On the river with a Seagull
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ค. 2023
- I have not put an outboard motor on my dinghy in nearly twenty years, preferring sail and oar. But engines are useful on a canal. So this is a first trial of my new, (if actually rather old), Seagull outboard on my local canal, which begins as the River Aulne in western Brittany. Hopefully you won't need to wait another 20 years to see this again.
The Nantes-Brest canal runs the length of Brittany, passing through remote rural countryside, and most of it is open for navigation (although there are gaps). In the west it is mainly the River Aulne navigation. If was ever to make a longer passage up the canal, working the locks, I would need to book a lock keeper to meet me at each one, as you are not allowed to work them yourself, and the old lock keeper's cottages are all abandoned by their former keepers. So I would need to keep to a programme, which might be difficult if I was rowing. The idea is that this outboard would help me out, if I was falling behind my agreed schedule.
INTERESTED IN DINGHY CRUISING?
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dinghycruising.org.uk/
MUSIC
Suncatcher - Wendy Marcini
- from Epidemic Sound
www.epidemicsound.com
AVEL DRO
Do you want a boat like mine?
Avel Dro is an Ilur designed by François Vivier, and built of clinker plywood by Les Charpentiers Reunis of Cancale in 1994. I bought her in France in 2003 to import her into the UK, and more recently returned her to France again.* The design is based closely on the traditional inshore fishing boats of Brittany in the early years of the twentieth century - hence her simple boom-less lugsail rig and lack of a mainsheet horse, (sometimes controversial among my viewers). Although rare in Britain, Ilurs are relatively common in France. Modern Ilurs are however slightly different internally from mine, as they have more built in buoyancy. The name Avel Dro is Breton, and basically means a whirlwind.
Length 4.44 m
Sail area 12.2 m²
Beam 1.70 m
Draught 0.25 / 0.86 m
Design category C3
François Vivier's website (in English):
www.vivierboats.com/en/
Similar dinghies can often be found for sale on the website of the French magazine Le Chasse-Marée:
www.chasse-maree.com/revue/
Or try Le Bon Coin, (where you can buy anything in France):
www.leboncoin.fr
*Since January 2021, when Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland) left the European Single Market, if you buy a boat in France or elsewhere in the EU with the intention of importing it into the UK, you will be liable to pay VAT and other duties on the import. This is true even if it is second hand, and similar charges will be due if you take a British boat the other way. This does not apply to a boat taken to the other country for a brief holiday with its owner, however. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
As far as mini-outboards.
Certainly the best and most reliable motor. EVER!
Then best thing about a seagull is the noise REALLY encourages you to sail the minute you feel it’s worthwhile putting up canvas.
Best outboard ever made ,I've been using them For 60 years and I have owned 7 of them ,and I currently have three,I have owned or used most other types of outboards,but when it comes to reliability and easy maintaining give me a seagull any day just look after them and they will look after you,I live on my yachts and have done for 37 years in Australia.
I love old boat motors, I have a Mercury that was my Grandfathers from the mid 1950s. It is a gem and still runs.
I bought an inflatable with a seagul back in 1979. I was astonished that when you pulled the starter cord, the whole cord came away ! Separated !
Super reliable design. A tad noisy.
The oddest thing about the noise of a Seagull is that it doesn’t muffle the voices of those on the boat to people on shore, so be careful what you say about them.
Oh wow, that walk up the stairs - every floor is a delight
And a marvellous staircase into the attic
There's bound to be coffee spills going up those, but what can one do.
I've had some exposure to Seagulls over the years and I have to say that in my opinion, as outboard motors go, they make excellent anchors :)
We had a Seagull when I was a boy. The only time I ever remember my father swearing was when trying to start it.
I bought one in the early 1980's new. The only difference was that the HP label was changed to thrust power. It was a troublesome brute and would only start after ones arm had been lengthened a couple of inches. If seagull was the pinnacle of British outboard technology, what hope did the car industry have...
😂 very good
The Forty plus offers better holding than the Forty minus in soft mud !
@@jonwilmot5331 🤣🤣🤣
Love the oil and blue smoke !!
I'll just love the old ways.
