What I'm trying to do here is provide a space where you can find photos of actual rowboat motors, plus find written information about them. The written info will be primary sources whenever possible, such as catalogs, parts lists and owner's manuals.
The photos I have are often of restored motors, but whenever I have the option unrestored examples will be shown first. While "unrestored" does not guarantee originality there is a better chance of it.
These are old motors, so there will be pictures of motors with parts on them that are not original. Where I know for sure a part is not original I'll say so. Any help with corrections and additions will be most welcome!
This site is intended to be a place where you can get a feel for what is original and appropriate and what is not.
What is a rowboat motor?... Well, that depends who you are asking.
Here they are motors designed before 1920. Some, like Caille and Evinrude, were manufactured after 1920 but were introduced earlier. They were to convert a rowed or paddled boat into a motor driven boat without using an inboard motor.
They were usually (but not always) single cylinder, forward pointing. Exceptions to the single cylinder were Federal, Koban and Arrow, which were twins. And the vertical Waterman had the single cylinder pointing skyward!
They are always fascinating in their engineering. Remember, these are old...Henry Ford hadn't even introduced assembly lines yet when the first rowboat motors were constructed. They could be crude and simple, and they could also be the opposite, with their designer's delight in this new technology of outboard motors reflected in engineering Rube Goldbergian in its complexity.
