Seabee History

Sea Bee outboard motors were built by Austin Burrell Ltd in Leicester. Three models were offered from 1957. The Sea Bee 1 or Sea Bee Minor was a 1 - 1.5hp outboard equipped with a 34cc engine, this outboard was the basic model which was fully air cooled and had a side exit Burgess exhaust system. The Sea Bee 3, rated at 2.5 - 3hp had a 79.7cc engine, with a water cooled leg and underwater exhaust. The Sea Bee 5 was fully water cooled with an engine developed between Austin Burrell and J.A.P, fully enclosed with a fibre glass cowling and looked more modern than it was.

All the original models were powered by J.A.P engines.

In 1961 the line was updated, though the differences from the original designs were minimal the range was expanded with two further models. Another 3hp outboard named The Tempest and a 6hp (130.8cc ) outboard named The Hurricane appeared, both had water cooled exhausts, air cooled engines, a 2.5 gallon fuel tank and an extensive tool kit. They were said to "Embody the latest design features and a marvelous new power unit by Aspera of Turin".

The range was once again updated in 1964, this time seeing some clear differences between the earlier models. Firstly The Model 1 or Minor had its drive tube altered from a cast alloy lump to a machined tube which was either chromed or nickel plated, the transom clamp was also changed to accommodate the altered drive tube. Secondly, the Model 3 was drastically altered, this was changed from an air cooled engine with water cooled exhaust, to a completely air cooled motor. The drive and exhaust tube which had previously been a single piece cast alloy lump was changed to 2 machined tubes, these, depending on the age of this type of model 3 could be either chromed or nickel plated tubes, or just plain alloy tubes. The gearbox was altered to accommodate the changed drive tube design, and some appeared with twist grip throttles. The model 5, The Tempest and The Hurricane were not altered at all in this process.

Sometime in the late 1960's the updated model 3 was changed back to its previous design as the twin tubes and full air cooling didn't seem to work that well and resulted in the gearbox wearing out too fast. The Model 1 or Minor stayed in its updated design until the J.A.P engined outboards were dropped from the range with the Tempest and Hurricane round about 1969 and 1970.

There are not many differences between the early and late version Sea Bee 3s, the main thing that sets them aside is the late version has white plastic thumbscrew handles and a white plastic prop retaining nut.

When the range of J.A.P and Aspera powered outboards was dropped from the range in 1969 and 1970 a new design was introduced which was based on the original designs but with a different engine unit. Only 2 models were made, the Model 2 and the Model 4, both using J.L.O air cooled engines. The model 2 which was a 1 1/2 - 2 hp uses the early type Model 1 or Minor drive leg with a different mounting plate for the J.L.O engine. The Model 4 which was a 3 1/2 - 4 hp outboard used a converted early version Model 3 drive leg with an extended exhaust tube which came out of the side of the engine and into a hole in the side of the leg casting. At this time the colour scheme was altered too, the engines were no longer gold and white, they were now a light Hamerite blue hammered finish all over. Some were fitted with the J.A.P type drooping fuel tanks, others were fitted with a large plastic tank and brackets bolted to the top of the thin steel cowling.

Also some had a shroud of fibre glass around them, and there doesn't seem to be a pattern as to which got the different parts fitted, I presume these were options which could be specifically asked for by customers. Due to the poor quality of the J.L.O engines not many of these type of Sea Bee motor still exist in good running order, because they were a higher revving engine than the J.A.P they seemed to wear faster, hence most power units were completely destroyed and parts availability is nearly non existent.

There is great speculation between people as to when the company actually stopped producing outboard motors, a lot of people who bought there Sea Bee's new in the late 1970's swear they were new and still advertised, however it seems that these motors from the late 70's were actually back logs of stock which were being sold off to literally " get rid of em ". As far as research makes out production actually halted in 1974, and that is as far as sea bees went.