Saving Old Seagulls

I was unfaithful to my Seagulls today, I fell to temptation in the form of a virtually unused 1979 Chrysler 7.5 hp in great cosmetic and mechanical condition. I spent an afternoon with it in the trash can/wheelie bin getting it set up after the obligatory carb clean. All in all a nice little motor weighing only 55lbs compared to the 52lbs that my Seagull 90 weighs - I'm thinking it will work well for my inflatable boat. It was strange tinkering with it everything is so different from a Seagull it's hard to think they are both outboard motors. What was funny was that every time I thought of something I liked better on the Chrysler, I seemed to almost immediately find something that was a better idea on the Seagull design. Two totally different ideas on how to make a motor to push a boat along - I have to say the simplicity of the Seagull design and easy access to carb parts etc. is certainly a winner over having to remove the carb (twice, you know how it goes) just to get the float bowl off to get at the jets.

Surprise of the day was my wife frantically asking if I was going to sell one of the Seagulls to make way for this and telling me I definitely could not sell the "blue one" as she calls it, my Seagull 90, because she likes it and it looks so cool on the back of my 21" speed boat - now who'd have thought that, a petite great looking California girl would fall in love with a Seagull 90 - but then she has strange taste she married me.

Any way the Chrysler is now sitting quietly in the garage nestled up with 3 Seagulls, I hope they'll all be nice to each other

"Two totally different ideas on how to make a motor to push a boat along"

Nah! Not unfaithful at all, just tasting something else?

The totally different way in turning a prop is what I enjoy.

B

a petite great looking California girl?
yE RIGHT!

Niander101 wrote:a petite great looking California girl?
yE RIGHT!

She was carefully chosen for her perfect ballast properties at the front of a small boat, plus it gives you something else to look at other than the scenery as you're motoring along


Now I realise I have to take the carb off for a third time, because I forgot to check the size of the main jet when cleaning it, I need to see if it's the high altitude version. With a fuel pump diaphragm that most likely won't like ethanol and the usual iffy type of water pump impeller it's hard after the simplicity of a Seagull motor not to get a little paranoid about what could go wrong - I'm sacrificing my peace of mind for extra speed LOL

An observation, do reed valves quell intake roar? why does the carb on this motor despite running an open intake and the top cover removed not have anything like the distinctive roar of a Seagull

High altitude version? Work with me on this for minute...it's an outboard motor.....that goes on a boat.....that goes on the.....sea? Unless I'm missing something, entirely possible...

I live about 750 miles from the nearest sea, here in the rocky mountains in the USA, we boat on huge lakes or reservoirs. I just returned from a trip to Flaming Gorge which is a reservoir over 90 miles long and with 350 miles of shoreline, altitude 6045 feet on the water, at one point the rocks rise another 1500 feet above the surface. I live at about 5000 feet and there is a lake below me in the valley at 4500 feet. The altitude makes quite a difference to power output and call for rejetting and propeller changes to reach max rpm, sometimes even between different lakes for those addicted to speed.

Not the only Seagull on the water either!!

Could be time for a Utah Seagull race

H-A

Are you thinking the whole 91 miles from the north in Wyoming to the dam in Utah

From the UT/WY border to the dam would be nice 25 mile run, with some great scenery and passing two other launch ramps on the way in case anyone has to retire with bum cramp or mechanical failure. If you all want to fly yourselves and your gear over, I'll book the camp site right by the marina - would it be cheating if I use the 90 and two 40 pluses on my inflatable, it will draw a better crowd with a likely hometown winner. I'd better call the people at the dam too, when they hear the combined roar of a regatta of Seagull powered craft resonating of the canyon walls and across the water, they may mistake us for a terrorist attack and open fire or call in the air force .

It would be awfully good fun - but as Captain Mainwaring used to say to Corporal Jones " I think your getting into the realms of fantasy there Jones"

Interesting place! The thought of a pair of 40+'s droning away in harmony is something to think about! The last time I used mine it was perfectly still and flat on the estuary I was chugging up, the 40+ was dragging a long blue cloud behind, I could see where I had been an embarrassingly long way upstream Has the US legislated pre-mix ratios yet?

