Facts about Evinrude/Johnson racing outboards made my OMC

[WaterZebra]

The biggest threat to the rotary program was OMC's V6 program,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[lars strom]

@WaterZebra @Rotary John

I think you are probably right on that. Lets see what Rotary John says.

[Rotary John]

@WaterZebra @Rotary John

I think you are probably right on that. Lets see what Rotary John says.

I believe I said before, the rotary program was a "beat those black bastards" program till the V-6 was ready. OMC didn't have the resources to develop a complete line of rotary engines let alone tool them. The V-6 was relatively cheap, as it was 2 more pistons on a V-4. With 150ci vs 122ci for Merc, Charlie was confident he could continue to beat Merc. Add all this to the EPA emission threat of that time, the rotary didn't make good business or racing sense. I believe the real OMC rotary mistake was not continuing the oil cooled version for I/O application. That would have competed against Detroit iron where the rotary size and weight really showed an advantage.

[WaterZebra]

I believe I said before, the rotary program was a "beat those black bastards" program till the V-6 was ready. OMC didn't have the resources to develop a complete line of rotary engines let alone tool them. The V-6 was relatively cheap, as it was 2 more pistons on a V-4. With 150ci vs 122ci for Merc, Charlie was confident he could continue to beat Merc. Add all this to the EPA emission threat of that time, the rotary didn't make good business or racing sense. I believe the real OMC rotary mistake was not continuing the oil cooled version for I/O application. That would have competed against Detroit iron where the rotary size and weight really showed an advantage.

How in the world did Charlie keep OMCs board of directors from having a fit about the rotary's R&D costs?! I/O idea would have been good but I/Os are all but dead now and we're back to big four stroke outboards. I watch the oyster growers in my area and everything is powered by big four stroke outboards. They can't afford the down time to split and pull out an I/O.

[Rotary John]

How in the world did Charlie keep OMCs board of directors from having a fit about the rotary's R&D costs?! I/O idea would have been good but I/Os are all but dead now and we're back to big four stroke outboards. I watch the oyster growers in my area and everything is powered by big four stroke outboards. They can't afford the down time to split and pull out an I/O.

Remember this was 50+ yrs. ago. OMC was making tons of money and sold everything they could produce by the first of the yr. Model yr- Aug thru June the following year. The rotary program was over in early '75. 150HP outboard were just being introduced. If you ever saw a 250 HP I/O rotary with no doghouse and a full wrap around rear seat that would outrun a 350 HP Chevy I/O you would understand my thoughts. We had a 210 HP oil cooled outboard running at the same time. It wasn't cost competitive to the 2-strokes, but very competitive to the Detroit Iron.

[WaterZebra]

Remember this was 50+ yrs. ago. OMC was making tons of money and sold everything they could produce by the first of the yr. Model yr- Aug thru June the following year. The rotary program was over in early '75. 150HP outboard were just being introduced. If you ever saw a 250 HP I/O rotary with no doghouse and a full wrap around rear seat that would outrun a 350 HP Chevy I/O you would understand my thoughts. We had a 210 HP oil cooled outboard running at the same time. It wasn't cost competitive to the 2-strokes, but very competitive to the Detroit Iron.

Was the crankshaft cross bolt problem fixable? Whole new crankshaft perhaps?

[Rotary John]

Was the crankshaft cross bolt problem fixable? Whole new crankshaft perhaps?

The original design was 2- two rotor cranks held together by a thru bolt made from ED180. The threads were even rolled hard by SKF research. To use the existing 2 rotor crank castings and to eliminate the need for ct. wt. 1-4 and 2-3 fired together. If you do a force diagram on this setup though its dynamically balanced, but it has a hell of a bending couple at the joint of the 2 cranks. It appeared there was a natural frequency of the bolt at 7000 RPM, exactly where we proped it to run. We tried all sorts of fixes from rubber bumpers on the bolt, silver plated conical washers with matching nut too eliminate first thread stress, to surrounding the entire bolt with silicone rubber. nothing really helped. As a matter on int6rest, the only time the bolt didn't break was in testing in FL; 10 hrs on a twin Molinari at lower rpm and Galveston in a cat2 hurricane where the speeds were extremely low; also no competition. After an ass chewing by Strang at Windemere, I redesigned the crank as 4 individual pieces held together by 3 turnbuckles: L-R threads. This also allowed a center hsg. bearing that 2 pc. crank didn't. It also reduced the weight by several pounds. Only got to run it a couple of times, but failure due to bolt breakage was GONE.

