no problems at all. Only to fit it on a Drascombe is a bit of a joke: the aperture of the bulwark is too small for the prop!
At last I tried my 102 with 2 blade prop. A great engine, somewhere between a Century and a 102plus about power, but speed is the same as a 102plus under normal conditions. In really heavy weather the 102plus is stronger.
So now the question: which one is best?
All 3 engines are winners:
When I want hard sailing alone: The Century is far best as it is much lighter than a 102(plus). And as everyone knows: less weight at the stern makes your boat going faster.
Under normal conditions and when sailing with my family I like the 102 most: lighter than a plus, quieter and a bit more power and speed than a Century. And last but not least: In summer with al those crowded sluices and harbours a clutch is maybe not necessary but will help you a lot (mine is an AC).
In severe weather the 102plus is my favorite!
Last but not least: If you are a poor, lonesome cowboy and a long, long way from home and need some contact with others afloat:
The 102plus will be your engine. With its huge prop lots of people scratch their head and ask you if that works, how much hp, how old is that, is it airworthy...yes it is.
In my opinion a 102 is a better engine than a Century. No leaking cilinderhead, the same power but quieter, better waterpump, as the 102 pumps water at lower revs than the Century does. A Century therefore is lighter and at least the Villiers carbed version is less thirsty.
They all have the same problem on a Drascombe: Allthough a Drascombe has a very open trunk, Seagulls do not like tailwind as the blue clouds are blown back into the carb, it makes a Seagull (and my family) coughing and four stroking which makes the clouds bigger etc. Therefore I fitted my engines 2 inches higher than normal, that helps a bit as the carb is than higher out of the trunk. Or start sailing again! Taking another brand than Seagull will help too, but also bothers my wife: she likes Seagulls as they allways start immediately and because of the Seagull Sound (really!).
I do not have other engines so this is the ending of this report!
Hope it helps....
Once you've tried both engines on the boat, I'm sure all of us would be very interested in hearing your performance report.
Hi Colin,
It will take some time, but I will give you a full report!
For now I'm busy with bringing the Cruiser Longboat in good order..
Full report:
First I tried my Century 100. Enough power for this boat: This engine can beat at least Bf.6 on our inland waters without loosing much speed.
Then I tried the 102plus: A really heavy engine with lots of push but not really lots of more speed than a Century 100 (half a knot extra?). Its push is really immense with its enormous 13 inch prop. In fact you do not need such an engine on a Drascombe, but we used it for 2 weeks with lots of fun and no problems at all. Only to fit it on a Drascombe is a bit of a joke: the aperture of the bulwark is too small for the prop!
At last I tried my 102 with 2 blade prop. A great engine, somewhere between a Century and a 102plus about power, but speed is the same as a 102plus under normal conditions. In really heavy weather the 102plus is stronger.
So now the question: which one is best?
All 3 engines are winners:
When I want hard sailing alone: The Century is far best as it is much lighter than a 102(plus). And as everyone knows: less weight at the stern makes your boat going faster.
Under normal conditions and when sailing with my family I like the 102 most: lighter than a plus, quieter and a bit more power and speed than a Century. And last but not least: In summer with al those crowded sluices and harbours a clutch is maybe not necessary but will help you a lot (mine is an AC).
In severe weather the 102plus is my favorite!
Last but not least: If you are a poor, lonesome cowboy and a long, long way from home and need some contact with others afloat:
The 102plus will be your engine. With its huge prop lots of people scratch their head and ask you if that works, how much hp, how old is that, is it airworthy...yes it is.
In my opinion a 102 is a better engine than a Century. No leaking cilinderhead, the same power but quieter, better waterpump, as the 102 pumps water at lower revs than the Century does. A Century therefore is lighter and at least the Villiers carbed version is less thirsty.
They all have the same problem on a Drascombe: Allthough a Drascombe has a very open trunk, Seagulls do not like tailwind as the blue clouds are blown back into the carb, it makes a Seagull (and my family) coughing and four stroking which makes the clouds bigger etc. Therefore I fitted my engines 2 inches higher than normal, that helps a bit as the carb is than higher out of the trunk. Or start sailing again! Taking another brand than Seagull will help too, but also bothers my wife: she likes Seagulls as they allways start immediately and because of the Seagull Sound (really!).
I do not have other engines so this is the ending of this report!
Hope it helps....