I must of done a few hundred miles by seagull power, I'm using a seagull in my picture here on bala lake. My little 40+ starts second pull after being buried in snow all night and its more economical than my new 4hp mercury ...and half the weight! But I need to order new cork kit from "saving old seagulls" so thanks for the reminder Roger👍looks bloody lovely there 👌
My father had on his dingy many years ago and we had no problems. As a boy I went round many harbours and inlets in the West of Scotland without trouble. I was told that either got a good one or a bad one. Fond memories.
Fully enjoying “Les péripéties de Monsieur Barnes » . Thanks for sharing these outings in what has to be some of the more enchanting areas of France.
L’expression de mes salutations les plus cordiales.
Cheers 🥂
Canada’s Eastern Seaboard 👍🇨🇦
That motor is a fairly old Seagull model. I use a Forty Featherweight Seagull on my 19 foot freight canoe, and it works very well. I have even towed in a 29 foot power yacht with it. I also use a 5.5 HP Silver Century Plus on a 3 ton, 28' Morgan sailboat. It moves her at hull speed. And I never have to worry about mosquitos. Seagulls have a built in smoke fogger that keeps them away. LOL
The motor dates from around 1990. It post dates the Profumo Affair itself.
Many happy memories of growing up with a British Seagull in the family 😅
Avel Dro with a motor ! I wonder if it's not more important than the coronation of the king tomorrow !😁
Merci de mettre en lumière notre belle Bretagne.
Good to see a good British outboard in its natural habitat, time i got the ENFRL out for a run. Its been in the shed in the shadow of the four stroke for far to long.
Oh the sound of a Seagull, so many good memories !!
Just restored a Seagull Sail-drive, they only made 200 !!!
Never thought I'd see the day, Barnes with an outboard.
It couldn't be love, could it? No, that would be terribly inconvenient, wouldn't it? 😂😂
I have to say that it's didn't smoke nearly as much as I thought it was going to. The typical 2stroke cold start smoke, but it's no more than a 3.5 tohatsu. Also, whilst it is a little noisy... It's a fitting peace to have on an vintage style boat. So, imo, it's a lovely little engine.
Bob Dylan's electric guitar moment!
If you forget to tighten it down, and it starts to jump off the transom, don’t grab it by the exhaust!
A friend of my late Father used to say it was amazing that the motor of a Seagull had only three moving parts - but not as amazing as ever finding one where all three moved at once.
Lovely old house you have there, 4 stories, thats mansion style. The top floor would be my so called "man cave" all my books, paintings my lap top and all the stuff I've collected for 60 years. Lovely spot mate, really nice. I'm a recently retired bricklayer/builder, done everything in the building trade,if I was there I'd give you a hand and some tips on your renovation, I loved fixing up old houses here in South Australia, my favourite part of building work
That's an impressive bridge / viaduct.
Thanks a lot as always!✊👍
What a lovely place to go boating!
Awesome outboard, boat, river and video 🙂
Greetings from Clovelly . I had a Seagull in the early 70"s and it was really old then.Roger you are obviously moving with the times.
Don't forget to bring along your Seagull repair kit. One extra piece of starting cord, 2 Whitworth spanners, 1 foot of electrical cable, a lump hammer, screw driver and you will find it will never let you down. It will be too afraid. Great channel.
And a clean sparking plug in a dry plastic box. I wish I'd had a pound for every time I've had to pull the plug when under way.
I was lucky enough to spend time with Mandy and her husband Ken. (She was my partners auntie) Really lovely people. Buy one of Mandy’s books… entertaining.
(She smoked a great deal. I guess that shortened her life.)
An utterly smart and beautiful woman.
There are some days when most of France is closed...
The Seagull seems to do it's job very smartly!
Nice-looking slipways there..and all very picturesque! I'm very tempted to visit!
Proper engine! Used to use the smaller version fifty years back, forgotten how noisy they were!
Grew up with Seagulls seventy years ago. Claim was that they would run for a dozen years with zero maintenance other than wiping the spark plug on your shirt! You could always tell if a boat had a Seagull pushing it along by the sound, not unlike a machine gun, and the cloud of blue smoke surrounding it - they ran on a 10:1 petrol oil mixture originally! They were simple and unsophisticated, inexpensive and just about indestructible. Good for moving anything through the water at five or six knots, they did not do speed - probably the reason for their demise. Chris Roberts
The best outboard ever built . Thanks for the vids. That's all .
& noisiest!!
@@madisondeans5566 But the noise is so special and characteristic. And it’s standardised from the early engines to the last ones…☺️
I had quite forgotten how noisy Seagulls can be. But they are great! Truly dependable little engines. Enjoy!
