"Ian Malcolm" wrote in message
...
no onecares wrote:
I know some of you cruisers are using a british seagull engine for
your dingy.
I just purchased one, in good running condition, but has no paperwork.
Where can I download manuals, info, etc?
I know I can buy them, but I am sure there are some groups like with
the A4 that share them and talk up a storm!
thanks
Joe
The company that ended up with the British Seagull spares inventory and
rights and continues to support the engines has the copyright to the user
and service manuals. (Selva ended up with the rights to produce Seagull
branded engines but have nothing to do with supporting the original
engines.)
The consensus on the various forums is that although the OEM parts
supplier is rather expensive, ripping off their copyright is a *BAD*
*THING* as no-one wants them to decide supporting Seagulls is uneconomic
and dispose of the remaining inventory. The original works docs were in
'dead tree' format so there were no conveniant files for employees or
dealers to leak.
Generally anyone trying to trade in ripped off scanned manuals gets banned
from the forums so DONT unless you dont want to have access to one of the
friendliest and most helpfull user communities you will ever meet.
The Owners Handbook is *real* simple and any of the forums or supplier
sites will give you a brief list of the essential do's and dont's, so you
can easily do without it. The Service Manual is actually a collection of
service bullitins and Seagull used to send the same bullitin individually
if one ordered a particular service kit. Most suppliers would still be
happy to send a copy of the carburettor diagram if you were ordering carb
parts etc. though you might have to ask. The Owners Spares Book is the
exploded diagrams and parts list but the forums will help you get part
numbers given a description and the better suppliers will send you the
right parts as long as you give them the engine number so one can manage
without that as well. The Retail Price List is just good for giving you
sticker shock, e.g. eight years ago, the GBX10035 BEVEL PINION (12 Teeth)
was £47.17 and it hasn't got any cheaper. I shudder to think what that
would be now in dollars and you'd need to replace it as a set with the
Crown Gear as well. Be very carefull to use the correct spec gearbox oil
and check it often!
The best seagull forums are at http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/
Goto the 'Guest Pages'. If you have any servicing to do or operational
questions - just ask over there.
That is all good stuff but you hardly need the instruction book for these
simple motors. I have had long experience with them and my Century Plus is
50 years old and still good for another 50 as they are very much
over-engineered by modern standards and will accept a lot of abuse and still
run.
The older Seagulls, 40 and 100 series at least, have one great advantage
over modern engines in that the water pump impeller is not made of rubber so
you can clamp them to a bench and run them up dry for a minute or so ashore
and then you know they will start without hassle when you put them on your
boat.
Here is all you really need to know:-
-Use basic 2-stroke oil, not the high tech stuff they use in modern
chainsaws etc. Seagull recommend a 10:1 mix but if you use this on an engine
that is well run in you will have trouble with plug oiling and lose even
more of the oil into the environment. I run mine on 15:1 and it is OK.
-Oil in the gearbox must be SAE 140 or thicker, as long as it will still be
pourable (i.e. not a grease). The gearbox has no oil seal and the thick oil
leaks only very slowly through the clearances. The instruction book says "a
certain amount of water in the box doesn't matter" and you will find that
the oil becomes a yellowish emulsion of oil and water. I have never seen a
Seagull where this did not happen and the loadings are so low they run
happily on it. I have never known one that needed new gears from wear .so
the cost of new gears is not a problem.
-Spark plugs may be a problem as 18mm ones are hard to find. I have a little
hoard of old ones as they do have the advantage that they can be dismantled
for thorough cleaning so last a very long time. The recommended plug is
Lodge C1 (H1 for hard service) or Champion 8com. There may be some modern
equivalents made for vintage engines but I have no information on this.
Recommended gap .012/.015"
-You need to carry a plug spanner, a screwdriver and,if you have the old
Villiers carburetter, a precision spanner ('King Dick' type) for unscrewing
the jet if it gets blocked. With these three tools and a spare plug you can
be sure of getting the motor going again_in the boat_ in the unlikely event
that it stops.
HTH