Whitingham VT Outboard Meet

Whitingam VT, May 8th 2009

By Staff Correspondent

The Yankee Chapter held a new meet at Lenny R's property in Whitingham VT. It was our first wet meet of 2009 and a great success - it permanently chased away the winter blues! Over 40 members showed up, ran boats & motors, swapped and talked old outboards, basically an all-around fun time! The 194 acre lake Sadawga was excellent for fast runabouts or slow putt-putting - many people checked out its very unusual feature: a floating island!

The meet theme was motors made by the Gale division of OMC; Buccaneer, Sea King, Royal, Hiawatha, the last Eltos and others - Lenny's favorites. The 5hp motors appeared to be the most popular with just about every year from 1948-1958 represented. There were a good number of the little 3hp single Gales and Dan T. brought his entire collection of 1.5hp singles - every single make was represented! Only a couple of the 12hp motors were seen and they were on shore - so were a number of older Evinrude-made Sea Kings from the 1930's and 40's.

Lots of parts and quite a few motors changed hands. Of note was Rick W's "big haul" - he recently purchased 55 motors in a giant lot and many found new homes at the meet. Some of the ones that caught our eye were; 1947 Champion single, 1949 Lauson single, 1955 Scott 3.6, '54 Mark 5 and several others. Gary M. also had some very cool motors for sale, '57 Mark 10, KE-4 and the star; a complete and unmolested 1950 Evinrude Speeditwin.

A huge thanks to Lenny, his family and friends for hosting a great meet - looking forward to it next year!

Photos below thanks to Matt M., Hurricane Harry and the Webmaster.


View of the field down to Lenny's dock	Just a few of the Gale made motors on display - lots showed up!

Dan T's display of every private brand 1.5hp Gale - and a few others	Matt M's original Sea King 5hp - 1952??

Doug P's mint original Buccaneer 5hp - want to say 1957 vintage?	Even an Evinrude or two and a pre-war Sea King were seen

Doug P (left) and Rick W. discuss a 1955 Johnson CD-12 5hp	Tom M. weighing the merits of Gary M's KE-4

Dean P. (left) and Tom M. and son Nick putting together the Avon - guess they like puzzles!	Ron M. doing a few last minute adjustments on a 1947 Atlas Royal 5hp - wonder how it compaired to the TD??

It was very early when Garry left home that day. He thought he'd grabbed a Sea King but the light of day revealed a... Sea Gull!!

Carl R. zooming down the lake in his unusual boat picked up at their meet a few years ago.	Garry eventually found a little Sea King 1.5hp for use on his massive yacht!

Ken's polished FeatherCraft looks great!	And the freshly restored Big Twin looks and runs BEAUTIFULLY!!

Walt & Maureen's mint 1955 Sea King 5hp	Walt says: "this baby is so smooth & quiet you can hardly tell it is running - not at all like the KE-4s I'm used to!"

Two more shots of Matt M's nice 1952 Sea King 5hp

Hurricane Harry enjoying the "Gale Force" of his 1956 Sea King 3hp

Dad's 1957 Sea King 5hp runs great too!	Ray's nice Buccaneer and little Neptune

"Boy does this thing idle nice..."	Harry & Keith running the Rusty Stone (1947 Firestone 3.6) - before its baptism..

Tom M and his son with the whisper quiet Wizard (by Scott)

Matt was not sneaking up on any fish with the My-Te electric - but it sure didn't look like anything else on the water!

Graham (aka G-Force) with the 1940 Johnson HS-10 2.5hp he worked on over the winter. It could not have run better!	Cole B. also enjoyed running the HA-10 too!

Lesson of the day - always good to carry a spare for your trailer because you never know when you may need it. Thanks to Dan T. who helped with a tire change on I-91 that even Indy crews would appreciate!

If you have photos of this meet please resize to 300x400 and send them to the Webmaster at the Contact Us link below.

Yankee Chapter: Making Waves With Old Outboards