Saving Old Seagulls

I had a nice Forty Plus twenty years ago, and learned a lot from John and from this Forum. I gave up sailing for a while and sold it.

When I started sailing again I bought a new Honda 2.3, which is very light and surprisingly quiet, but it does not provide the deep inner satisfaction that comes from a Seagull. So I have just bought another Forty Plus, with a clutch, this time.



I don’t really care for the steel tank, and I’m tempted to replace it with a plastic one. I am also very tempted to spray the silver Wipac flywheel gold...

Some beginner’s or restarter’s requests for advice:

1. Because it is super sensitive to old fuel in its carburettor, I run the Honda 2.3 on four stroke Aspen Fuel. To avoid having too many petrol cans on the boat, can I add biodegradable two stroke oil to Aspen at 25:1 (the carburettor is a Villiers’ 25:1 carburettor) and run the Seagull on that? Since Aspen tends to do a fine job of mucking out whatever it passes through, would it be wise to replace the tap and the fuel line?

2. Looking carefully at the steel tank, it’s almost perfect, apart from some loss of lettering and a spot of rust at a chip on the seam. Knowing that it would not stay that way, I got a secondhand plastic tank to replace it with. In changing over the tanks, should I use a sealant on the threads of the connection to the tap, and if so, what?

3. This is a fairly low hours engine - it came with the label instructing the owner to loosen the bolts on the collar still attached - and most of the “silver” paint on the block is still there. If I have a go at getting rid of the rust specks, what paint should I use - silver Hammerite or something heat resistant?

Thanks!

You'll be spoiling your 40 with Aspen, you've got a Seagull that was designed almost 70 years ago to run on 50's fuel, so low compression in today's terms.
Drop the float bowl to assess the state of the fuel system, clean with petrol if you feel it necessary.

The serial number would tell us exactly what you've got.

Careful with the plastic tank, the brass thread inserts are prone to damage if over tightened, in this life, or a previous one.

The cylinder walls should only get hot when the water jacket is blocked.

Let us know how much compression you've got.

Thank you Charles,

Serial number FPC 776 FF 9

Villiers carburettor, Wipac 2 ignition, clutch good, gearbox seals intact.

Your comment reminds me of a conversation that I had with a Hong Kong acquaintance when I was living in Being in 1997. He was proposing to drive his Rolls-Royce 20-25 from Hong Kong to Paris, ie to re-do the Peking To Paris Rally. He was worried about the petrol. This was when China was not yet what it is today. I said “Don’t worry about the petrol; it’s what your car was made for. Panic about the oil!”

I don’t have a tool to measure the compression but it seems about the same as my old Seagull Forty and a bit more than the Honda 2.3

Now off to mix up some fuel and flood a wheelybin...

Second pull... good stream of cool water... we are in business!