Years ago, I had a water cooled little 2 stroke motor and did long and happy days on the water with it. I regret selling it. I now have an air cooled 2 stroke and the noise is a real problem. Not sure I could cope with the racket of a Seagull, however classic. Still, chacun à son goût.
You live a very enviable lifestyle, I'm afraid my boating days are over now....too old, knackered and poor !, but can still do a bit of canoeing where possible, enjoying your videos😊
Roger, That's the best hull paint I've I've seen on your boat. Jolly good!
I remember someone saying "people must really love their seagulls as they row them around a lot", 🙂 seriously though, well maintained with fresh fuel, an excellent contraption, much simpler to fix as well
Lol.
Wow! Motor cruising, bar hopping, beautiful new home with a garage .
Even jazzy music?
Such a quaint waterfront, canals and all the boats at dockage. The motor has found a home and now you can tour a little to compliment sailing. Very nice.
I had an old Seagull - simple mechanics, but, man, do they spew out oil onto the water with that 1:10 mix! My transom was always greasy and covered with black oil. Would leave a slick everywhere I went. Oh, and watch out for that spinning flywheel!
Your engine has an issue. I have run several Seaull outboards (2.5hp like the model 40), and none leaked oil into the water, nor coat my transom, even at 10:1. Smokey burning exhaust, yes, but not noticeable amounts of oil I. The water. Today, there is a conversion kit to decrease the oil in the gas mixture, so they can burn cleaner. That said, they still are a two stroke engine, and not as clean burning as a modern four-stroke outboard.
Cheers
Many thanks for the nice experience. I have a silver century seagull too. It's very nice to work on the 2nd pull. Love from Amasra, Black Sea Turkey
Some 60 years ago, as a teenager, I and my mate would boat about on the Broadwater on the QLD Gold Coast in his father's fiberglass dingy powered by a trusty Seagull outboard. Slow however reliable.
Beautiful!, first time I've seen Avel Dro with a motor!. Best wishes. Gérard.
Hi ! From Gary in Port Huron, Michigan, U.S.A. I am a fellow sailor (O’day 20 & Columbia 28 MKII ). I also am a retired general building contractor. I specialized in lifting homes to replace basement or crawl space masonry and floors. I started my career in wood working by building two wood sailboats in my teenage school years. I built a 14’ Sunfish replica, then a 16’ Edwin Monk one design day sailor. I just love your videos and approach to sailing/camping!
Hi Gary in Port Huron. I'm Anne - I sail with the Detroit Boat Club on Belle Isle. There is a Great Lakes cruising club for excursions and meet ups. I haven't joined yet, but Roger has inspired me! Maybe I'll see you on one of our waterways sometime.
Hi Gary, I missed your window to reply. We spent yesterday launching the Scots for the sailing classes. Great day to be out!
Just want to say it's good to know there are other Roger Barnes fans in this part of the world! Happy sailing!
No problem, good to hear from you another Roger Barnes fan!
Lovely video Roger, you certainly have some beautiful places to visit on your doorstep. Love the house it will be wonderful once finished. Happy days. Andy UK
What on earth are you doing with such newfangled technology!? 😉
I had one which ran great, leaked leaked more petrol than a sponge and was as pleasing on the eye as a sandstorm...So I stripped it , replaced all the gaskets, polished it ....what a difference...
It Never did run again !!!!.
My friend said the best thing to do with a seagull was attach the starter cord ,swing around your head and let go in the deepest part of the loch 😘🏴
Thanks for showing us your house renovations......👍
Good to be on the water with you again!
I hit the thumbs up button before the vidoe even started, because im 100% certain the content will be fantastic - as usual Roger 👍
Remember them from my scouting days, great little workhorse.
1:46 Nice hook and wedge scarf. Fraternal salutations to your chippy.
Good to see you again. I remember the hard labour with old outboards.....Thanks for this!
Old builder here. That is a nice looking staircase.
Thank you, Roger, for your update. I suggest that, in addition to providing comfortable accommodation for Avel Dro on the ground floor, you arrange a simple studio of sejour, coin cuisine, salle de bain and bedroom for yourself once knee/hip etc pains arrive (unannounced). Courtyard outside looks promising: put tomatoes etc in now (even in pots).
