Now have to admit that i have something of a soft spot for the old British Seagull outboards. I've owned one for getting close on to forty years and although it's smelly and noisy I love it. Simple in the extreme, they take a hell of beating and still run, or they should.
Seagulls like many early outboards and other utility motors of that era had magneto ignition which works great most of the time but a problem can occur where you fail to get a spark at the plug. Assuming that the lead and plug is good you may wonder if the magneto itself is at fault and need replacement. The answer is - perhaps, but a good tip before you throw out the old motor or replace the expensive magneto is to crank the engine in reverse which often restores the properties of the magneto and brings back the HT spark.
With the Seagull this is simply a matter or removing the plug so there is no compression and the engine turns over easily, wrapping the cord around the flywheel in the opposite direction and pulling.
My Seagull had sat idle for a couple of years and there was no spark whatsoever but a couple of pulls in the wrong direction and al was back to normal with a great big fat powerful spark. This tip works for other motors with magneto ignition also although you may have to rig up some other method of rotating the engine in reverse, a battery powered drill springs to mind as the ideal for such trickery.
All these years later & we got a 1960's British Seagull that had been sitting in a garage since 1970. Could not get a spark & then saw this & tried the fix and it worked and the motor started right up. Thanks for the tip from across all of these years!
Posted by: Bob | April 19, 2025 at 09:12 PM