Sandro Picchio wrote:The thread has drifted from "Emergency cord stopping" to "Normal plain stopping".
About the former, as I often sail single handed, I am worried to see the boat merrily chugging away leaving me in the water. The boat speed is not an issue. Getting old one become more prudent or fearful.
I already added a kill switch and cord to a Johnson 4 that I alternate with the Seagull, using a switch same as the one shown by pat777. See Practical Boat Owner of May or August 2010.
For the Seagull (Fourty+ from 1963) I don't want to modify it and am thinking of shutting the air intake with a rubber flap kept open by a latch tripped by the wrist cord. All this could be clamped to the input flange without surgery, but I did not do anything yet. When and if I shall do and succeed I shall post the result.
Happy seagulling to all
Sandro
Thanks Sandro, the idea of emergency shutting the engine by blocking the air intake appeals to me. If you look at the links to the other forums above, there had been mention of blocking the air intake to stop the engine and I had been contemplating a very similar idea to yours in my mind. It's just deciding what to make the latch out of and what to make the flap out of. I guess a little trial and error is in order. Thanks for sharing your ideas and I look forward to seeing your efforts coming to fruition.
On the other forum, others were saying that flooding the engine by blocking the air intake can lead to problems starting due to the fouling of the spark plug, but as it is an emergency stop, I guess this would be a small price to pay and I suppose after a few pulls it would start up again.
Hand over the carb chokes the engine, fouls the plug, and can make starting even more difficult than usual!.
Stelios_Rjk wrote:Create a water proof box that the kill switch will be fitted leaving the button on the outside of it and in the inside the wires.
Do the electrics. One wire from the points should go to the switch. Another wire from the switch would go to the ground (base plate).
Screw the box under the base plate. Wires when getting through the box should be water tight. Also the button fitted on the box should be watertight as half would be inside and half of it outside. Material for the box can be plexiglass (acrylic), it joins with a chemical as a glue. You can ask the supplier but it's easy after some experimenting.
Base plates have some holes but you can make your own. Those screws should also be watertight when getting in the box.
I have the idea in my mind but I don't have the time or the willing to make and test it right now. That can lead to something useful or a crap that won't allow the engine start or make the engine fail for no obvious reason. So it's up to you if you would like to try it
Also when you drill acrylic you need to work on low rpm to avoid the drill bit get hot, melt the piece and the drill bit seize and brake inside. Yes it has happened.
Spaying a coolant is a solution.
Thanks Stelios_Rjk, I had not thought of waterproofing connections in such a way before, perhaps if I was going down this route I would have used heat shrink around connections. Thanks for laying out the exact method for connecting up the wires. It is very useful for novices like me. As I said before I'm leaning more towards the method mentioned by sandro above as I am a little bit wary of interfering with the ignition system and earthing etc. but I am still open to other ideas.
I'm still hopeful that somebody else has developed some kind of emergency stop for their seagull that works successfully, so that I have some surety that the methods mentioned above will actually work reliably in practice.
