I had her mounted on an old round-bottom aluminum dingy. I noticed right away that the prop was well below the recommended depth, nearly a full 14" from the water line to the pinch bolt. (It seems the long shaft is a little too long for the boat.)
Let me say one thing about this outboard that puts other outboards to shame: she started on the first pull. I opened the fuel tap, primed the Amal until it dripped, choked it rich, pulled the cord once and she rumbled to life. She was clutched, and had a irregular stream of water coming from the head, and a strong stream coming out of the drive leg. With no small degree of ceremony, I engaged the gears. With a slight jolt, she kicked in and began pushing the boat through the water. A wave to the camera and I was on my way.
First thing I find I need to pay attention to is the throttle. It moves to the right on its own, and needs to have a thumb on it to keep it going. Still, she's pushing the bow through calm waters well, if not quietly. This motor is anything but stealthy. The not quite deafening rumble is comforting in its consistency; I never liked that my Mercury sounds like my trolling motor. As a former AMC mechanic, I take great solace in hearing the engine and "feeling the road". (Note: I am aware of the irony of the words 'AMC' and 'mechanic' appearing in the same sentence. I intended no redundancy or pun. Thank you.
)About five minutes into the trip, I noticed a distinct aroma of gear oil coming from the exhaust. I shut her down, and tried to peer around the back side of the motor to see if any water had been coming from the weephole on the head. If there had been, I couldn't see it. There was some smoke, though. I decided that I'd have to try to look at it while it was moving to check on the passing of coolant. From what I could see, there was an intermittent stream while the gears were clutched, but none while they were engaged. I wrote this off to the depth of the prop, and elected to run her at half throttle back to shore. While wrapping the cord, I felt a high degree of heat coming from the fuel tank area. Upon closer inspection, I found the tank to be warmer to the touch than I was comfortable with. With visions of my wife reviewing my explosive end on video during her retirement years (and possibly posting it on YouTube), I decided to wait a little while to allow it to cool off. Once it was cool to the touch, I pulled the rope again. This time, it took two pulls. I checked the fuel, and noticed that the 1/4 tank I'd started with was almost done.
Refueling a Seagull on a lake turns out to be quite the adventure, particulary since two kids on Bombardier jet skis saw me apparently adrift and did several drive-bys to either satisfy their curiosity or to try and tip me over in their wake. I'd forgotten to bring a funnel, and fought to steady the boat enough to pour the dark blue goop/gas mix into the brass tank. I missed, and put a nice 3 oz. petroleum slick on the erstwhile pristine reservoir. Eventually, I had a full tank of fuel...and had created a number of new verbal obscenities in the process. I'll spare you further details on those, except to say that there is no hard evidence that jet ski operators have any type of relations with canines other than your everyday, casual man-dog type...but heat-of-the-moment anger takes me to weird places.
She started up on the second try again. I felt a drop in performance after about five minutes of mid-throttle, like it was fighting a steady head wind. My water circulation problems continued, and I brought her back to shore.
Final analysis? For a 32 year old outboard fished from a scrap pile, she shines like a superstar. She's got gumption, and gets the same spark from her original 8 com that she got when Ford was in the White House. The smoky reputation is overstated; any noticeable smoke came after I shut her down. I need to address the cooling issue before I blow the head gasket, and I need to find a way to mount her higher on the only boat I have...or put her away until something bigger comes along. Either way, I'm happy to have her.
I'd like to know more about the cooling processes on this motor. Was the stream continuity interrupted by the depth of the water pump? I imagine the deeper you go, the less efficient the intake of water would be. I'd also like to know if it's possible to build up the transom vertically to accomodate the long shaft if the depth really is the problem.
We're set to move into our "new" house in mid-September. In the walk-in basement, there's a room with a workbench. That work bench will be the WSPCL's new home for the winter, where parts and manuals from a suddenly wealthy John Williams will aid me in restoring her to her original condition.
By the way...my eight year old asked a question beyond her years about the Seagull. She was mildly disappointed when I answered that, no, the Mayflower was not powered by this particular motor, and thus would make a poor "Show and Tell" item for her first day of school.
