Saving Old Seagulls

hi
just picked up an old century plus recently with a view to giving the old girl some new lease of life...
firstly they was no spark and all the carb / float bowl was heavely full of crud and corrosion.
the gearbox had more water than oil in it.
tried everything to get a spark but no joy so i gave steve a ring from leedsmarine.
he said my coil would be ok and it would be the ht lead if anything even though i tried it on my multimeter and thought it was ok.
i went to his house where he comfirmed it was goosed and replaced it with a new one and we had a long chat and told me to ring if it didnt spark.
fitted everything up and no joy.
after another conversation he said the coil output terminal can cause issues with conductivity even though i was getting a reading from it on the meter.... a quick blast with a dremel / wire brush attachment and the spark is now fatter than the fattest thing.
next step is to refit the carb and put fresh fuel in and fire her up....after running i will then tidy her up.
many thanks to steve who helped a complete newbie with hundreds of questions.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Nice to have another tyke on board. I am in Dewsbury and run a 40 plus on the inflatable tender to my river boat. Not had any major problems with my gull but I can reccomend the forum as a mine of useful advice. Well done with your find.
Tony

Some of us Tykes are down here on the South Coast doing missionary service....

SNAP

new boy too, also with a Century Plus, been running ok in bucket first trip out it died once prop engaged. Found loads of muck in the tank and fuel line all cleaned out float chamber and small filter cleaned to wait for next trip out might try today...

lovin my seagull

If you haven't already done so, check the gearbox ASAP. All three Seagulls I have opened up have had at least half a cup of grit in them

I have some oil on order just waiting for it to turn up...

So until then have you enough oil in the box?
if not stick any old thick oil must be better than nothing

Good man, wait for the right 140 grade oil.

'Any old' stuff isn't good enough....

Although we live in Dewsbury all our boating is done in Lincs where they all call each other duck. I was accussed of being a yellow belly once but I got away with it!

all i had in the gearbox was water lol.....stripping all the bits off it now and restoring it and replacing everything where poss with stainless steel

Another question do I open up the gearbox or just re-oil?

Took out oil filler plug and I have water and brown oil looks like it should be I guess. Now there is no grit so do I just drain and re-oil or flush with petrol/white spirt, or strip down.

Planing to do a full strip down over winter so its tip top for next year.

personally i would remove the screws and take cover off....inspect and clean everything the refit and re-oil

...using the right oil. If the oil and water are separate in your box it's the wrong oil. It's supposed to form a coffee-coloured emulsion.