my Seagull was bullet proof. I never had an issue with it starting or running. I rolled the dinghy in the surf a couple of times and rowed back out to the boat, tied the main halyard to the bottom end, pulled out the spark plug and dunked it up and down to flush out the sand. I would take off the carb., pull it through a dozen times, change the gas, clean up the carb, flush a gallon of water under the fly wheel and blow off the plug and off we would go. No more then an hours work and I would be back on the water. Here's my theory about the bad rap these engines got. A guy gets to his anchorage, blows up his Avon Red Crest or (even worse) his Avon Red Start inflatable with the funky outboard rack that hangs on the stern. They would pump it up but they never quite get it pumped up enough and the OB would hang tilted off the back barely above the water. Every time a wave or wake comes by it gets dunked and the guy would wonder why his outboard doesn't run. I had a Red Crest and if you follow the directions, when pumped up, it's hard. Really hard and the engine sits up high. The only reason I got rid of it is because I wanted a larger dinghy and more power. Not because I had any problem with the engine. Now, my MG, Sprite and AH3000 were totally different stories.