Saving Old Seagulls

would u buy this engine.or has any body bought 1

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Stroke-3-5H ... Ciid%253A1

Absolutely. ......would you have bought a skoda 10yrs ago (probably not) would you drive one now (without a shadow of a doubt )

Interesting one. Chinese outboard made to a price, probably with very low quality cheap parts. Spares might be a problem. However run it for a while, service and if it goes wrong after 3 or 4 years then sell it on eBay as a non runner for £30. All in all not really a bad deal.

Skoda is part of VW group, not really comparing like for like here..I had a skoda hire car recently, under the bonnet were nothing but VW components. High quality.

Horses for courses.
Boating for those on a strict budget maybe.

If push came to shove, at that price i'd use one till it stopped working then throw it away.

My old racebike "mini moto" is a chinese bred copy too, and that was a winner for a short time.
My Gixxer 750 is 100% Japanese, my car is manufactured in India of all places, my moped is made in Taiwan but based very loosely on an Italian design. Talk about multi national!

Nothing wrong with chinese manufacture, just that some things are better than others.
My money will always be with a seagull just because it's what's i like and it's what i prefer.



Jon

You would have to be mad to buy that!
Buy a seagull!

It's just about water cooled, not the exhaust, just the leg, its pretty much an air cooled motor 2-stroke motor with a water jacket added, it wouldn't have a air vent on the side if it was a proper water cooled motor, a strimmer on a leg really.
I did pretty much the same thing with a model car FG engine, I machined the head and added a water jacket for a 3ft model racing boat, I crashed the boat, but the engine is still about.

still pretty much a strimmer.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/main-engine-asse ... nC&vxp=mtr

Speaking of Chinese outboards, my daughter purchased a Parsun Chinese outboard, they are water cooled & worked ok for a bout 12months regular work in & out to a Yacht, then sold it The main problem was it did not like running for very long over 3/4 throttle it would just stop & was then hard to start. At least my seagulls will run flat out for hours with no problems.

suppose as the old saying goes ,,buy cheap buy twice,...am a bit guilty of that saying I,m afraid

Problem is with Chinese manufacturing is that they build to a price. It has happened in two of hobbies already. Airguns and Motorbikes. In airguns SMK have been importing Chinese manufactured rifles and pistols for decades. The humble B2 is a pile of pants, a loose conglomeration of parts that occasionally spits a pellet in the direction of the target. It has been for decades, I had one when I wanted to see if I still liked shooting. thing is it cost £30, when the cheapest British rifle was well over £200. Am I going to chuck £200 at a hobby that I might not like? No, but £30 yes. These days though you can buy a Chinese airgun that costs £400, but this has a Titanium air cylinder, magazine loading system and a decent trigger.

Motorbikes, a few years ago Chinese motorbikes were reckoned to last less time than a Chinese meal (not including ordering). However the rise of marques such as Mash and Herald have meant quality has increased exponentially to the point that the cheapest Yamaha (YBR125) is now made in China. The quality is there. The other half picked up a Zontes Monster 125 last year for £300. It was one year old, the guy had bought it because after an operation he could not handle a big bike. When he had recovered he went to trade it in against a CBF500, the Honda agent offered him £100 for his bike or £500 without a trade in. So matey decided that the bike having cost him £900 a year ago, would be worth about £700, he got £500 off for no trade in, so anything over £200 was bonus. We got a bike that did not need an MOT for 2 years. A few months later she decided her wrists had not recovered from the breaks they had suffered and she sold it, to a dealer, for £500. The price on them having risen to £1300 meant he could sell it on for £700 easily.

Only complaint I had on it was the light was crap, city bike only really, the lamp was dimmer than 2 glow worms copulating in a Kilner jar! The throttle cable was also made of some form of noodle and had to be replaced (Venhill, he he he). But it handled as well as many mainstream learner bikes, the tyres actually worked in the wet, the engine was happiest at 55mph, so back roads all the way, but for £300 it was a bloody good bike!

But quality keeps rising, the established makes had better watch price, as these manufacturers will raise quality bit by bit and by the time they realise what is happening, it will be too late. Happened to the British bike and car industry...