Had one as.a boy 40 plus 1958 vintage ,was bought second hand used it every summer for around 15 years ,can't really remember it ever letting us down ,was usually oily plug always carried a couple spare,ok they were noisy and 12x1 oil mix was not economical. used it with 12 ft boat off a beach ,couple times capsized it on the beach was easy to start again clean the carberretta and take flywheel off to dry the magneto away again ,seagulls have not been made for many years now ,and new engines are more refined and economical to run ,I suspect many off the negative comments about them are young peoples experience of an old engine that need much doing to it like water cooling problems ,this can cause over heating and excesive wear on the rings, impeller s hard to get to and the screw is difficult to get at but I remember the 1960s and one of thecmost popular outboards for small displacement boats back then
Roger, It’s strange to see you motoring about but this, like all your videos was very enjoyable. Thanks again for sharing your experiences.
Such a wonderful day for you and your friend a lovely river cruise… the seagull really performed well..
So pleased to see you again!
Thank you for such a fascinating video!
We moved a 60 ft narrowboat many miles with a model 102, at 1 mph and no way to stop but it sipped petrol and got us there no problem.
Cute oldie of a motor... but she makes a racket like my weedwacker 😂.. Love the river views of such a lovely area Cheers!
An outboard on avel dro. Interesting development. 😆
Reminds me of those guys that end up with the seagull after the modern motors cook themselves
😊😊😊👍
Boats of my choice are O’day Mariner 19ft and gorgeous Dutch Vaulrien 16 with a redwood cockpit😻
Thank you for sharing with us
I’m personally do learn a lot from your videos
My first dinghy came with a free, nearly dead johnson seahorse, the American equivalent I am told. Fascinating to work on. the simplicity is notable in these 2 stroke outboards. However I believe we are witnessing a chapter change in the technology. The noise, inefficiency, environmental factors are just old hat. Although can be replaced with battery power, sail and oar will never be replaced. They represent a propulsion that is far less intrusive to the way a boat moves through the water she is in.
Tell that to the lock keepers on the Nantes Brest canal.
@@RogerRoving oh, they're just a bunch of sillys.
I was brought up in Carrick-on-Suir, a tidal river port in County Tipperary(south east Ireland) where barges transported grain down river to Waterford to be loaded onto sea going ships. It looks very like your port in Brittany. I would love to see more of your river/estuary and indeed the interaction between it and the sea. It would be great also to see your perspective on the traditional wooden/sailing festival held at Dournanez and see some of those magnificent craft in action. When I saw you launching in the river all those smells of muddy tidal river banks came flooding back like a flooding tide. Beautiful! SkipRay, Kerry(Kenmare River/Bay, the most dinghy friendly cruising ground in Europe), Ireland.
France agrees with you--you're looking well. Thanks for sharing that lovely view and your beautiful boat.
This was another delightful nugget for me to watch! Thank you Roger and Abigail for an enjoyable, vicarious journey in beautiful Brittany.
Thanks Roger, loved watching your adventures as always.
Haha!! Roger finally got a motor.....I do really admire your sail and oar momentum. However over here, when you can be taken out to sea never to be seen again....a little motor can save your life. It did once for me.......holy crap it's like my whipper snipper motor....at our local classic boat regatta there are a couple of early seagulls still in service here in Australia
Pretty cool to see an original engine from the Old Times! I would choose that one over any new fancy shmancy stuff they're making right now. Tried and true. Good work on the video, Roger. Thanks for sharing.
I've got one and I'd have to say the Honda 4 stroke 20 looks wonderful :)
Great video, I love the house.
Reminds me of my youth of years gone by boating on Windermere simple engines pleasant days fishing cheap boating places to launch those days are long gone ,cheque book out expensive launching everything to stop the ones who can just about to get afloat enjoying boating. Brittany looks great.
Slipways are invariably free.
@@RogerRoving I think I should have moved to France when I had the chance. With even the smallest boat here in Englahd you are stung for some fee. I was even stopped by a river patrol boat some years ago when I was in my kayak and asked if I had a river permit .
My Seagull memories were of Dad yelling duck just before he pulled the starter cord. Most times we were bent over in the dingy for quite a while as Dad swore and pulled the cord many times. I almost considered making the engine into his head stone as he enjoyed working on it so much. NOT. ( don't get soft, keep rowing)
great vid roger love your house , what a lovely place too live
Fantastic video. Great to see the house in progress and what a bonus to have a garage in which your boat can live. Scenery looks wonderful in the video. I live in poole dorset and Douarnenez is only 210 miles as the crow flys but it looks like another world. In fact Sheffield is further away if you travel 210 miles north!