I should have figured the altitude thing for myself (D'oH!) our lakes are all much lower.....

Thankfully no 2 stroke restrictions here in UT, I find with synthetic oil even though my Seagull 90 is running rich with the altitude that I don't make any visible smoke - I just keep the 25:1 ratio a secret There are still quite a few boats still running older big 2 stroke O/B's although the majority of boats here seem to be V8's with inboard/outboards or direct drive on the many ski and wakeboard boats. Hopefully with the death of the 2 stroke on the new market they will just let everything run it's natural course. I ended up going for the Chrysler 7.5, yet another 2 stroke because having looked at new 4 strokes there is nothing producing anything like that kind of power and weighing only 55lbs which is a nice amount of weight on something like an inflatable where the motor is being taken on and off again at each launch and retrieval. I see a new 4 stroke could be on the horizon eventually, hopefully they will continue to reduce weights, otherwise at the moment a 6hp is about as big as would be feasible and they are in the 75 lb range, which isn't ridiculous but would still make for a bit of a struggle in and out of the truck and on jetties/slipways etc. which isn't the same as carrying stuff around on a level surface in your garage.

When I was running the Chrysler the other day in the trash can, I ran it for quite some time fiddling around and burning off the last of the mineral 2 stroke oil. I ran the best part of a 1/4 of a US gallon of fuel through it, and despite it running too rich a mixture there really was very little oil in the water all things considered, so with the smaller jet I have on order installed (that altitude thing again, it had the sea level jet) and the right sort of oil I don't think I'll be doing too much harm to the environment. Certainly much cleaner at 50:1 than a Seagull at 25:1, it seems the motor burns most of the oil as the exhaust is quite clean after running, no oil ooze. My Seagull 90 on the other hand is still oozing 3 weeks after returning from my vacation, only the tiniest bit now, but I wipe it clean and then when I walk by and look again a day or so later, darn it if there isn't another trace running from the exhaust tube lower joint - it must be something to do with the newer technology of the 83 Seagull vs the old school 79 Chrysler

Bluecloud, if all my motors ran like yours, with all 3 Seagulls on the back it sounds like I'd be leaving a trail of dead fish in my wake May be it's that damp British air that lets the smoke hang in the air that way - with 90 degree heat, dry desert air and perfect blue skies and sunshine it just isn't the same here

fortyplus wrote:Are you thinking the whole 91 miles from the north in Wyoming to the dam in Utah

It would be awfully good fun - but as Captain Mainwaring used to say to Corporal Jones " I think your getting into the realms of fantasy there Jones"

I think the full 91 miles would be good, camping at night, watch out for rattle snakes.

Would the Bermudans be interested? Perhaps it could be sponsored by Utah Beer.

H-A

"I think the full 91 miles would be good, camping at night, watch out for rattle snakes" . . . . .

and bears and mountain lions - that's why often I carry a 44 magnum as part of my "tool kit". The combined roar of multiple Seagulls would probably drive off most of the bigger animals as thankfully they are usually under the false impression that even unarmed humans are something to be scared of. We did however get a cougar/mountain lion in on our camp on my last trip to my back country property, in June this year, it vacated the area pretty smartly after I fired a couple of warning shots, it was just curious, I don't think we were on the menu, but it's better to keep them scared. Even though there are a lot of them around there, you will almost never see one normally, both black bears and mountain lions will give you a wide berth if they can.

It would actually be great fun to camp along the waters edge as you traveled, although much of the Wyoming bit is rather flat desert, with mostly sage brush so not visually as stimulating, but that is the area most of the keen fisherman seem to head for, so some kind of lure thrown over the side during the day could provide a good campfire dinner .

fortyplus wrote:We did however get a cougar/mountain lion in on our camp on my last trip in the back country in June this year, .

I could always sleep on the boat, do cougars swim well?

H-A

Yes they can swim pretty well, and more importantly better than you, but I think they'd have to be pretty hungry, to try pulling you from your boat Fortunately in most of UT there is still plenty of space and alternative sources of more traditional food.