Saving Old Seagulls

The Fisherman De-Luxe is a bit of a hybrid really.

If you haven't seen one in the flesh, it's basically a Fisherman that has been fitted up with a modified upper cowl from a Sportsman. I've got one in my collection, however it needs work. During it's former life, the recoil starter had given up the ghost and so the owner thought it would be a good idea to drill a dirty big hole in to cowl and fit a standard rope sheave. To achieve that though, he also needed to take some material way from the aluminium handle that sits atop.

Thankfully, I've also got a Sportsman which and know a few people who run machine shops. I should be able to have the recoil starter (including all of its individual components) and the carry handle reproduced. Will hurt the hip pocket now doubt, but I will end up with complete and functioning Fisherman De-Luxe in the end, so it will be worth it.

PS: Although I've got nothing to support it, my belief is that when ownership transferred to Wescott Hazel, they revamped the cowl on the fisherman De-Luxe and renamed that outboard, the SeaScout.

Regards,
S

Yes S

There was a Sea Scout. Here are some pics of a couple. The blue and white tank shows remains of decals of unknown year. The tanks are sand box cast aluminium supported by extra brackets and hinged at the rear. The advance lever was changed as well of course. The motors all had engine numbers starting "SS"

Carbs were S.P.C. and Amal (No idea when they changed).......

The Victa carb that you see is how I got that one. It has an Amal on it know. The blue and white one has S.P.C.
Regards

BnS[/color]

Collector Inspector wrote:Yes S

Carbs were S.P.C.

BnS

Lol, not quite mate.

S.P.C made baked beans and spaghetti.

S.K.C made carburetors.

Sorry mate, I couldn't resist.

Regards
S

AusAnzani wrote:

Collector Inspector wrote:Yes S

Carbs were S.P.C.

BnS

Lol, not quite mate.

S.P.C made baked beans and spaghetti.

S.K.C made carburetors.

Sorry mate, I couldn't resist.

Regards
S

NUTS!

I just reallised and logged in to make amends...but pipped to the "Post"

I can not get the jingle out of my head either!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFyTx9Y7dTk


BnS

Good info,
Was the Sea Scout, a Fisherman, with a different cowl. Wasn't there a recoil starter?
Cheers

The Sea Scout superseded the Fisherman De Luxe. It was the De Luxe that had the recoil starter.

Ok, Got it. Thanks for the info. I may have to look for one of those also.
May need a bigger shed. LOL
Cheers

Another Riptide Sportsman!

I stumbled across an image of a Riptide Sportsman on Facebook along with a request for assistance with identification. Responded to that and several days later found myself talking to the owner. He had found it under a house he had purchased some 18 months ago, and had no interest in it what so ever. As there was a chance it would end up at the local tip, I offered him fair money for it and arranged to meet at an agreed location some 300km from home.

About 10 minutes prior to arriving at the meeting place, I received a call from my brother to say that my father had passed. My plans now are to restore in memory of my father and to display it in my study.

Facebook photos
No time to inspect. Cash handed over, loaded in to the boot of the car and straight back to Melbourne.
Serial number. Note my other is 60 8020 so 1 year apart. Otherwise mechanically identical in every respect.
After a high pressure wash and with wrap around cowl removed. Prior to purchasing, was advised that the engine was locked up. Have therefore had the head off to check the bores. Only a light surface oxidisation on visible. Am confident it will be fairly easy to free up.
Need to pull my finger out and reassemble the other before I go much further with this one.

Regards,
S

Nice looking engine. Good on you for chasing it up, and purchasing. It will be nice to see it restored, and displayed in your fathers memory.
Cheers

Finding some interesting things with this outboard. Flywheel has a crack in the top section suspected to be from a prior failed attempt at removal. As a result however, the conventional method of removal will cause further damage, hence I'm going to need another flywheel. It is a WICO PACY made in England, and is used on numerous small engines, so I'm hoping there will be one I can get a hold of somewhere.

I've removed the engine from the mid & lower, and have removed the head and exhaust manifold off the engine also. This allowed me to confirm both pistons are frozen solid within their respective barrels (cylinders). I managed to free one after persisting for approx. 3 hours yesterday. Got the other to move approx. 3/4" also, but in doing that, the skirt came in to contact with one of the barrel studs and it (the piston skirt) is now broken. The pistons (photos later) are very similar to those used in early Johnson and Evinrude outboards, and hence I will take some measurements and post on the AOMCI forums for identification and replacement advice. Will keep you all posted.

Why I chose this as a hobby I do not know (grrrrrrr). And that bloke who invented salt water, well, I had a few choice words to say to him also.

Regards,
S

You are not the only one, that has trouble with salt water corrosion. LOL
It seems every outboard I touch, has some part , or bolt that is rusted solid.
Its all Part OF The Fun.!!
Cheers

How much of a Sportsman is Australian (conceived & born there) as the gravity diecast tooling for that leg would cost as much as a house in suburbia?

As some bits look very Mercury & we've all heard the £10 Pomme stories.

Weren't the late 50s early 60s the time of import restrictions?

Hello Charles,

As stated in Hunn's Old Outboard Book - third edition, the engineers at the Riptide Outboard Motor Company took their inspiration from a number of different American outboards when designing the Riptide Sportsman.

External styling is very much inspired by the Mercury Mark 30, however there are significant differences between both outboards and I doubt any of the parts are interchangeable.

With regards to the castings, there are several other Australian outboard manufacturers that were on the same path. Examples include Marlin, Cromac Cadet, Cheras & Mermaid Streamline. I'm sure there are others that don't immediately come to mind.

Expensive indeed. A 1959 Seacraft article puts the new cost of a 7hp Riptide Sportsman Outboard at under 300 pound, when most other Aussie made outboards of that time were typically priced at one third that and less.

Interestingly Sheltrum went on to become a Mercury dealer, before moving on to OMC.

Regards,
S

Ok, just restored the most recent pics (May 15, 2017 post) by using the file attachment method.

Time consuming to do retrospectively, and limited to 5 attachments per thread. Not ideal, but it helps if you want to restore any current threads affected by the new Photobucket terms.

Regards,
S