1963 CPCL British Seagull

[cobbadog]

Dragged this out of the corner after 6years of gathering dust. Cleaned out the gearbox of old emulsified oil and put some new Penrite SAE140 back in it. Cleaned the carby just in case and before the rope left the pulley it was running. Very rough at first and needed choke to keep running but after a while it ran a lot better. Water circulation was brilliant from start up and just gets stronger with revs. Connected the drive for the prop and it ran ok so I just let it run for a while before revving it up under load. Has a flat spot and required the choke again to keep running then open the choke and away it would go. I noticed a small screw on top of the carby slide and guess this adjusts the mixture but I'm not sure if this theory is right.
Early March will be the big test as it will be clipped to Dees' Devilcat twin hulled dinghy as a Maiden Voyage at this years Seagull Nationals being held at Port Macquarie on the Hastings River.

https://youtu.be/FzQvtZMGtqw

[Scott]

Hello Cobba
Can we have a picture of the boat?
I would like a 4m one in the shed to fish the dams and Moreton Bay. Super stable boats they are....and strong. But, alas, Mrs Scotty would say 5 boats is just too many.

Here is a quote you might like John. The small screw in the top of the throttle valve piston controls the adjustment. The standard setting is flush or one full turn above the top of the piston
We have a bit of literature on Seagulls. I'll try and sort through it today or tomorrow to see if there's information to help you. Our Seagulls just start and go. We've had no reason to do any adjustments at all.

Your going to have to take a lot of polaroids of this event John. It'll make a great story for TOMM I'd say.

Cheers Scott

[cobbadog]

Hi Scotty,
I have one of those books for the Gull and believe it or not this afternoon everything has fallen together and is working just brilliant. I certainly will take plenty of pics of the Devilcat but at the moment it is stored in the shed standing upright on its transom with a big blue tarp over the lot. Once I get it out just before the big day out I will give it a was and take some pics and show you what else I have done so that the Gull can be clipped on without doing any damage to the transom.
I will lift the head off once the big day is over and look at repairing the hairline crack in the top of the cylinder block or look for another one that is not damaged. Hopefully I can get inside the 10mm needed to v it out a little bit and get a short run of weld on it and then use some U-NEED-IT over the top of that to make it water proof. The hairline crack only just slightly weeps from about 1/3rd throttle and up and it is ever so slight. At lower revs there is no sign of any weeping. We have not had the Devilcat in the water since Dee ordered it and had it built to her specs then it was a trip to outback Sydney to pick it up. The owner of the business brought everything up from Tassie and was making them onsite at Maroota (I think) but then was diagnosed with terminal cancer so he had all his moulds up for sale when we picked ours up.

[johnb]

Hi Cobba,
Nice Seagull you have there the clutch will be handy, you will find once the motor is on the back of your dinghy it will run a lot nicer none of mine are happy in a tank.

A few years ago a couple of mates and I used British Seagulls to push our boats down the Murray from Yarrawonga to Goolwa it took 31 days we had only one rest day.
http://magazine.afloat.com.au/?iid=105280#folio=22

We ran a 10-1 fuel mix, used two stroke outboard oil, all settings were standard, did not need to change a spark plug, Motors are happiest at 3/4 plus revs, make a tiller extension
a length of dowel works well. Crack is odd for an engine pumping plenty of water mine have leaked through the head gasket tell tail outlet side.

I wont be able to get to the Nationals this year (unable to get enough leave) we are very disappointed its a top weekend.

Cheers John

[cobbadog]

Yes johnb they are a good thing to attend. We went to the original one at Hawkes Nest just north of Newcastle. As I don't do FaceAche I could not follow the trip down the Murray but it would have been a wonderful trip. Mark is a great bloke and easy to get along with. We wont be fitting an extension to the tiller as the dinghy is a short arse thing and both of us will be on-board so the standard one will do. Cant wait to see how the twin hull DevilCat performs. On the first get together some people came up from S.A. with an in-board Seagull set up with a forward and reverse, it was fascinating. Sorry you cant make the weekend event in March, we know all too well about work commitments. We live only an hour South of Port and we can only afford to be there on the Saturday as work has us both tied up.

[cobbadog]

Forgot to mention the reason for the crack. It was from being neglected in its previous life. It took me ages to remove the silt from the water jackets with the head off. This is why there is the very slight crack but now circulates water like no tomorrow.

[johnb]

Hi Cobba,
That was us with the inboard we still have it and the green dinghy think I remember you and your wife, you showed us a Seagull think it was a barge pusher
(large Prop). The Devilcat sounds interesting easy to store, our dinghy is a little heavy we only used it a couple of times look forward to seeing photos.

Cheers John

[cobbadog]

Yes it is the CPCL with the barge pusher prop, 11" diameter with 5 blades. We really liked your set up, it was a brilliant conversion or adaptation.

[AusAnzani]

Any photos from the meet Cobba?

[cobbadog]

It happens this weekend. Weather is looking a bit 'how ya going' but we will try. Saturday is starting off with some of the boats launching from Telegraph Point and motoring down to the Caravan Park on the Hastings River where they are all staying. Dee and I will not be doing that part of the trip but will be involved in the activities for the rest of the day. So once it is over for us I will post some pics of the event. We are both so looking forward to it and hope that the heavy rain and thunder stays away.