Saving Old Seagulls

Hi All,

I bought me a Featherweight GF2355EE7. After cleaning, painting the tank and completing the transom mount, I took it out for a spin.

In the wheelie bin it worked at the second pull, but only because I did not use the choke on the first pull! Brilliant! So I mounted it to the boat. At low speeds everything is fine. At half speed it feels like I am bumping into things, like it is misfiring every couple of seconds. At high speed the boat is not going faster (we are still at walking speed here), and I can hear the engine racing while the wake from the propellor is not getting more frothy. It looks like the connection between the crank and the propellor is gone. So I tried to move the propellor by hand, while holding the flywheel still with the other hand. I couldn't. Then I looked at the propellor spring. Everything looked OK. The spring, washer and retaining pin are all there.

Where to start taking things apart? Any idea?

Thanks,

Charan

Sorry, found the problem (probably). The drive spring looks very loose.

It is easier to check with the featherweight in the living room.

Charan

Just a suggestion:-
I have had broadly similar experiences, and in the end found that it was due to a surprisingly small amount of seaweed (and in one instant a small piece of plastic), which had got caught in the propeller. Sometimes the weed slid off when the engine was stopped and so one was not very sure of the cause of the problem.
It is possible that these small (150mm diameter) propellers are prone to this problem, especially the rectangular shaped 4 blade versions. I suspect that the later so called 'weedless' curved 3 bladed ones could be slightly better in this respect.
It was initially suggested to me that the problem was due to the spring slipping. But if the spring hasn't broken, it is very difficult to see how it could slip inside the central hob on these small 150mm propellers.
As I have said - just a suggestion.
Jeremy

did you check the gearbox oil before using it and also I would replace the spring

I filled up the gearbox just before starting with Shell Omala.

Last night I took off the drive spring. I am not at home right now, so can not take a picture. But..the drive spring has two hooks. The one that hooks onto the propellor is OK. The other side that grips inside the axle was bent so that it was not totally inside the axle. Just halfway, so with enough force it could jump out of the axle, feeling like the engine was misfiring.

I have ordered some new springs from John, will let you know if this fixed the problem.

charan

Let us know when you try a new spring and when you can add a picture of the current spring fitted on the engine if possible. I have a suggestion but let's see at first what's going on with the spring.

I have found the problem and fixed it. Looking back, it was simple.

I had ordered new drive springs from John, they arrived very fast. Thanks John! To my surprise, the old drive spring and the new one looked the same. I tested both on the boat, same result. Then I measured the bollard pull. Tied the boat to a line, the other side tied to a tree, and a spring scale somewhere in between. I was surprised to find the engine not racing like I expected it to do. This made me think about when the engine does its naughty behavior. It started racing at little more than slowest speed. Maybe the propellor did not get enough water. We hauled the boat out of the water and put the Seagull on the transom. Right, the propellor extended only half way under the boat. At half speed it was trying to move air instead of water.

The previous owner of the boat had raised the transom, probably because he had a long shaft outboard. I simply removed his work, mounted the Seagull, and YES!

Problem solved.

Charan

Happy rides from now on!

B