What a wonderful video!! Amazing scenery, a beautiful day on the river and good company!!! What more could one ask for! Thanks!!!!
The best outbord sea güller to do nice ön the boat
Thankyou both ! Always wonderful watching your travels. Seagulls are classic little outboards and it was great to see Avel Dro sporting one.
The house will look marvellous when work is finished.
Seagull were hugely popular in New Zealand in the 60s and 70s, especially amongst your Maori fishermen
Nice to see DZ and Chateaulin back there
"We were going to go to a bar for a drink, but amazingly everything was closed"
Hmmm yes, thst certainly sounds like France !
Roger, what I most appreciate about your videos is the quiet ease of sailing and rowing and the meditative narration, almost storybook feeling. None of that is found in this episode. I owned a seagull once and appreciate it for its utility and simplicity however I’m not especially interested in seeing or hearing it in place of your usual content.
It was a difficult decision how loud to set the sound setting. I could have used a noise filter, but that would have given a completely wrong impression!
Don’t listen to the nay-sayers, Roger. It’s supposed to be noisy so you don’t get lazy and use it all the time! (I have a ‘69 40-plus on my boat!).
Absolutely agree.
Good to see you back, and all the best with the house
Heart breaking sight! 😢 and most of all a seagull! Ohh nooo. Cheers Roger I hope you enjoy your seagull. I had one on my 23’ seasprite back in the eighties. It almost never started that easily. Worse part was having to rewind the starter rope every pull. I really do enjoy your sail/oar sailing and plan to be starting my own soon. Thanks for the videos very encouraging.
Geoff in panhandle Florida USA
Oh! It's Roger Barnes! Happy day!
It's a tough job but heck, someone's gotta do it.
Another delightful video. Thanks Roger and good luck with the restoration of your wonderful house.
Good to see you afloat again, Roger. Ha! I feel less guilty now about the Outboard I eventually fitted on my 14 foot cruising Dinghy. Wind, Tide, Current and age, not necessarily in that order won the day. 😊
So happy for you and your new / old toy, the Seagull. I have missed you, since I moved inland. Good to be back.
Noisy beggar, the seagull, I will give it that, not much else lol. Be interested to see a modern engine comparison. But I think a little 2 stroke would do best when the sails don't fill by gods hand etc. Great video. thanks for sharing.
So, the worm has turned! Although I've never been a big Seagull fan (noisy, smelly, polluting etc.), it's great to see you with some "modern" motive power to help you on windless days or against adverse tides and currents. Thinking back, if you'd had an engine you wouldn't have got in such a pickle that time in the Golfe du Morbihan. Anyway it's great to see you back in action, and I look forward to more films and throughout 2023. 👍
I would love to have a Seagull outboard, but not on a boat. I want one all cleaned and polished for display in my mancave.. its a piece of art.
You might be interested in the Waikato Seagull regatta here in NZ , over 100km down the river.
Hey Roger, first time commenting but been following a while. Big thanks for the great escapes for me this winter, watched all your films twice! Anyway, remembering an incident in Golfe du Morbihan not so long back where you were caught out by the tide and had an arduous walk around a rocky shoreline, boat in hand, that little Seagull would have saved the day. Oh! And the tow you needed into La Rochelle from a big white bathtub. Definitely more independence, easier life and freedom…No brainer, however ugly it is. Anyway, I’m the proud owner of a Vivier (Ebihen 16) Gaff cutter and live about an hour from Douarnenez. Hope to bump into you sometime. Great work!
At least the Seagull outboard is nice and quiet for a sunny afternoon cruise up the river😂 Another lovely video, Roger.
I remembered they were noisy. But not perhaps how noisy…
@@RogerRoving This was awful. 👎
Nice little day trip with a beautiful friend.
Port Launay is a lovely spot. Lots of interesting boats there.
Amazing video Roger, you always make it look so peaceful!
Definitely not the quietest, but nice to see some European sunshine and scenery regardless!
Hi Roger when you are finishing up for the day , shut of the fuel start the seagull and let the engine run out of fuel this will empty the carb if not the petrol will evaporate and next time you start her the oil left in the carb will oil up the plug. Cheers