Saving Old Seagulls

how to get the exhaust leg of off to get at the water pipe on a silver cent long shaft

hi GOLLY
before you attempt to do anything on your seagull, it might be wise to arm yourself with a blowtorch.
years of use in saltwater will have taken its toll on anything metal.
unless the powerhead has been apart recently, then you will struggle a bit (heat will help a LOT)

first undo the bolt/s in the top of the exhaust tube clamp
second, gently tap (with a rubber hammer) the bottom of the exhaust tube. if you can hear the tube "rattling" on the bottom then it should come apart fairly easily. the rattling on the bottom will tell you if the tube has corroded to the pump housing. if its "stuck", this is where the blowtorch comes in.
dont be afraid to give this area some SERIOUS HEAT.
the touble is with a lot of seagulls, unless they are regularly being taken apart for cleaning/inspection, rust and corrosion gets to work and seizes a lot of things together.

there are 3 areas where you can run into troble when you first strip your motor apart.
the 2 bolts that hold the torque tube to the lower crankcase, the crankshaft can sometimes seize to the drive shaft inside the torque tube.
the exhaust tube to cylinder attachment can be difficult to remove (lots of heat in here helps)
the bottom end of the exhaust tube often seizes in place and this is the area that you mentioned you wanted to get to.
alternatively, try to seperate the top and bottom halves of the gearbox, you can see the bottom edge of the water delivery pipe from inside the pump housing.

under NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you want to start hitting anything with a metal hammer. DONT USE THEM, YOU WILL ONLY BREAK SOMETHING!
instead use a copper/hide mallet or a hard rubber hammer and a decent selection of wooden blocks to direct the hammer blows.
and patients. dont be in a hurry to get it apart. rust/corrosion is your biggest enemy here. once its apart, you can clean it up no problem and repair where neccessary.


i suspect that your problem is nothing to do with the lower unit at all. gearboxes/water pumps are almost "bullet proof" on these things.
as before, look at the main engine, what you need to do is remove the cylinderhead (ignore the fact is says "do not remove") you've more than likely got a blocked waterjacket and the water cant circulate. this is a very common problem for a LOT of newbies. particularly when their seagull hasn't been run for many a year.
the problem here is the cylinder is cast iron and so is the waterjacket. using the motor in seawater will only aggrivate the problem. once the head is off, scrape and poke around inside the waterjacket with whatever is to hand (i use stiff wire, needle files, drill bits, small screwdrivers etc. ) make sure its as clean as you can get it with no rust inside it.
refit the head with a new gasket and a new sparkplug and job done!

any probs just ask, plenty of help on here

regards jon

ok thanks ill give it a go.

A back flush with a hose to the outlet often is the first port of call. A wet business though.