Saving Old Seagulls

I have started this new thread to keep the Moderators Meeting thread on topic!

Re: Moderator's Meeting
Postby headdownarseup » Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:13 pm

Thanks Charles.
You were right of course to edit my previous posting Sorry.

If i might just add to my previous post just to give some of you an idea of what i'm up against here.
Computer troubles aside for the moment, that's ancient history now.

One of the reasons i let Hugo pick up where i left off with the wartime motors is there's basically only 3 main variants to acquire data from. An easy enough task as long as owners are ready and willing to provide the necessary information he and i are after. So far Hugo has done a very good job with his research into wartime seagulls, all very good information and of course very welcomed. A bit more data would be even better though. Thumbs up from me If i ever do manage to retrieve any lost data, rest assured that Hugo will be the first to get it. It all helps.

Jeremy (my pal) with his research into the "little 40" family is another very good piece of work. Both he and i worked on a few bits together a while back. Again there's not that many motors to acquire data from here as by my reckonings there's only 5 specific variants in this group. Another big thumbs up from me.
Keith has also provided some very useful information into this quite special group of little seagulls. Sometimes i think he doesn't receive enough credit for what he does for this forum, so i'll say on everyone's behalf well done Keith. Good job

Now when it comes to post war 102's ,at first i hadn't realised just how many different variants there are with this lot. If we're going to regard all the publications elsewhere on the internet as being right when it comes to engines idents, by my quick maths there's nearly 21 of the things if we were to break down some of the earlier variants into "sub-variants" as i call them . In other words from 1946 right up till the mid 80's. Up till now a simple spreadsheet works ok up to a point until some of you show pictures of something slightly unusual that we've not seen before and this is where i have to add yet another column to an already very big and very wide spreadsheet. Extremely difficult to crop things down into something that you can read easily on the forum. Not only that but it has to make sense to all of you with all of the necessary abbreviations.(just like Jeremy's little 40 list) If you don't understand what the abbreviations mean you won't understand what the rest of the list will try to show you. Pictures can help a bit for an explanation but it can only go so far, and all this adds space to an already cropped down version of what i'm trying to do. It still needs to be accurate too.
It takes a lot of time for all of this to come together, all at the right time, and all the information being as correct as i can possibly get it.
I don't want to be rushed with this, i would like very much to dot the I's and cross the T's with everything ,especially if Charles Large is watching over my shoulder, and if it takes me a fair bit longer than first planned you can start to understand why. With 21 different variants of a seagull outboard motor spread across a production run of nearly 40 years, with all of their design changes and strange things about them is no small undertaking let me tell you. At times i think i may have bitten off more than i can chew, but i'm getting there. It just takes time, but with something like this it does tend to evolve into a much bigger monster than we first thought, and HOLY COW how this monster has grown

All i ask from you guys is to curb the abuse, give me a bit more encouragement, try to be patient as well, and if at all possible some help from other owners that have an old 102. I'm by the computer most evenings so this is why i said a pm works quite well for me My inbox is always open. Your help is always appreciated guys, but unless we start talking to one another this could easily end up going nowhere fast and that won't do anyone any good, least of all the reputation of this website and owners forum. The last thing that anyone wants is for John Williams to call it a day with this fantastic little group of like minded individuals we call "the forum". I don't want to see that happen, and i don't expect any of you would either.

I don't see myself as an expert at all, far from it actually, but if some of you want to call me an expert then fair enough, call me an expert if you like but we all know who the real experts are. I simply have a healthy interest that's all. Nothing wrong with that in my book, just don't hate me for it though eh!

Lets try and keep this hobby of ours a lot more jolly can we. It's supposed to be fun isn't it?
I think we all need to wind our necks in a bit and start being a bit more helpful to one another. So they tell me- sharing is caring



Cheers
and Happy New Year


Jon

I see the SD registry as more of a community enterprise. The researchers are the owners that critique their motors and send me the data and l'm a 'data entry' clerk. When l receive the data l enter it onto a spread sheet and then beam it up to the cloud (dropbox) for safe storage as well as publishing here at regular growth intervals. The registry can then be perused and analysed by all. More minds better analysis. Jacob is proof of this by observing that the carbs lost their brass bits midway through the # range. I completely missed that!

This seems to work well but that's not to say that other systems arn't good too. I do search for other SDs elsewhere apart from this forum.

3 more motors and there will be 40 and I'll publish again.

Britishseagullsd@gmail.com for my contact to include your SD or variant on the registry. Guests included.....

I listen to this when I giving due diligence in research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M-VxlR ... CpwcxTzbXw

It is so Seagullish. Pool comp tonight. Forgot me glasses last friday Still in the comp though. I've invited Jon to a pool comp in Bristol next time I'm over there. it is ok, I'll protect him, going to be fun!

Hey, what rules do you play over there? Fowl gives two shots....

Any Vets here?

Good technique she has with that telecaster.Drummer's pretty good too. I'm thinking of buying my first electric guitar, don't know where to start with it but should be fun to learn on.

Staying with the "seagull" theme, check this bunch of hillbillies out. Laugh out loud, but i think they're great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Ao-iN ... SAnW7FNEMw


Hugo, i was never very good at pool. I tried with snooker too, couldn't get on with it. Two wheeled racing i was quite good at up until a few years ago when my knees gave out.


