Hypothermia, and Cold Water Incapacitation

This might be somewhat vintage (https://www.soundingsonline.com/voices/hypothermia) but it's still very good information to review before the sailing season gets started...Looks like lean males fare the worst in cold water. My lower limit has been 60-degree (15 C) water on fairly sheltered water; maybe I should think about finding some warmer water.

Here's a good YouTube video of what could happen if you end up in the drink...Good thing there were rescue swimmers nearby...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1xohI3B4Uc.

How to decide when it's safe(r) to head out? Add the water temperature and the air temperature. Here's a short blurb I put together a while back on cool weather sailing on the Bay...

If you're going out on a big boat, or a bass boat, and you don't get wet, then maybe the "100 rule" (air temp plus water temp greater than 100 means you don't need a wet or dry suit), will work. But if you are going to get wet, or think you might get wet, then you better be wearing polypro long underwear and poly or wool socks -- at the least.

A better rule-of-thumb for us is probably "120", air plus water temp. I believe that the season at Ultimate Watersports on the Gunpowder technically ended (due to insurance) when the water temps got below 60. In reality, they never operated before or after water temps were below 65 (shut down sometime in September) because they didn't rent wet suits and assumed that people would get wet no matter what they were renting or how good they were at kayaking, windsurfing, or sailing.

If the air-water sum is greater than 120 (e.g., 60 degree water, 60 degree still air), you're probably going to be OK if you dunk. And if the water-air temp sum is less than 100, you'd better have a dry suit, and training. And a good buddy boat and some emergency equipment. 

What's All This About Electric Outboards?

2021 was an interesting year for electric outboards. In the spring Mercury announced that they will launch a new line in 2023. Then Yamaha debuted their HARMO electric outdrives at the IBEX (International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition) in September. A couple of relatively unknown companies also showed prototypes of high-power electric outboards. Now that General Motors has decided to pursue electric boat building (“GM Acquires 25 Percent Stake in Pure Watercraft to Accelerate All-Electric Boating,” 11-22-2021), it’s time to get serious about electric outboards…

(Pure Watercraft photo)

Advances in high-efficiency motors and lithium-ion battery technology are slowly finding their way into electric-powered boats. Since we normally think in terms of “horsepower,” maybe it’s also time to recalibrate how we think about an electric outboard’s power. How do you measure horsepower, anyway? (OK. One horsepower is equal to 550 pounds of force to move at a speed of 1 foot per second; or if you’re on a boat, 65 lbs of drag at 5 knots…). Electrical power is easy to accurately measure -- voltage times current, or watts. Torqeedo rates their 3-kW motors as equivalent to 6-hp gas outboards; and their 10-kW motors to 20-hp outboards. So if you really can’t make the switch, take the peak power of an electric outboard in kilowatts, and then double it to get a (very) rough idea of the equivalent horsepower. In the end, however, whether it's a gas or electric outboard, the thrust exerted by the propeller -- in pounds of force -- is what actually gets (and keeps) the boat moving. That’s the number we’re really looking for; and it’s obvious that it depends on more than “power.”

Besides Mercury’s and Yamaha’s plans to produce electric outboards, as noted above, we can reasonably anticipate that other established manufacturers like Honda and Tohatsu will soon include electric outboards in their lineups, and possibly transition to fully-electric at some point. A couple of long-shots worth watching announced their plans at the 2021 IBEX show. Rhode Island-based Flux Marine (www.fluxmarine.com) will introduce 15, 40, and 70 hp electric outboards in 2022. And Vision Marine (www.visionmarinetechnologies.com), a Canadian company that is now listed on the NASDAQ, claims they will begin delivering “the world’s most powerful outboard” – their 180-hp eMotion – to OEMs. [Coincidentally, Evinrude, which was owned by Quebec-based BRP (Bombardier Recreational Products), branded their high-efficiency, high-output gas outboards “E-TEC.” And BRP exited the outboard business in 2020.]

