Saving Old Seagulls

Last saturday I bought a BS 102 for 50 pounds (60 euros in The Netherlands), the seller did not know if it was in working order. He thought no parts were missing, and it had a spark. It had been in his shed for many years, he could not remember ever see it running. At home I cleaned it a bit, removed some rusted iron nails and bolts and a lot of dust, and I gave it an optical inspection to ensure myself nothing was wrong mechanically. I made a dumb mistake, what resulted in a lot of useless pulling. I had filled the float chamber, thinking that was enough to get it running for a second or two. It didn't. After cleaning the sparkplug and gasflow over and over, and pulling a lot, I eventually got the brilliant idea to fill the tank with half a litre of gas, it started on the first pull...
I hope to use this nice little motor as a safety device on my 5 m RIB with 40hp, when I am on the Northsea.

My English is not very good, I didn't know how else to put it. Used like this we call it - literally translated - a ' homebringer', as it's function when the main engine fails, is just that. It was cheaper than a set of emergency flares .

Yet another advantage running a 10 to 1 seagull -- emergency engine and smoke signal in one unique unit

...and mosquito deterrence..

Yeah, go ahead and mock the dutch , but one time the Yamaha 55 on my Zodiac stopped at about 2 km from the beach, and my son and I had to row back with tiny (obligatory) paddles. I will not easily forget that. So now I'm quite happy to have the Seagull; it can bark, make smoke signals, repel insects or Germans, as long as it takes me home.

Oh I'm not mocking, Peter.

I have a Model 110 on the back of my Westerly for the same reason as you!

Hi Peter,
I too carry a seagull, it is kept in the heads. (toilet compartment)
Comes out once or twice a year and always gets me home.
Well done and welcome.
Regards
Philj

Being on an inland lake, my 40- Seagull is all the motor I need on my sailboat when the wind fails, but if I ever move to a bigger body of water with strong currents, I may buy a newer/bigger motor, but I agree... the Seagull stays, it's worth it's weight! I've puttered away from too many docks on one pull where I left some bloke pulling and cussing at what seemed like a brand new 4 stroke motor that would not run if his life depended on it. I usually try to help them with it before I leave, but am usually just as baffled why it won't run as they are.