Japanese outboard motors. Honda, Suzuki, Tohatsu/Nissan and Yamaha are the Japanese companies that manufacture outboard motors. They all started out making other motorized things including motorcycles and got into outboards in the 1950’s and 60’s and they all are still in business today.The boat propellers used on these early engines were all...
Read MoreThe History of Outboard Boat Motors – Part Eleven
The 1960’s. OMC and Mercury continued the competition between themselves as the leaders of the industry. Other outboard motor makers such as Homelite and Scott-Atwater ( McCulloch ) were less popular and sold far less units than the big two. This decade saw fiberglass boats sales explode and wood pleasure boats started to disappear. Mercury...
Read MoreThe History of Outboard Boat Motors – Part Ten
The 1950’s. This decade was a time when two manufacturers became the dominate outboard motor makers. Evinrude-Johnson ( OMC ) and Mercury Marine. Mercury fast out paced OMC after WW II ended until about 1950 and 1951 when Evinrude came out with newer designed motors that sported a gear shift handle the Mercury engines did not have until a few years...
Read MoreThe History of Outboard Motors – Part Nine
When world war II ended in 1945, Mercury was ready with two new motor models. A 3.2 horsepower single cylinder called the Comet and the twin cylinder 6 horsepower named the Rocket. In 1947 the engines were redesigned with a much more modern look and a third model was added called the Lightning. This new model was a higher RPM, 20 cubic inch, 10 horsepower...
Read MoreThe History of Outboard Motors – Part Eight
The 1940 Mercury outboard boat motor was a very good looking streamlined motor compared to other brands at the time. The drive shaft was put inside a casing that also served to cover the water pickup line and a leak proof under water exhaust system. The water pump was also a huge leap forward in design using a Rotex rubber pump that did not need any...
Read MoreThe History of Outboard Boat Motors – Part Three
About the same time Mr. Waterman was developing his first boat motors, a young man named Ole Evinrude, born in Norway in 1877 and came to America in 1882, started out his adult life at the age of sixteen by getting a job in a machine shop in Madison Wisconsin. He soon became very skilled in machinery and pattern making and studied mathematics in his spare...
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