Land & Sea | Engine Development

[Checkmerc_AT4]

With respect to the now defunct Performance Outboard aftermarket parts dealer Land & Sea which operated out of New Hampshire:
What happened to all of the intellectual property from the outboard R&D work over the years? They advertised a prolific library of "recommended porting guides", technical drawings and dynamometer curves for OMC, Mercury, and Yamaha.
Does anybody on this forum know who owns this data now? Has any attempt been made to archive/ preserve their work?
I know their products and customer support didn't necessarily garner the best reputation among members of S&F. That said, their efforts almost certainly yielded valuable data to the sport - even if the product deliverable wasn't always competitve.

[oldschoolnc]

Where did you find what you have there?
I'd like to see more of that too.
Thanks.
Happy Screaming and Flying!

[Checkmerc_AT4]

Found in a box of old Merc parts along with receipts and price lists from 1992.
I believe the gentleman who owned and operated this business passed away a few years ago. The facility now manufactures dynamometer test equipment. I'd love to get in touch with somebody there and attempt to find out what became of the outboard performance division after it was shut down.

[David - WI]

Some of their catalogs are posted on this site, if you can find them.

[David - WI]

https://www.screamandfly.com/showthread.php?323369-What-ever-happened-to-Land-amp-Sea


https://www.screamandfly.com/showthr...37#post2916937

[WaterZebra]

Found in a box of old Merc parts along with receipts and price lists from 1992.
I believe the gentleman who owned and operated this business passed away a few years ago. The facility now manufactures dynamometer test equipment. I'd love to get in touch with somebody there and attempt to find out what became of the outboard performance division after it was shut down.

I vaguely remember their catalog. They had velocity stacks for Merc and OMC carbs. Cylinder heads. Complete nitrous systems. 6 carb manifolds and linkage. They even offered the 6 carb manifold with nitrous injection. Reeds and reed cages. I have 2 six carb set-ups. (collector stuff). When EFI came along, their 6 carb stuff died. Rejetting a 6 carb was a pain. Instead of pushing a keyboard (EFI) you took a bath in gas changing TWELVE jets.

[25two.stroke]

I always wanted to see their turbo kit in application...all done up right with their offset cowl and cowl pan...very few are around that I have heard of.
I got a set of their dual plug heads for a 2.4L and the divider cover for mounting 12 coils. I believe one of the partners (at least) is still alive.

[CUDA]

Oh yes they sold all kinds interesting things, I remember they sold high compression heads for the 235 hp OMC crossflow motors,

In MVP racing you had to use factory parts, but you could modify them,

So instead of just buying a set of high compression heads you had to make your own from a stock set,

Since the crossflow had a divider in the center to deflect intake charge upward, instead out the exhaust ports

We bolted a head to a Bridgeport so the heat would not distort it, then weld the chamber where needed,

Then cut head chamber to let the piston fit the original design, and cc the head to match each other,

A LOT of work, and $$ for machine time, lucky I had a friend from school who's dad owned a large machine shop

So I would buy a case of his favorite Canadian beer and we worked nights to do my machine work.

He would set me up on a Bridgeport and showed me what to do for simple chit and he would do complicated chit.

On the Merc's you just milled the head, simple, but those crossflow heads were time consuming to make all pockets match.

Land and Sea made all types of claimed HP, greatly exaggerating increase HP.

[WaterZebra]

I always wanted to see their turbo kit in application...all done up right with their offset cowl and cowl pan...very few are around that I have heard of.
I got a set of their dual plug heads for a 2.4L and the divider cover for mounting 12 coils. I believe one of the partners (at least) is still alive.

I forgot about the turbo!!

[Checkmerc_AT4]

https://www.screamandfly.com/showthread.php?323369-What-ever-happened-to-Land-amp-Sea


https://www.screamandfly.com/showthr...37#post2916937

"We have spent countless hours on the dyno, flow-bench, and water; and have seen just the shape and contour of a single port radius or edge make or break a particular engine."
"If you have experience porting and understand port/ time area specifications, we will gladly give you the necessary data."
Who owns this data now? Where is it?

If there were any opportunity to identify acquire and archive this information I would like to get in touch with whoever has any idea what happened to their engineering documentation.
Land & Sea Inc. aka DynoMITE dynamometer was sold to Power Test in 2020. The subsidiary operating L&S subsequently discontinued all product lines and liquidated stock. The original factory address in NH is now closed.

[David - WI]

When the dyno business took off, L&S pretty quickly "divested" themselves from the marine products; for awhile you could still download instructions & tech articles from their website and even call for support; but that dried up fairly quickly.

[Checkmerc_AT4]

Sure seems that way. What was the old website address/ addresses? I'll do some digging around the internet archive. I'd hate to think all the effort was discarded, or lost. I've made some attempts to reach out to old employees, but I won't hold my breath.
We're approaching the generational threshold for this sport where the barrier to entry becomes prohibitive. Scavenging useful technical information is nearly impossible and the minds that can make it happen are becoming less numerous, and more concentrated.

Peter Hunn published the archival 'Old Outboard book' in 2002 - detailing Keikhaefer, and OMC's operations from the 30s to 70s. There are no such resources available for the V6 2-strokes.

[David - WI]

https://web.archive.org/web/20000409...ine/marine.htm

[David - WI]

A bunch of Merc V6 info compiled (mostly) from this site, I think: https://www.biggerhammer.net/mercury/

Merc manuals (mostly consumer models): https://www.hedges-uk.com/boat/Merc/...roke/2-stroke/

[FUJIMO]

...the allison boat speed record was set with a turboed stock 200 merc...