But Pure Watercraft (www.purewatercraft.com), a Seattle-based tech start-up, might be the closest to actual production. Back in 2010, after the Great Recession, Pure Watercraft got venture capital to develop and manufacture a 25-kW electric outboard and integrated battery pack. They used the playbook from Tesla Motors, starting with a clean sheet design, developing their own PMAC (permanent magnet alternating current) motor and gearbox, and building a bunch of not-for-sale prototypes from components and systems they produced in-house. The Wye Island (MD) Electric Boat Challenge is a 24-mile circuit that has been run every year since 2001; and in 2017 Pure Watercraft finished the course in just over an hour, setting the course record – still unbroken – with one of their prototypes (see “Wye Island Challenge – An Epic Marathon” in their website blog). At the end of 2021 GM invested $150M in the company, apparently as part of its plan to diversify beyond automotive applications.

Each of these start-ups listed above began taking reservations at the end of 2021 for their as-yet-unreleased outboards. The $64 question now is, Who will deliver the goods? But I think the biggest unknowns are how exactly GM will leverage their investment in Pure Watercraft; and if other automotive manufacturers will pursue similar deals of their own. We can anticipate that lower-cost, higher-performance lithium-ion battery technology will continue to benefit from the economies of scale that automotive manufacturers and suppliers bring to the table.

www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210928005812/en/Yamaha%E2%80%99s-HARMO%C2%AE-Electric-Outboard-System-Makes-U.S.-Debut-at-IBEX

www.soundingsonline.com/news/mercury-announces-plans-for-electric-outboards

Old Marine Engines -- Part 2: Ignition

KISS -- Keep It Simple (add your own second "s")...

My previous post gave a brief history of the early 2-stoke marine engines. Stan Grayson, who wrote "Old Marine Engines: The World of the One-Lunger," noted that even though they were relatively expensive, they were quickly accepted among the working watermen because they provided a competitive advantage -- and were useful when the wind and the current did not cooperate. And they were simple -- to operate and to maintain.

Before there were reliable spark plugs, and even after, there were alternate ways to ignite a compressed charge of gasoline or kerosene. Of course, Rudolf Diesel had developed his sparkless engine -- which depended on high compression pressure (at least a 15:1 compression ratio) to generate the temperature required to ignite the vaporized fuel (his first patents were granted in 1892; the first diesel engine ran in 1897). But the easy-to-build and easy-to-maintain 2-stroke engines in the early 1900s were not high compression engines -- the development of non-leaking seals and strong materials is a science as well as an art (and living with leaky shaft seals is quite acceptable to most boatmen, even today). The early 2-stroke engines utilized the relatively low-pressure piston and seal technology and were designed to produce moderate compression ratios, in the range of 3:1 (easy to crank over) to 6:1 (very tight). In fact, Grayson notes that it was possible to replace a blown head gasket with material at hand while out on the water. Not the best situation, for sure, but possible. The early engines tended to be overbuilt, with steel pistons and extra metal in the castings, which most certainly reduced the number of manufacturing rejects. Weight was a factor, but not a limiter, and some of the engine builders did not even bother to quote weight. And the extra iron certainly helped if the cooling pump was beginning to limp a bit. 

Compression ratios -- Old Marine Engine discussion board: www.oldmarineengine.com/discus/messages/3430/7949.html

With lower-compression engines there was plenty of space for a charge deflector -- sometimes just a piece of angle iron bolted to the top of the piston -- to enhance exhaust evacuation. And there was room for the spark source, even with a simple flat head. The old marine 2-stroke engines basically used one of two ignition sources: "make-and-break" igniters; or spark plugs. Both had their advantages and disadvantages and Grayson breaks it down as "low tension" (that is, low voltage) versus "high tension." The former is a mechanical "sparker" solution, perfect for a simple engine. Here's a nice video of a make-and-break Acadia Atlantic running along. Try slowing the video down so you can see the operation of the mechanical mechanism at the top of the cylinder that is driven by an eccentric near the flywheel. Seems like a pretty complicated mechanism to me. But...it would also seem to be relatively easy to repair or adjust with a couple of basic tools, and without a lot of high-tech training. And since it operates at low voltage (like around 6 volts), it can get liberally doused with seawater -- and still work; the parts that actually spark are all inside the cylinder. Corrosion of the connections -- easily observed and remedied -- were the biggest electrical issue, once the mechanical contraption was adjusted correctly. But since the igniter is a mechanism with lots of bits and springs, how long will it work before it needs additional adjustment; or before something breaks? 