[lars strom]

5,000 MILE SOLO TRIP, MIAMI TO MIAMI 1959, "THE GREAT LOOP"
Ann Davison Billheimer planning to begin a 2 month 5,000 mile trip in a 17ft boat with two 18 horsepower Evinrude engines at the Santana Marina in Coconut Grove in June of 1959. Her plan was to cruise the inland waterway to New York, through part of the Great Lakes then down the Mississippi River and across the Gulf of Mexico. She actually departed in August and because of bad weather did not arrive back in Miami until 5 months later.

[Onetime]

One of my first “bigger”engines I had on my Glen L TNT that I built when I was a teenager. Great reliable engines.

[lars strom]

1969 JUNEAU, ALASKA to KEY WEST, FLORIDA RECORD RUN


A recent post featured J.E. Hoag’s 1925 crossing of the United States with Evinrude power which was, of course, quite remarkable for that time. But perhaps even more adventuresome was Bill & Kathy Dimond’s 8,338 mile Juneau to Key West journey in 1969 which was the longest run attempted by outboards. As the ad points out, their journey went from arctic-cold fresh water to tropical-warm salt water. It included every kind of boating from rivers, to streams, to lakes, to canals - across the entire country- and down the Atlantic coast. Twin, loop-charged Evinrude Triumph 55’s powered their 20-foot Glastron V-201 for this remarkable adventure. While the outboards were stock, the boat hull was beefed-up for this punishing endurance adventure.

[lars strom]

It takes guts to be a Navy Seal


Just getting ashore can take considerable fortitude! Photo shows a Seal Operation aboard a Zodiac F740 inflatable ‘Combat Rubber Raiding Craft’ (CRRC) powered by a 55HP military-spec Johnson jet outboard.

[lars strom]

Thank you.

[lars strom]

Johnson was the 'First Outboard' to Cross the Atlantic - 1958


A pair of Sea-Horse V-50’s powered the 22-foot cruiser Coronet Explorer crossing the hazardous North Atlantic from Copenhagen to New York City in 10-days and 12-hours. Both motors performed perfectly, completely free of failures of any kind. Arriving on July 24,1958 in Long Island Sound, the crew members were Jim Wynne (USA), Sven Orjangaard (Sweden)and Ole Botved (Denmark) builder of Coronet cruisers..

The Outboards - Introduced as a revolutionary engineering achievement and the first V4 outboard, the 50 hp, 70.7 cu.in. V4 Johnson (and Evinrude) electric & manual start outboards would set-the-stage for the most rapid increases in horsepower and performance to that point in marine history.

The Journey – An accompanying Swedish freighter supplied fuel. Twice, the Coronet Explorer had to be lifted onboard the freighter in extremely bad weather before arriving in the United States, so technically, this was not a ‘complete’ crossing. However, the small cruiser did spend a total of 202 hours at sea covering 3,433 total miles. A major accomplishment in a 22-foot boat.

The Sterndrive Connection – Jim Wynne, who is sometimes "incorrectly credited” with developing the first modern sterndrive, was co-driver of Coronet Explorer. Actually, Charlie Strang invented the first modern sterndrive and let Jim Wynne take credit. Strang was employed by Mercury at the time and couldn’t risk Carl Kiekhaefer discovering his involvement. (That is a story unto itself.) Strang would move on to OMC and later become CEO in 1983.

[lars strom]

Sst-100

[lars strom]

#9 Roger Jenkins
Gordon's Gin/Velden/Johnson F1-V8
Nottingham 1981.