Wednesday 25 April 2012

Justin Seagull rebuilt and we have a runner!

This is not an all finished event just yet, first I needed to read all of the stacks of really helpfull info on the various web sites, I have no preference at this stage but I can tell you that John at S.O.S was more than helpfull and I ended up by buying the required list of spares from John. In the post today he told me yesterday.

Save our Seagulls can be found at the link below.

 http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/buy_spares/buy_spares.htm


There are some really helpfull cut out section photos available, with me not having the required workshop manual (on order) I had to make do with the pictures.

Some data:


  • Type of Motor : Single cyclinder, 3 port, 2-stroke, water cooled
  • Bore: 57mm.
  • Stroke: 40mm.
  • H.P. Category: 3-4
  • Approx. R.P.M., Max: 3800
  • Lubrication
    • Power Unit: Gasoline and oil mixture, pressure fed from crankcase
    • Gearbox: Gear Oil (NOT Grease), No gun required for replenishment
  • Exhaust System: Straight through expansion chambers. Underwater outlet.
  • Reduction Gear Ratio: 10/35
  • Clutch: Not Available
  • Propeller: 4 blade, 9" dia. Compound Pitch
  • Steering: Pivoting motor, adjustable tenstion, folding and tilting tiller, friction mounted.
  • Ignition: Seagull "Instarter Magnition" system. A very high voltage spark from a flywheel magneto fires the charge in a cylinder head of exceptionally quick-starting characteristics.

My job was first to find out why this LLS type Seagull Century would not turn over, I could tell that the piston was moving a little, so assumed that the engine was not seized. I decided to read what I could and start as advised by removing one section at a time, thats good advice!


The first thing I did was to empty the petrol tank, the smell was really bad, this mix had long since stopped being petrol and oil mix?


When the gear box was opened it was easy to see why the motor would not turn over, click on the picture for a larger view.

The oil had long since left this gearbox, then again the engine had not been used for many years, I was told four, was it longer?

Note, the gearbox will run quite happily with a mixture of oil and water, make sure there is more oil than water,use an EP90 grade gearbox oil and check every ten hours. NEVER USE GREASE!

Century 100 (LLS)


(Based on a 1960's brochure)

This all-purpose engine has plenty of guts, is light in weight, quiet, very economical, docile enough for a 10-ft. dinghy, yet quite capable of towing half a dozen dinghies home against the ebb, plus any more that can get a line aboard!!

As an auxiliary it's quite unmatched, and like all Seagulls it is designed for real work, all day and day after day, with the minimum of attention and service.

Drive displacement hulls to 21', excellent towing power, large inflatables. Sailboat kicker for: Flying Scot, Lighting, Rhodes 19, Celebrity, Ford 20, Highlander, Tempest, Star, Rainbow, Mariner, Cal 20, Alacrity, Vivacity, Ensign, Islander 21, Plastrend-Mustang, Grampion 22, Imperial 23, Golif, Columbia 22, Hurley 17-20-22, Mouette, Flamingo, Nomad, Kittiwake 23, Sailmaster 22, South Coast 23, Santana 20, Kestrel, Orion, Raven, Phoenix, Signet 20.



Starting, Johns S.O.S site says that with three turns on the rope and with the choke on and a fully open throttle, the Seagull Century should start on the second try on the rope, guess what, Johns correct it did!
To be continued, this may be a long tale.



How hard can that be, easy!

Roy