Hi Jerry..
1. It seems to be noiser than most outboards.<<
The nature of the beast. Much of the noise is coming from the carb inlet. It's a straight shot into the combustion chamber, and the metal air horn attached to the air inlet does little to mute the noise. The Seagull cure is the QB series, like the Kingfisher that I just found on E-bay <VBG> It has a rubber airway that sucks air from under the engine cover, and the exhaust is water cooled. Check out that saving old seagulls website...it's got more info then Ron's site!! 2. It vibrates more than I would like. A problem with most single cylinder engines. The K/fisher has a somewhat different mounting method, with thick rubber grommets instead of metal to metal contact as on the usual Seagull mounts. My little Seagull (M-55) has a thick rubber like coating on the stubs (bosses??) that hold the engine in the mount. Alas, it soon wears off<sigh> 3. I would like to have a stop on the throttle lever so I could go to an idle rpm, and have a seperate stop button to turn the engine off. As it is now, when I try to idle, I will more than likley kill the engine.<< It takes good control of the throttle to get it just right. "course, the K/fisher has a kill button, but you gotta hold it in for a few seconds. It kills the spart, like most kill buttons, but if you just punch it and let go, it'll pick right up again. Too bad it's not a spring loaded button with a kill cord. The K/fisher also has a throttle stop screw on the carb to keep it from shutting off when you want it to idle. I haven't adjusted mine yet. You might try the britishseagulls.co.uk website. Their prices are much better then Rons ...he has to order like we do (maybe gets a little price break), then must add Canadian tax "VAT"??, pay postage from the UK to Vancouver, B.C., mark it up a bit, then sell it to us. Manuals are a third cheaper coming from the UK. I learned this after ordering 5 from Ron <sigh>
My fuel line is getting al little old. It's a one piece hose with plastic shut off valve. I'd like to replace it with a brase valve that I could clamp a hose to. The problem is the threads in the fuel tank. They look pretty strange to me. Do you know what size they are?<<
Don't know what size the threads are undoubtedly a Whitworth thread, like the rest of the nuts & bolts. A plastic shutoff valve ??All that I've seen ( 5 motors) are brass. The M-55 is a 1992 odel, and has the same shutoff as the '67 (?) model that I had. The K/fisher has a brass shutoff as well, but the hose clamps onto it, instead of screwing onto a fuel line....I can use regular fuel line on it instead of Seagull hoses<GG> It's possible that you can remove the crimped on hose clamps and use regular fuel hose....dunno what size. BTW... I guess that you know that your Seagull was madein May, 1981 Harvey/ Ga M-17 Stargazer #294