I found two ads in the Small Boat Journel for 1985 and wondered if someone had some information...
I have never seen this Seagull before? Here is the copy from under the motor...
The next one is for a Neptune Mighty Mite...I have one of these but it is made by Muncie and does not have the rewind...just a pull start and the motor looks like a half size Seagull and weighs about half of what a Sea gull does...anyone seen this engine before...it was advertised as new in the same magazine of 1985...
The Seagull is a model 170 as it says - check aound on this site and you will find information, literature on the specification etc.
The 170 was only made late on in Seagull's history (87-90?), and had an Achilles heel with an under-engineered big end cap - no spares easily available.
Quite a nice motor when running - I have one, but am permanently on the alert for the death rattle. Supposedly 7.5 HP., but almsot certainly not!
Neptune is no longer in business. The motor in your ad was an attempt to modernize a good, basic design to make it more appealing to a new generation of boaters. Sound familiar? The Mighty Mite was actually sold as a purchaser-assembled kit for $75 less as a last ditch effort to keep the company solvent. But alas, the Forces of Marketing had their way and The Mighty Mite went down for the third time.
Ironically old, good-running Neptunes pop up on Flea-Bay and in yard sales quite often, having outlived their maker. Many parallels to our own beloved Seagulls.
