I’ve decided to sell the 1971 British Seagull 40 Plus a friend gave me, so I took it out for one last trip. Partially to make some memories since I really haven’t used it all that much, but also to get a video of it running for the listing. I’ve heard the upper end of the Piankatank river is really pretty, so I headed up there on a 22 mile trip to check it out. The reports are true and I’m definitely planning to head back up there at some point!

Friday afternoon I launched at a nearby ramp with my 1.5 year old son to motor back around to our house. It took 9 or 10 pulls to get the motor going, probably because the gas has been sitting around since the beginning of spring. But eventually it roared to life and we puttered off at 5 mph.

Henry had a great time standing there digging Cheerios out of his bowl and watching the scenery go by. I ran a line through the jib cleat to his life jacket so I could reel him in if he tried to climb over the side and stick his hand in the water. That was a favorite move from our summer trips out to the sandbar.

The next morning I set off under perfectly calm conditions. A few times the lower unit collected a wad of leaves or marsh grass and I had to stop to clear it off. I tried to keep an eye on the telltale since the leaves tended to block the water intake, but it was pretty easy to notice when the vibration really picked up. The four blade propeller doesn’t have much going for it to shed weeds.

Heading up the Piankatank. I didn’t know how much gas to bring, so I brought a 5 gallon tank mixed 50:1 as backup. Turns out the 1 gallon and full motor tank was plenty. Originally the Seagull ran on a 10:1 mix but mine is new enough to have better bearings so I changed the carb needle to run 25:1.

About halfway up the river I noticed a sunken barge with a crane on it so I swung over to check it out. It always feels a little eerie when I come across something sticking out of the water that shouldn’t be there.

I motored along enjoying the scenery and farther up the river the woods gave way to a winding marsh of phragmites. From what I understand these are pretty invasive and outcompete the natural marsh grasses.

Along the bank in places were patches of cypress trees with dozens of knees sticking up out of the water. My father was a pretty serious hobby wood carver and I have a few gnome faces he made out of them.

In the last couple miles it really started getting beautiful. I saw some bald eagles flying around and perhaps that was their nest.

Perfectly blue skies and still water as I hunted for the next stretch of river.

Farther up the river shrank down to about 50′ wide.

This was about as far as I dared to go and there was just barely enough room to pole my 15′ boat around with an oar. I later found I missed a turn and could have gone at least another mile on a different branch up into the Dragon Swamp. Next time!

Idling back down the river watching the ripples make wild reflections. I usually lock the motor straight ahead and steer with the tiller but it has an annoying tendency to slowly vibrate itself over no matter how tight the shaft clamp is.

What a beautiful day and not a cloud in the sky.

Eventually I made it back to the Deep Point boat ramp where my wife and son were waiting. Up until the early 1900’s steamboats carrying passengers and cargo made it this far up the river as they connected lots of little towns all over the Chesapeake Bay.

After cleaning up the motor I put it on Marketplace for $250. I figured the price was on the optimistic side so I decided to model some different propeller shapes to 3d print and experiment with while I waited. But lo and behold I had a buyer within a few days who wanted to pay me $260! At the drop off he said he restores old outboards and displays them at outboard motor meetups. I’ve never heard of such a hobby, but more power to him! It’s probably the best use for it.