Forty 1949 - 1996

Driven by the post-war economic boom, much of society began to have higher spending power and more leisure time. This led to an increase in demand for leisure activities such as boating. With this, and advances in technology, British Seagull found themselves perfectly positioned to provide a range of small engines to suit ‘family-boating’, with the introduction of the smallest engines, the Forty Minus (1955-1967), and later the Forty Featherweight range (1967-1996), and Forty Plus range (1956-1996).

The ‘lightweight’, for the time, Forty Featherweight engines were short shaft, weighed approximately 20kg, were fixed drive, ran on two-stroke petrol, and were robust enough to push small family dinghies on inland rivers and lakes. They are comparable to a 2 Horsepower two-stroke engine.

The more versatile and powerful Forty Plus engines offered a choice of fixed drive and gear operation (forward & neutral), something at the time that was revolutionary and improved steerage, with standard or long shaft options, ran on two-stroke petrol, and offered power to large craft. They are comparable to a 3 Horsepower two-stroke engine.

The Forty Series engines were manufactured right up until production stopped in 1996. The engines evolved over time with ‘improvements’ and were a much loved, stapple of the range and most numerous in manufacture.