Clones

[charlesp]

Roberto Peron from Argentina has sent me photos of a Seagull clone manufactured in his country, the Yumpa.

Manufactured as a copy of the famed British Seagull this clearly follows the traditional lines of our favourite motors.

There was also the Sakay:

Stuart Dickinson, a member of the Poole Yacht Club (to which I also belong) was a senior British Seagull man at the time, and was sent to South America to discuss the possibility of assembling Seagulls over there. At one point in the discussions he delicately enquired how he could be sure the company had the skills, only to be shown a shed full of completed motors whose genesis was immediately clear! He has an Eventide now, same as John.

[Collector Inspector]

genesis

Ok, more please?

I am not being a prick here ok?

B

[Charles uk]

Well there's Montessa's & Olympic,s all with a percentage of Seagull manufactured parts.

[fortyplus]

The Yumpa's "wrap around" tank is pretty cool and undoubtedly is higher capacity than the seagull equivalent - it might also create a nasty pinch point for a finger, it's hard to tell how much gap there is in the picture.

[Niander101]

yEAH looks dodgy!

[fortyplus]

"Yumpa!" sounds like the noise your fingers would make as they go between the tank and the flywheel, flexing the tank back - if they have really slow reactions then you might hear a "Yumpa!, Yumpa!" followed by a loud scream. It makes me squirm just thinking about it.

I wonder how much of a copy they are, are any parts actually interchangeable?

[Charles uk]

Almost every outboard manufacturer including Seagull has produced models with fuel tanks of that style, I sure that if finger trapping was a common problem this tank type would not be such a plentiful item in any of their back catalogues!

[fortyplus]

I have not seen a Seagull tank with anything approaching that much "wrap around" thats almost 180 degrees. On the 40+ I have there would be adequate clearance for any one with normal fingers (alas not mine) between the steel tank and flywheel and the pinch area is much less and right at the rear.

[Keith.P]

A lot of other outboards had a wrap around tank, Anzani after the forty's had much the same tank.

[fortyplus]

And most owners didn't realise how dangerous they really were, until they tried to wave goodnight to the boss


Many may have had a similar design, but that doesn't make them a good idea necessarily, but then I don't expect the exposed flywheel would be considered "safe" at all in the modern world. Different times, when things tended to be sorted by natural selection rather than idiot warnings.

[OldBawley]

Not really a clone but interesting : The Tümmler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkZzsYl4 ... re=related

[mrford]

Hi guys in the old days my dad told me not to touch moving things like fan blades or fan belts or gears . This has served me well . I am 59 years old and have all my fingers and toes . In this sue happy society where we coddle our morons than they mate with other morons and make super morons . A sad situation . I love to see antique machinery running with parts moving and it seams so simple to keep fingers out of harms way . We are saving history for the future . Thanks VIC

[Keith.P]

The problem is the the new generation are not allowed like I was, to play with machinery, maybe play is not the right word, but we did, running petrol engines off gas, just to see if it would work. Of course, I won't mention the explosives!

I do know of a handful (maybe the wrong word) of people that have lost fingers, one of my old governors was checking a 360 digger fan belt when the operator started it up, one less finger.
But the more you know about machines and how they operate, the less chance you have to get injured.
I used to work in a plant hire company among other things and the amount of plant that I had to go out to that had been turned over, fallen down holes, or just misused, was eye opening.
Some of this was machinery operated by Joe public, that thought they knew best, ok some things happen that are not always expected, I have had a diesel engine runaway on me, I did manage to stop it, and a three cylinder diesel engine that started and run backwards, the air filter was pretty useless afterwards.

[fortyplus]

I don't think we should exterminate stupid people, but I do think if we took the warning labels off everything we could let natural selection take it's course. One of my pet hates today is the handbooks that come with things 20 pages of idiot warnings and then almost no information because the lawyers are scared if they tell you anything some idiot will do it wrong and sue them.

[Keith.P]

One reason why handbooks may not help some people.

Mr Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City.
In November 2000 Mr Grazinski purchased a brand new 32 foot
Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having joined
the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly
left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself
a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly the Winnie left the
freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr Grazinski sued Winnebago
for not advising him in the handbook that he couldn't actually
do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnie. (Winnebago
actually changed their handbooks on the back of this court
case, just in case there are any other complete morons
buying their vehicles.)