Back on topic now moderators.
As for any old outboard motor or any hobby for that matter, with groups of people talking about all sorts of things with their chosen hobby (hopefully seagull outboard motors ) we can find out many things we hadn't first learned. With current membership to the SOS website sitting at 2608 i still find it hard to believe there's just a very small minority that use the forum actively. I feel we are missing out on quite a lot here, especially when it comes to a simple data collection point. Back in the good old days if you were dealing with British Seagull direct, the first thing BS would ask for is the engine's serial number. They made quite a big point about it. Is it possible that perhaps via John's pages whenever a customer buys parts from him that we could maybe carry out some newfangled computer wizardry that instantly directs that customer to a simple form to fill out (data sheet perhaps but maybe a bit simplified)
As Hugo has mentioned (and i agree with him here) to be stonewalled at times when it comes to acquiring certain data becomes a bit monotonous, unless we have a ready supply of this data coming through regularly i think things will probably start running dry fairly soon as i reckon we must have saturated most of the active members on the forum by now.
One for the webmaster perhaps? What do you all reckon to that. Is it worth seeing if we could do something like this?

Jon

The majority of John's customers buy parts via a phone call, that way he's sure he's selling them the right bits.

John's looking for less work not more!

I can't see that John would need to babysit this sort of thing at all really. There must be quite a lot of people every month inquiring about something or other from John, possibly from the 4 corners of the globe for all we know, and i think i'm right in saying most people are well connected with the internet these days. It's just an idea Charles, but i really do feel we could do something very simple like this online which might save some of us a lot of endless to and fro behind the scenes. A simple 2 or 3 lined form to fill in from every new enquiry i don't think would take much to set up on John's page. You could always have some sort of recognition identifier on there as well so that repeat visits wouldn't incur another form to fill in every time a customer is enquiring about parts. Just once from each new customer would be enough, at least then with an engine serial number we can see at a glance who's visited the site and what motor they have etc. etc.. If they're a member we can see who they are and make contact via the forum. Nothing fancy, just keep things fairly low key.

Whenever i've bought parts from John in the past i've always sent an email first with all the details. There must be plenty of other folks that choose this method as well surely. Of course what i'm proposing would need to be approved by the man himself, but it should be considered at least otherwise the data acquisition side of things is more than likely going to come to a standstill before very long unless we can somehow entice some of the "lurkers" to join in a bit more.


How about a gentle nudge to all those new members as well. Perhaps send out a blanket welcome note directing new members to the forum where we could then pick up from there. Introduce ourselves in the right way and who knows what's possible.

Just an idea, but unless we can come up with a sensible approach to some of this, i fear that things will stagnate.

Jon

So did anyone actually come up with anything worthy of consideration by the three amigos, or was this just a smoke blowing exercise?

Yeah, what news?

I believe the antipodeans have delayed proceedings.....

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/he ... adly-virus

Worthy of consideration, yes.

Smoke blowing exercise, certainly not.

There have been a number of suggestions on these two threads, as well as a few from PMs and telephone conversations.

However, I for one am going nowhere, not even down the road to the pub, until I have shaken off this year's miserable snotty bubbly wheezy coughing cold, which has me in the thirteenth day of its cruel grip.

Topics currently include:

Pinned posts for specific models

Ebay comments

Prop database

Maximum word count per post

Antipodean Section

Improve Search function

Clean up & deletion of posts & topics

Bullying

SOS data collection

"Likes" or "Dislikes"


- any more let us know

My number one proposal would be the pinned post for different type of engines other areas for discussion, SD, little 40 data threads yes please.

More active moderation, including keeping subjects on topic. Delete stuff going off at a tangent?
Bullshit filter
Making the eBay laugh out loud thread a sticky.
A sticky thread for remanufacturing of parts and repair techniques. We need to encourage sharing of more of this sort of thing.
How about a thread where hard to find part suppliers (other than SOS) are recorded and made a sticky.
History and nostalgia thread? Adverts, articles, old photos etc?
Likes and dislikes yes please.
A show us your seagull thread, again a sticky.

Certainly time to give the forum a bit of a revamp. I’d suggest that not being able to find info easily is a problem.

Oyster 49 wrote:My number one proposal would be the pinned post for different type of engines other areas for discussion, SD, little 40 data threads yes please.

More active moderation, including keeping subjects on topic. Delete stuff going off at a tangent?
Bullshit filter
Making the eBay laugh out loud thread a sticky.
A sticky thread for remanufacturing of parts and repair techniques. We need to encourage sharing of more of this sort of thing.
How about a thread where hard to find part suppliers (other than SOS) are recorded and made a sticky.
History and nostalgia thread? Adverts, articles, old photos etc?
Likes and dislikes yes please.
A show us your seagull thread, again a sticky.

Certainly time to give the forum a bit of a revamp. I’d suggest that not being able to find info easily is a problem.

Well said, i feel exactly the same, but also a propeller database,i would be willing to help create data for this.

Jacob

Hmmmm, yes, B****S*** filter.

How could such a thing work? That's a genuine question!

So, is there any more news about this?

When will we see the first of these "improvements" that have been suggested.


Jon