For those of us who grew up with points and plugs, it's not immediately obvious how exactly this make-and-break ignition system works. Here is one description, dated 1906, by K.K. Williams, E.E.

"Without the aid of a coil, no spark can be produced that is large enough to ignite the gas when using batteries to generate the current for either [make-and-break or jump-spark] system. The make-and break coil consists of one continuous winding of coarse insulated wire wound over a soft-iron core. When the electricity passes through the coil, and the circuit is suddenly broken — that is if two wires are separated after being connected — a spark of high intensity follows the break or gap for a very short period of time. To produce the spark in the cylinder a mechanical motion is imparted to one electrode or end of the wire as it might be, at the proper point in the revolution. The moving electrode touches the stationary point, to permit the current to flow, forming a circuit, just before it is broken.

The important point here is that the actual make-and-break igniter, shown below, is a pretty simple mechanical device that bolts onto the top of the cylinder. AND, it has to open quickly to create the "spark", actually the arc across an interrupted electrical circuit. As you can see on the igniter below, the part with the springs (on the outside) rotates to strike a stationary "anvil" inside the cylinder (kind of reminds you of an old flintlock rifle striker mechanism). On this igniter, it looks like the stationary "hot" electrode is electrically insulated from the base so that the rotating hammer is a simple close-clearance sleeve.

"Make-and-break spark as ordinarily utilized requires a large voltage as generally compared with jump-spark, and uses more at each time of ignition or contact, because the contact is made during a certain length of the revolution. This makes the make-and-break system stem utilize a larger amount of battery power per hour than the jump-spark, as will be explained further on in this article.

 

"The spark generated by using the make-and-break system is. however, larger and hotter than the jump-spark. Properly designed, an advancing arrangement can be made to advance and retard the spark through the same useful portion of the revolution as jump-spark, but very few designers seem to care to arrange this important feature of the make-and-break system, being satisfied to set the spark at one point in the cycle, and generally not being able to change unless the engine is stopped. The hammer type of make-and-break has given very good service. The power to be derived from a gas engine is proportionate to the proper combustion of the gases.

 

"Make-and-break gives the hotter spark [and] consequently more power [than jump-spark] because it ignites the gas more quickly. It gives a very instantaneous ignition and less advance is required. because the action is quicker than jump-spark. Then again, this system has only one circuit and is easily understood  by the novice and appeals very readily to the beginner.

"Make-and-break advantages are: it's simplicity, using one circuit; a test of the battery circuit is a test of the sparking circuit; ignites the gas quickly and thoroughly; low voltage circuit; not readily effected by spray or rain; and coil not easily burned out. Its disadvantages are: working parts in the cylinder firing chamber; loss of compression sooner or later through the movable electrodes bearing; inaccessible generally, although not always, to advancing the spark; requires setting regularly; sparking points wear; springs cams, levers rods; and requires an unnecessary amount of battery current. The claim of unnecessary amount of battery is better explained in considering that ten times more current -- or the time of ignition is ten times longer -- at 100 rpm than at 1,000 rpm, with a waste of 9/10th of the battery power at the former speed.

While it's not a marine engine, here are a couple of great videos of the innards of a 1908 Matheson automotive engine that has a make-and-break ignition, www.youtube.com/watch?v=egbCVxAKvX0. The second video shows the same engine "sparking" -- the sparks look pretty "fat." This ought to convince you that, once all the adjustments are right, the make-and-break ignition works very well, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZyuCpoXYgU

In contrast to the mechanical, low-voltage make-and-break ignition discussed above, jump-spark engines use spark plugs and points. And they require step-up coils to generate high-voltage sparks. They are what we grew up with in our cars. Williams continues...

