Saving Old Seagulls

Does anyone know if there is a Seagul Forum here in Australia?
I love your site,but would welcome some local contact with like souls.
I have a complete old 102 serial # SD61 which I would like to restore & any local help would be great.
Thanks.Al Burke

I'll be very surprised if you don't make contact with a few fellow Australians through this site. There are quite a few of them here.

Your SD restoration is meat and drink to the people here, and I am certain that no matter what you are doing, there'll be someone who can help if you need it.

Good luck, and let us all know how your early SD is going..

Hi Al

I'm in Sydney and have the below motors. They all run beautifully so fortunately have not had to do any major works. Minnards marine has a forum but its not a patch on this one. A seagull race around Sydney harbour has to be the go..... but agree with you its hard to find other local owners. Never yet taken the motors out without getting a lot of comments. The 'wooden boat association' mentions a lot of seagulls on their website but I spoke to them at a timber and woodworking exhibition recently and they didn't know what I was talking about. Poor souls . The sort of chaps that appreciate seagulls would probably not be computer followers if you get my drift. Interestingly I acquired my 82 102 in newcastle last year...typically, lying forlorn in a shed.

Cheers Hugo.

Thanks Charles & Hugo.

I have just this moment found a home-made business card given to me a couple of years ago, by a fellow at a wooden boat get-together here on our Lake Macquarie.He had an interesting collection of old restored putt-putts & a couple of Seaguls.I have been looking everywhere for this card & will now contact him as he seemed interested at the time to help with advice & spares. He said he knew other Seagul owners & may be a good source for further contacts.

As he was giving out cards freely, I'm sure he will not mind if I give you his details here....he may well be a regular on this site too.

His card reads:
Barry & Pam Gorman,
49 Devonshire Street,
Maitland NSW 2320
Ph: 02 49335365

Oh,& if you have one of Minnards' Seagul manuals,Hugo, you will see that it has been lifted straight from this SOS site!Not one of John's favourite people as he (Minnard), referred to as "Minnow" by John,did not acknowledge the source of the Seagul manual.

Barry Gorman seemed knowledgeable as he thought my SD61 was '42-'46 102 short water jacket with clutch which John verified for me some time ago.It was found lying under a pile of junk in a Port Stephens boat repair business by a mate who lives nearby & the owner said he could have it for free.He then gave it to me, knowing I'm a wooden & old boat tragic,having saved several from the wrecker by repairing them & so thought I might breathe life back into this old Seagul.

Actually, it's complete & has some compression,weak spark & pulls over smoothly,so she may be a goer without too much work???....dreamin???...anyhow,it will be fun.

I have some pics...how do I upload to this site?

I look forward to running into you one day.

Allan Burke

oh & Charles,
I notice you are in Poole....a few years ago I visited some friends who live there & was impressed with the sign on the beachfront..".The Most Beautiful Beach In The World"....or words to that effect?By English standards,it & your harbour are wonderful,but have you seen some of the beaches near where I live here on the east coast of OZ?....but it's all relative I suppose.
Al.

oh & Charles,
I notice you are in Poole....a few years ago I visited some friends who live there & was impressed with the sign on the beachfront..".The Most Beautiful Beach In The World"....or words to that effect?By English standards,it & your harbour are wonderful,but have you seen some of the beaches near where I live here on the east coast of OZ?....but it's all relative I suppose.
Al.

I'm not convinced about our beaches here being all that special, but I guess the local tourism department just has to say that don't they!

Actually they had a local scheme here a short while ago to replenish the sand on some of our beaches and someone had the bright idea to use sand dredged up from various places including the harbour itself.

It cost a small fortune, and shortly after completion people began to notice that the fine sand was blowing around on the streets, and disappearing gradually with each tide. We now have stretches of stony rubble, which is going to cost even more money to put right.

You just can't mess with nature.

Whilst naturally I believe that anything British just has to be better than anything the colonies possess I'll concede the point about your beaches. My father was born in Australia in a bullock cart crossing the Darling. He didn't get his birth registered for a while, until they arrived in New Zealand.

Poole Harbour is indeed lovely, and it is where I had planned to spend the entire summer, but another area where you guys manage to outshine (literally) the UK is that you actually have a summer. Here we are in the middle of what I now regard as the 'slightly warmer rainy season'

Good luck with your SD. I notice you have a very early serial number there, and I'd be interested to know what type of transom bracket you have - indeed a photo would be much appreciated. Also any marks stamped into it - another of your fellow countrymen has an SD with intriguing stamps on the gearbox.

The ignition will most probably be OK. If you have (as was orininally fitted) he early Villiers magneto with the slightly raised conical top, then the spark will probably respond to the points being cleaned and gapped, together with a new bit of HT lead. Those old magneotos are super - you'll probably get a spark you can almost weld with!