Saving Old Seagulls

can anyone tell me anything about Scott outboard motors ? i`ve been offered one very cheap but it`s seized,was just wondering what they`re like to work on,parts availability & pricing.

many thanks
jason

More than one company made a Scott outboard, unless you are on about more well known McCulloch's, Scott Atwater.

As Kieth-p said, there are a couple of different McCulllochs. Is it a McCulloch like the pic below. Or is it scott McCulloch. Chris (who is a member on the forum here) can tell you a bit about these type of motors. He has read the book about the leyland brothers doing a murray river run in an old quintrex tinnie using a scott McCulloch. From what ive heard about them, they are a great motor. They also have a built in bilge pump that runs of the motor and has a long tube with a water pickup end that you sit in the bottom of the boat to pump out any water. E-bay international has a fair few parts on there. Collector inspector would know about these type of motors to i reckon.

it`s almost identical to that one but where the word mc culloch the one i`m looking at has the words "fishing scott"

The lowboy model is a utter and complete nightmare to work on. Scott Atwater from the late 40s-mid50s are well regarded,Scott McCulloch are good too, except for that motor. Some parts are available, coils fairly expensive, although some mid 50s with the 7/16" square center leg can have the inexpensive OMC universal coil winding fitted.

A friend of mine from N.J. In the U.S., likes to tell the story of a friend of his who worked almost exclusively on Scott outboards when the lo-boy model came out. Every year the Scott factory would visit him to get his comments on possible improvements for ease of working on their motors. After having the lo boy out for over a year, they visited his shop, where he had a lo boy on the stand, changing the impeller I think it was. Many of the common repairs on this motor require that the power head be almost completely stripped. In any case, when asked about the new motor and possible improvements, the mechanic produced an electric drill with a 12" bit, looked closely at the motor cowling and proceeded to align the drill and start drilling down through the cowling. When the bit had mostly disappeared, he pulled it out, looked at the shocked factory reps and said, "its really hard to get at this screw, it needs a hole right here!!"

So I guess if you like an extreme challenge as an expert mechanic or are a hard core masochist, it may just be the motor for you. Otherwise, do yourself a favor and look for the 3.6 hp Scott Atwater/ McCulloch built from the late40s - 1965, my friend claims it will run with half dozen things wrong with it, as he says, " just like a British Seagull"
Changeover to McCulloch happened around 1960.

The Scott special interest group leader for the AOMCI lives somewhere in Oz, I will look up the name and address if you are interested.

thanks for the replies phil.after doing some searching online it appears the motor i`m considering is a 1962, 7.5 hp model.

that name & address would be great if you don`t mind.

cheers jason

Oh Dear Me!

Phil has said everything about these.

I have a 7.5 Sears/Ted Williams version with balomatic and its tank. It, for me, is a back rack motor for "Later".

It starts and idles well, pumps water and the balomatic slurps from a bucket.

BUT

Something deep down within is siezed in nuetral.

Nothing a 6" holesaw through the slab side would not fix access to free whatever the linkage is.....

Yeh, the whole thing needs the power head removed to gaze within.
Good luck.

B
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Condohk69 PMd you with name and address for John Hudson.

thanks for all the informative replies.

after careful consideration i think i`ll pass on this motor & stick to my trusty old seagull.

many thanks
jason