 

"Comparing the two systems. jump-spark advantages are its accessibility to advancing and retarding; consumes less electricity; the strength of the battery can be determined by the vibrator's action; requires no engine apparatus such as rods, cams, springs, levers; the plug screws into the cylinder leaving no possible means for loss of compression to be traced to this source; and jump-spark ignites the gas more readily in starting because the points are so small that heat enough is generated to warm the gas at the flame.

 

"The disadvantages are: leaks in secondary or high tension circuit; cracked or fouled plugs; a positive current in the primary circuit is no guarantee of a spark occurring at the plug points; liability of burning out the secondary winding if too many batteries are in circuit; lags slightly at high speed requiring a further advance than make-and-break; spark-plugs carbonize; is affected by dampness or moisture, such as rain or spray; and extreme high compression blows out or insulates the spark.

 

K.K. Williams, E.E., "Make-and-break versus Jump-spark", Powerboat News, Volume 2, No. 4 (August 26, 1906), www.oldmarineengine.com/technical/MBvsJS.htm

John Davis' video of his Detroit Engine Works motor is a great demonstration of a 2-stroke spark engine and how it operates. Notice how he can use the advance lever to easily reverse the rotation -- no gearbox needed. KISS.

-------------------------------------

If you are still curious about make-and-break ignitions, here are some more resources that you can check out:

"Internal Combustion Engines and Tractors, Their Development, Design, Construction, Function and Maintenance," notes of a series of lectures, delivered by Oliver B. Zimmerman of the Engineering Staff, International Harvester Company, Chicago, 1920.
www.gasenginemagazine.com/gas-engines/function-ignition-apparatuses-engine-systems/

A more contemporary EEs take on the old engine ignitions and how they operate, see David Cave's article in Gas Engine Magazine (Sept 8, 2000) 

www.gasenginemagazine.com/equipment/low-tension-ignition-system-zm0z20onzbut/

Hooking up a make-and-break motor, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWINn34ixPQ

In addition to Stan Grayson's book and whatever information I could find via Google, I have used photos of old motors from several messabouts and museums around the Chesapeake Bay. I need to give a shout out to the Upper Bay Museum in North East, MD, which has a nice display of early small marine motors, both outboards and inboards. Finally, the absolute best place (in my opinion) to see restored and working old marine motors is at the Calvert Marine Museum (Solomons, MD) Maritime Festival that is scheduled for May 1, 2021. Collectors come from across the country, but it's still a very accessible and low-key gathering, and much easier to get to (and less expensive) than the show in Mystic Seaport, CT. And the best place to research the old 2- and 4-cycle engines is the Old Marine Engine discussion forum.

Old Marine Engines -- "One Lungers" (Part 1)

My oldest outboards are "only" 70 or 80 years old, and I've worked on a few that were closing in on 100 -- and they still ran. But I never got a chance to spend much time on the 2-cycle (2-stroke) marine engines that the watermen bought to replace oars and sails -- before there were outboards. They are rare today, but people still find them and get them running. Here's a good place to find out more about them: www.oldmarineengine.com/index.html.

It might be surprising to learn that gasoline engines were invented almost 150 years ago, shortly after the Civil War. In 1859, before the war, Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well in Titusville, PA. The "black gold" was used to produce kerosene -- to replace whale oil that was used for lighting. The lighter, more flammable components, like gasoline and naptha, were discarded. And the cheap waste products presented a brand new opportunity...

The earliest engines to use gasoline looked very similar to steam engines and began to be built around 1872 (Brayton cycle, oldmachinepress.com/2016/12/05/brayton-ready-motor-hydrocarbon-engine/). After 14 years of development, Nicholaus Otto and Eugen Langen produced the first gas compression engine in 1876. These were heavy engines, like 1,000 pounds per horsepower, and were mainly used for "instant start" stationary applications, replacing steam engines that took hours to fire up.

