Saving Old Seagulls

This is on the main SOS website.

Can anyone advise about this bracket? It is on an SD.

No idea, I thought Anzani at first, but after checking it’s not. Not a seagull bracket though.

I thought of Anzani too with the swivel thumb screw washers.

Bronze bracket.
Could be prewar american.
Thumbscrews could be a later addition perhaps.

Quite a few of these have turned up over the years, usually fitted to a wartime motor.

After the war loads of motors were sold off as war surplus - there's an Arthur Bray advert somewhere for ex-ministry motors at a handsome discount when compared with the new British Seagull prices. The ones supplied to the military are thought to have been intended for use with the various side mounted brackets shown in the spares book, so the great majority didn't start life with any sort of bracket. Someone seems to have stepped in after the war and produced these hefty examples.

They have turned up in the Netherlands quite frequently. I have one from Jan, acquired through the other Charles.

To my mind they're a good solid bit of kit, way better than the skeletal bracket that is so sought after.

I have one of these as well, as Charles says not a lightweight item, over 5 kilos, 11lbs (the maximum my kitchen scales will weigh) all the threads are Whitworth, & mine is missing the pressure pads.

No manufactures ID on the casting, but I'd guess UK made, big & strong enough to carry a 20 hp motor, if it had an 1 1/8" drive shaft tube.

This pic is also on the SOS site. Slightly different I think, and this is the one I think of as the "Dutch bronze mount" Reason being we seem to have seen quite a few of these from the Netherlands. I bet Jan knows a bit more about these.

Remember some years ago an engine showed up in the Netherlands with a tanker sticker that we thought was some sort of post war assistance programme? I can't remember the details, but the photos were all lost.

I like the way the tilt adjust is done on that bracket!

I agree with Adrian. The last pic is the Dutch one so what is the first one?

Remember Artur Bray imported Chris Craft from America. Did he also import brackets. Just a thought.

There was a suggestion earlier that it could be American?

Yes HA mentioned that. Anyone on an America site that could ask them? They might recognise it.

American with Whitworth threads?

Whitworth was still being used in the USA untill 1948. It had been a slow process of change from Whitworth to AF and AC, before then changing to UNC and UNF which was adopted by British car manufacturers in 1956 in part realising there needed to be a unified thread. This idea was generally started in WW1 and continued in WW2 to have shared equipment compatible. If this is correct it is possible that the bracket was made in the USA.

Wonder what threads size was used on the infamous "lend lease" frigates supplied to the RN by the Americans during the latter part of WW2?

If l remember correctly they were welded and not riveted and tended to break up in rough sea conditions. I digress.

I note that Arthur Bray was also the agent for Chrysler marine engines which was founded in 1929. They made inboard motors. Did they make outboards as well prewar? I'm still on my quest to find out who and where these brackets were made.

Take a look at this, the bracket is almost the same?