Saving Old Seagulls

To add to the above cautions re caustic soda, wear eye protection. One drop of the solution can do serious damage and cause blindness.

It is nasty on the skin too.

Get rid of it straight away, do not leave in unlabelled containers for others to find.

An upturned gorilla bin of suitable size tied down makes a good cover I find. Good ventilation underneath too.

My SJM is run regularly. Every weekend in the summer and every other in the winter. I usually get a warning before total failure to start, such as 6 rather than the usual 1 to 2 pulls for instance, or sluggish ( more sluggish than usual I should say!) Ignore at your peril. My SJM is repaired and ser...

You can age brass by burying in a cow pat...........

The brass tube needs to be located in the small hole on the top of the impellor housing not hanging free in the exhaust.

The cutaway engine you have seen on the main site is wrong!

Does that make sense?

In my experience, once a gull is going, unless it is completely swamped, it will generally keep going. However if it gets wet when stopped, can be a problem. But at least you can get to most of the parts and dry with a rag to restore life. Usually. As my gull is used on a tender, it spends a bit of ...

My favourite is my 56/57 sjm. Must have had it for 25 ish years or so. It's not original by a long shot, has had a hard life. But it is a user. Every weekend in the summer and most weekends in the winter. Looks battered! But only time it has let me down is when I have done something stupid or not gi...

My 40 minus SJM defo a workhorse. Used most weekends all year round on the tender. Having seen some of the fantastic restorations on here I could easily be tempted to do a pukker restoration on a similar engine, but it would still have to be a user. Perhaps for "good" days in the "sum...

To add your mooring is interesting. How have you configured the sinkers and mooring lines? Unless you can guarantee drying out in the centre of the channel, pointing along it, it looks like there is a risk of rolling at least partly over. Roll too far and you will downflood as the tide rises. I gues...

Others more knowledgeable than me may offer different advice. I am unsure about the dunking upside down in a wheely bin full of water. Personally I would try to dry the ignition out asap. Especially if it is the Villiers magneto with the varnished paper insulation. I'd go along with the first aid of...

Used a brown mahogany stain if I remember correctly followed with a couple or so coats of yacht varnish. All other trim on boat is mahogany but it does not make good tillers. Broke a couple over the years!

This is my attempt at a tiller extension. Made from green ash, dried perhaps a little too close to the stove for a month. Could not re turn it properly as it bowed a little but managed to turn down the spiggot where it fits the engine.

Also useful for, ahem, despatching the odd bass when I get lucky!

Ahh a fellow woodturner as well as a seaguller!

Like your design, mine is more of flowing curves, turned from green ash I had laying around. It is now oval rather than round but still functions

When I use my long tiller extension, I have a remote throttle adjuster too. It also doubles up as an emergency paddle!! Small nudge with the paddle blade on the lever does the job well enough for me.

There are cad viewers that are free and do allow you to print. I use one at work.

Not sure if it prints 1:1 scale or not I will check tomorrow if I get time. And remember!!