In 1885 Gottlieb Daimler, who had helped develop Otto's compression engine, patented a lightweight, four-cycle gas engine -- around 200 pounds/hp. The first modern automobile was invented by Karl Benz -- or by Daimler and his colleague Wilhelm Maybach depending on who you believe -- in 1886. Before too long there were hundreds of big and small shops building engines. Ford produced his first gasoline-powered automobile, the "Quadricycle" (not the Model T), ten years later in 1896; the mass-produced Model T didn't show up until 1908. 

Aluminum, 40 per cent lighter than cast iron, was more expensive but widely available beginning in the 1890s. The Wright brothers built their own lightweight gas engine, with a cast aluminum block, and flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903. Their engine, with oil and cooling water, weighed about 180 pounds and produced at least 12 horsepower (15 pound/hp).

https://wrightbros.org/Information_Desk/Just_the_Facts/Engines_&_Props/1903_Engine.htm

Once Daimler demonstrated that powerful gas engines could built at less than 200 pounds/hp, applications for them rapidly expanded. So when Ole Evinrude began to produce outboards in 1909 there were already plenty of gasoline-powered contrivances around the farm, on the dirt roads (the Lincoln Highway that crossed the country project didn't get started until 1913), in the air, and on the water. With weight of the engine hanging out on the transom, outboard motors put greater emphasis on lightweight materials (i.e., aluminum), simple valveless 2-stroke designs, and higher compression ratios for more specific power. In the 1920s outboard motors weighed in at around 20 pounds/hp. By the 1950s non-racing outboards typically weighed less than 10 pounds/hp, and the larger displacement outboards (which was around 25 hp at that time) were less than 5 pounds/hp.

Now back to the waterman's cast-iron engines...Stan Grayson wrote "Old Marine Engines" in 1985 and you can still find copies of it listed on Amazon (for over $900 new? I got mine for a LOT less). And Grayson notes that Union Gas Engineering, which was "affiliated" with the Philadelphia engine builder, Globe, produced a 4-cycle engine with a make-and-break ignition in 1884. And Globe added marine engines to their product line starting in 1886. Apparently they were a big hit. The "horseless carriage" makers also jumped into the fray, building 4-cycle gas engines for marine applications. Grayson lists Winton, Lozier, Stanley (of steamer fame), Simplex, Duesenberg, and Buick. All well and good for big yachts with hired mechanics. Not so good for DIY watermen and farmers.

Simple is reliable; simple is cheap. While the 4-cycle required valves, like the steam engines they replaced, a 2-cycle engine eliminated the complicated valve train, reduced the parts count, the complexity of assembly, and the costs -- to assemble and to maintain. And the 2-cycle engine was amenable to construction by even small machine shops. Grayson says that there were thousands of shops producing marine motors. The most well-know engines of that era, at least by the number that didn't end up as anchors or wartime scrap, are Palmer, Acadia, Luenberg, Lozier, Mianus, and Standard.

Here is a video of a 2-cycle Acadia engine with a make-and-break ignition, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQrpp0dtV7o

A few years ago I had an opportunity to get some photos of old single-cylinder motors that were found around the upper Chesapeake Bay. The motor shown below is a 2-cycle, 2-hp "Sandow" built by the Detroit Motor Car Supply Company in Detroit, MI around 1910. It looks like it has the original paint and the original Schebler carburetor (on the left side), and it still turns over. Note the priming cup and the broken spark plug at the top of the cylinder. The "buzz box" ignition coil is missing; the lever behind flywheel advances the spark timing.

The "Sandow" nameplate was a mystery to me -- no serial number. Detroit Motor built many stationary motors and marine engines under many different plates. Turns out that John Davis has collected a HUGE amount of information on Detroit Engine Works and the history of their engines, www.antiquengines.com/Detroit_Engine_Works_Menu.htm. The stationary engines have an open “hopper” for cooling while this marine engine has a “tank” attached to the right side of the cylinder to cool the exhaust. The photo below shows the exhaust and water pump driven from the output. Note the “damper” on the exhaust leg -- to make sure the engine would not suck in water from a submerged exhaust pipe? Need to research that.



