Free Yacht Chapter 4: Outboard Motor Mutilates Foot

Step 1 The British Seagull

The "motor won't start" archetype is encoded deep in the engrams of my race memory.
The Finnish one-cylinder "Olympia" diesel in Frei Boot is a champ, but what if?
A backup motor seemed like a good idea.

Then I saw the following ad on craigslist.com:
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SEAGULL OUTBOARD BOAT MOTOR--LONG SHAFT W/CLUTCH & BIG TANK & BIG PROP - $150 (hercules, pinole, san pablo, el sob)
Reply to: [e-mail]
Date: 2006-07-07, 7:44PM PDT

"The best outboard in the world" is known as the British Seagull. This is the BIGGEST one that they made....LOTS OF TORQUE....If you like the Seagull, this is the "GRAND-DADDY"!!! They RUN FOREVER. Great for sailboat or moving something heavy--NOT FAST--BUT STEADY & SURE!! Not pretty, by today's standards, but plenty of reliable power and simple. Not set up for pics....look up on net. In Crockett.

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As the ad implies, the British Seagull is famous for being smoky, loud, rough, having few moving parts, looking prehistoric and running forever. Just right for the outboard equivalent of a police revolver. Not to be used unless life is threatened, and then it better work.

That's too macho. Maybe it's more like a flattened roll of toilet paper in your sock. It looks crazy but it's there when you need it.
Here's what it looks like perched on our transom. How did it get there? Read on.