So there I was, cleaning my workshop when....

[Jeff, Ohio USA]

I pull this box of Seagull spare pieces I've managed to accumulate over the years from under the work bench. "Self", I says, "You should take a picture and sell these parts and pieces on the internet". So I lay everything out and get ready to take a picture when I realize I have at least one whole motor here in parts. Then I think of my 15.5', square stern sailing canoe, and how I've been thinking of getting a small trolling motor for fishing.

So I start sorting through parts and thinking about what features I liked in a 40+ sized motor. Three evenings and half a Saturday later I was testing the Frankenstein Seagull on the water. She has electronic ignition, recoil start, weedless prop, clutch and brass fuel tank. To the best of my knowledge there are parts from at least four motors in this beast.

To make it fit on my boat better I also shortened it by 3". I figured with all the mismatched parts there was no collector value, so I might as well fit it like I wanted. So my daughter and I take the boat and motor out on the lake and after about an hour I beach the boat to tighten the tiller nut. Looking for other loose nuts I see that the support lug nuts do not have their wire cotter pins holding them on. From the crud in the pin hols they had not had pins for come time. Don't know how I missed it. So I tell my daughter we need a small piece of wire. She looks around and comes up with a wire clothes hanger someone had evidently used to roast hotdogs. I cut a couple short pieces and made good, temporary safety pins.

"Gotta love Seagulls" she said. "In a pinch you can tighten them up with an adjustable wrench and a wire cloths hanger and they will get you home." That is only a slight exaggeration. A friend had his Seagull come loose from his transom in the Gulf of Mexico, while running. He retrieved the motor and found it had a blown head gasket. A temporary head gasket was formed from a cardboard milk carton and the Seagull got them home.