Here is a video of John Davis' restored Detroit Auto "Sandow" running: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FbLzBkH4Ic

Electric Boats

Jim Campbell heading out to the race course in his eCanoe in 2016. 

Check out this video of “Wye Island Electric Boat Marathon 2017” from Andy Rebele, 

https://vimeo.com/237483010

The race starts at the Miles River Yacht Club in St. Michaels, circles Wye Island with a mandatory stop at the Wye Landing, and then back to yacht club. Height restriction enforced by a fixed bridge that you've got to get under. I've heard that some support crews use that to "drop ship" coffee and snacks to their driver and he roars underneath, with mixed results...The race is run on the Friday of the annual Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival, the first weekend in October. For more details on the race and resources, see the electric boat website, www.electricboats.org/wye-island-challenge

Shade Tree Mechanic's Outboard Hoist

Problem: Pick up and move an outboard motor

My limit for lifting outboards seems to have stopped at about the weight of an Evinrude Fisherman outboard. If I push it, a long-shaft 6-hp Yachtwin. That turns out to be about 50-60 pounds. Having followed the many recycling and re-use exploits of Dan Rogers, of "Almost Canada" fame in "Messing About in Boats," I felt challenged during our Covid summer to assemble a hoist for the bigger motors from stuff that was sitting around my shop: one used Potter (aka "yard") trailer; one steel tube "V" from an unnamed trailer that was cut up long ago; one tow cable; some chain and a couple of big bolts; and my come-along hoist. And some cinder blocks and scrap steel for counterweights.

Here's the first test -- 20 pounds, no problem. I can change the angle of the crane by clipping the tow cable to a different link in the chain. Eventually I added an old trailer winch to replace the tow cable so I could adjust the angle while there was a load on the hoist.

Next problem: Connect a lifting ring to the motor

My first thought was to truss the motor up with some double braid. Then on the internet I spotted a special (that is, expensive) outboard tool that was designed to attach a temporary lifting eye to the outboard's flywheel. I duplicated it using my Harbor Freight flywheel puller and some stainless steel bolts. And, of course, an eyebolt. This test shown here is with a spare 6-hp block. On some of my outboards I might need to remove the recoil starter to get to the flywheel, but the Evinrudes only have a spring cover over the holes that are used to pull the flywheel to service the ignition. Just needed to remove the flywheel nut to remove the cover, and it's good to go. Remember to put the nut back on before you lift -- just in case.

Here's a pic of the Harbor Freight flywheel puller kit...

If I didn't have the puller kit I would use a piece of 1/4-inch thick aluminum plate with four strategically-located holes.

KISS

Fun with Outboards

This is a compilation of useful information that I began accumulating while working on antique outboards for a local maritime museum.


If you want to learn more about good old outboards, what to look for, and how to keep them running, the VERY BEST book to buy is “Cheap Outboards” by Max Wazrzyniak. You can purchase it from Duckworks Boat Builders Supply at www.duckworksbbs.com/media/books.htm. His chapters describing servicing for the OMC ignition and gearbox are classics. And he gives excellent guidance on what motors to look for and how to evaluate them before you buy them. My only criticism of this book, which was published in 2006, is that it is getting a bit dated and does not address any of the “modern” models that were manufactured after 1980 (they appeared to be contrary to Wazrzyniak’s definition of “cheap” back then, due mainly to their electronic ignitions). If you don’t want to buy the book, you can still read his articles on good old outboards at http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/06/columns/max/articles.htm

One of the best online sources of information for good old outboards is Leeroy Wisner’s website “Leeroy’s Ramblings,” www.leeroysramblings.com. As the title suggests, some of his articles are lengthy, but in return he provides plenty of details and photos for maintaining and repairing several of the smaller OMC outboards. He has written lots of stories of his old outboard adventures. And he has useful information on buying, repairing, and caring for good old outboards that span the “modernized” Johnson/Evinrudes as well as other brands -- Mercury; Force; and Yamaha.

