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Welcome to the January 2002 issue of Outboard News, an electronic newsletter for the outboard enthusiast.
Industry News The most important thing this time of year for the marine industry is the winter boat shows. Manufacturers and dealers alike are hoping for a good show season to help bring the industry out of its current slump. We would like to encourage everyone to attend their local show to see what's new and exciting for this year. The full line of new Johnsons and Evinrudes should be at the winter shows. To help recapture lost market share, Bombardier will offer aggressive promotions and rebate plans for winter purchases. One new marketing plan for Johnson and Evinrude will be to separate the lines, and make a major distinction between the two. Johnson will be geared to the traditional, angler market; offering the standard carbureted 2-strokes and a new line of 4-strokes. The Evinrude line will consist of 2-strokes with the Ficht Ram injection system. Another name disappears. Mariner outboards will no longer be sold in this country. Blame US EPA regulations. Service Department This month we will discuss the second most important procedure for assessing the condition of an outboard, and for diagnosing problems. Last month we talked about compression and the compression tester. This month the subject is spark to the spark plugs and the spark tester. Every outboard, especially older ones, needs a good, strong, hot spark in order to start easily and to run properly. To test for spark, some people ground the spark plug electrode to the engine block, and then spin the flywheel. THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. To do a proper test, you need a special spark tester. It is a device that you clamp to a good engine ground, and plug the wires that come out of it into the spark plug boots. When you spin the flywheel, the spark from each wire will jump an adjustable gap on the tester, and this will tell you if the spark is adequate. If you obtain a good spark on all cylinders, you can probably eliminate the ignition system as a source of problems. If you have no spark or an intermittent spark, you will need to troubleshoot the ignition system. There are two basic types of ignition systems. One is the old fashioned points and condensers, the other is electronic ignition. Next month we will begin to go inside the old fashioned ignition system. To see a picture of the spark tester, and to find out where to get one, go to the helpful products page of my website. There is a link at the end of the newsletter. Upcoming service topics: Troubleshooting the ignition system. How to reseal the lower unit. Send in your suggestions Questions and Answers There were no questions sent in this month. You may send in any outboard related question, and I will attempt to answer it in an upcoming newsletter. Historical info Fact: In February 1941, the government issued an order called M-1-a, which required special permission for the use and casting of aluminum. Since the outboard was strictly for portable application, heavy metals could not be substituted for aluminum. This meant possible bankruptcy for Mercury. It was at this time that the government expressed a need for a light-weight gasoline motor of approximately 4 HP, suitable for powering a portable chain saw. In May 1942, Kiekhaefer received a contract for 3,300 saw engines, which turned out to be the rescue from ruin that the company needed. In future issues, I will include information from old factory service bulletins and manuals. Some of you may find this one interesting; it is a bulletin from 1950 from Mercury concerning KG9 engine timing and synchronizing. If you would like more of this type of information, let me know. I have a lot of it. This month's motor is Buccaneer-Gale. Gale was a division of OMC, the parent company of Johnson and Evinrude. As a result, the Gale motors are very similar to Johnson and Evinrude. In some cases almost identical. Gale motors were called "Buccaneer". model # starting serial# HP 1950 1B10 330644 1.5 1B9 330744 3 2B7 331944 5 2B8 335212 12 1951 3S10B 359147 3 3D10B 359147 3 5S10B 362047 5 5D10B 362097 5 12S10B 365588 12 12D10B 370588 12 1952 3D10B 359147 3 5D10B 362097 5 12S10B 365588 12 12D10B 370588 12 1953 3D11B 478335 3 5S10B 362047 5 5D10B 362097 5 12S10B 365588 12 12D10B 370588 12 1954 3D11B 478335 3 5S10B 362047 5 5D10B 362097 5 12D11B 510284 12 1955 3D11B 478335 3 5S11B 566202 5 12D11B 510284 12 1956 3D13B 590881 3 5S12D 594196 5 5D12B 583412 5 5D13B 616780 5 12S12B 600289 12 12D13B 570692 12 12D14B 637321 12 12DE13B 604988 12 12DE14B 595186 12 22D11B 622204 25 22DE11B 587456 25 22DE13B 622617 25 1957 3D14B 646994 3 5S13B 647036 5 5D14B 642835 5 12S13B 647066 12 12D15B 646997 12 12D15BL 12 12DE15B 655020 12 12DE15BL 12 22D14B 647075 25 22DE14B 647090 25 22DE14BL 25 1958 3D15B 709217 3 5S14B 715224 5 5D15B 690702 5 12S13B 697575 12 12D17B 708987 12 22D15B 715974 25 22DE15B 715874 25 35DE10B 726798 35 1959 3D15B 3 5D16B 5 12D18B 12 22D16B 25 22DE16B 25 35D11B 35 35D12B 35 35DE11B 35 35DE12B 35 1960 3D16B 772311 3 5D17B 775436 5 15D10B 772861 15 22D17B 771886 25 22DE17B 772136 25 35D13B 786886 35 35DE13B 789336 35 35DG13B 35 60D10B 798466 60 60DE10B 795386 60 60DG10B 60 1961 3D17B 3 5D18B 5 15D11B 15 25D18B 25 25DE18B 25 40D14B 40 40DG14B 40 40DE14B 40 60D11B 60 60DE11B 60 60DG11B 60 1962 3D18B 3 5D20B 5 15D13B 15 25D19B 25 25DE19B 25 40D15B 40 40DG15B 40 40DE15B 40 60D11B 60 60DE11B 60 60DG11B 60 1963 Buccaneer 3 3 Buccaneer 5 5 Buccaneer15 15 Buccaneer25 25 Buccaneer40 40 Sovereign40 40 Sovereign60 60 1963 was the last year of production by GALE. Next Month: Champion Source: Laing's Outboards |
Laing's Outboard Newsletter February 2002 