A excellent source of information on vintage (1970 and older) outboards is Peter Hunn’s “The Old Outboard Book.” This is considered the bible for the antique outboard collector and for anyone interested in the history of the motors that our parents and grandparents bought and used. He has provided a wealth of history for Evinudes, Johnsons, Kiekhaefer and Mercurys, and all the lesser-known pre- and post-war brands.

If you have a good old motor, or have decided to go find (and use) a good old motor, you will need a few sources of parts to help keep it running. Here are some of the best and most useful to me: first, search the internet and YouTube with your specific motor and horsepower and you will find many more sources of information and know-how. How to change the water impeller, or the points? Look on YouTube for the make and model. Many outboards use the same parts and design for different models, so often just finding something close to the vintage and horsepower is good enough. For on-line parts drawings of post-war OMC motors, hard-copy OEM service manuals, and discounted OEM and aftermarket parts go to Marine Engine (www.marineengine.com). And for on-line parts drawings of Nissan/Tohatsu motors and parts you can check out Mastertech Marine, http://www.maxrules.com/index.php

If you want a service manual, check your library, used book stores, or Amazon for the Clymer books. If you have an OMC motor, look for “Evinrude/Johnson Outboard Shop Manual, 1.5-125 HP, 1956-1972” (B734); “Evinrude/Johnson Outboard Shop Manual, 2-40 HP, 1973-1990” (B732); and “Evinrude/Johnson Outboard Shop Manual, 2-70 HP, 1995-2007” (B735-2). The second of these manuals (B732) spans OMC’s transition to the “modern” engines with their electronic ignitions, and it might be the most useful of the three. Like the Clymer manuals that cover multiple years and models, SELOC also publishes a series of manuals that cover the various makes. If you need it, you can get copies of shop manuals for specific engines from www.marineengine.com.

For almost real-time commentary and online Q&A on old motors, check out the Antique Outboard Motor Club’s (www.aomci.org) “Ask a Member” forum at 

www.aomci.org/resources/ask-a-member/. You have to join the AOMC or register as a guest to post questions or comments, but searching the forum for information is free and fun. There is an incredible amount of information on the less common -- and really old -- motors, and there seems to be experts on every motor, and opinions on just about any motor problem. As always, the advice can sometimes be worth what you pay for it (nothing), so be prepared for contradictory suggestions and solutions.

The Antique Outboard Motor Club also holds local meets, which always include a motor and part flea market, and probably has a good lunch, too. Their website lists the event schedule and even directions to a meet near you, www.aomci.org/events/. You don’t need to be a member of the club to participate in the meet although they usually ask for a few bucks to help pay for the lunch and space. Ask questions -- advice is free, and you’ll probably find someone who can help you figure out your problem. AOMC meets are a great place to find good old outboards -- motors that are too new or too common to collect, but too good to throw out and need to find a new home. Kicking tires and dickering are accepted practices at the flea markets. And they will most likely be very happy to help you keep your good old outboard motor running like new.

Finally, here are some basic outboard rules to keep in mind, especially if you are shopping for your first good old outboard (or if you need some reminders):

• Never turn an engine backwards. Only turn the engine flywheel clockwise.
• Never shift an engine without turning the flywheel or the prop. Never force the shift lever.
• Never shift a running engine unless it’s operating at idle speed, or at least running very slowly.
• Don’t “baby” the shifter. Bring the motor speed down, and then shift, positively. This helps the shifter “clutch dog” on propeller drive shaft live a much longer life.
• Never shift from forward to reverse (or the opposite) without pausing in neutral.
• Never, ever run an outboard without cooling water. And never run an engine if you can’t be sure is cooling (carefully feel the area around the crankcase near the spark plug -- if it’s hot to touch, shut the motor down and figure out what’s clogged or broken).
• Never, ever operate a 2-cycle engine without oil in the gas. Even if you have to use the wrong oil (in an emergency), or the wrong proportion (more, within reason, is always OK) make sure there’s some kind of oil in the gas to lubricate the moving parts.

If you're interested in more information, I wrote an article, "Keeping Up with you Old Outboard," that's in Small Craft Advisor, No. 121 (Jan/Feb 2020). Reprints available at www.smallcraftadvisor.com.   b