1908 - Motor Boating For the Man of Small Means

It is interesting to follow the popular acceptance of new things, the outboard motor being my focus in this article. 

The article continues on, however, to rate the motor canoe as well, noting the care that must be taken when installing one through the bottom of the canoe. That alone must of sold some Watermans :-)

Motor Boating For the Man of Small Means

 by Harry Wilkin Ferry

Never before has the man of small means been able to so readily avail himself of the recreations indulged in by his neighbor as today  This condition has been brought about wholly by mechanical development and applies to many forms of sport. It is only necessary to recall how very quickly the improved methods of manufacture brought the cost of bicycles down from $150 to $50 and even $15 for the cheapest machines, to see how the man on a small salary was given the benefit of "mass production" by the development of automatic machinery in much the same way the pleasures of automobiling and motor boating are today being rapidly brought within the reach of persons of small means. It is possible now for anyone who is able to spare $250 or $325 to become the owner of a complete automobile capable of carrying two adults and a small amount of luggage over ordinary country roads at far better speed than a horse can do the work, while the delights of fast motion on the water without physical exertion can be indulged in with an outlay of only one-third to one-half these sums.

We have become so accustomed to thinking of automobiling and motor boating as the sports of the rich that it comes as a distinct surprise to learn that it is possible to buy complete motor boats of full size for less than $100; good, serviceable motor canoes that will carry two or three persons and their luggage over river and lake at eight to ten miles an hour for $125; a complete outfit of engine, propeller, batteries, and tanks for quickly converting a skiff or rowboat or small sailboat into a power craft at a cost of $50, and a small engine to be permanently installed in a hull for the low price of $43.75.

The man who already owns a small rowboat, dory, or skiff can become the possessor of a motor boat at about half the outlay of the one who has to purchase the hull as well as the engine and propelling mechanism. Conversion of such a craft into a power boat is made simple and inexpensive by means of a so-called “outboard" outfit which is a complete power unit, that can be attached to the stern post of almost any small boat by tightening with a wrench three bolts in two stout metal clamps that grip the upper and lower ends of the post. 

No alteration in the boat is necessary and no other tool than a small wrench is required. The outfit can be removed easily and packed in the box in which it is shipped. This same outfit can be attached to sailing vessels up to five tons displacement and used as an auxiliary to drive the boat home in event of being becalmed.

Such an outfit, which was first brought out in France a couple of years ago under the name of “motogodille" and was illustrated at the time in our columns, is made by the Waterman Marine Motor Company, of Detroit. It comprises not only the motor and propeller  but the steering apparatus as well.

 Under the best conditions it is capable of driving an 18-foot rowboat at a rate of seven miles an hour. To the upper end of the upright column that is clamped to the sternpost is secured a single-cylinder, two-cycle, water cooled engine. This has a cylinder of 2(illegible) inches diameter and 3-inch stroke of piston, and at 750 revolutions per minute it develops 2 horse-power. By means of bevel gears and a vertical shaft turning inside the upright column, the engine drives a two-bladed propeller of 11 inches diameter, turning it 500 revolutions to the 750 of the motor. 

A submerged plunger pump located on the bottom bracket forward of the propeller supplies cooling water to the water jacket. A cylindrical fuel supply tank for the gasoline is carried on top of a wood tiller that extends forward over the rear of the boat. By means of this tiller the position of the propeller is altered to change the direction of the boat, thereby obviating the need of a rudder. 

Ignition current is provided by four cells of dry battery and a spark coil carried in any convenient place within the boat. The engine is started by means of a detachable crank that can be applied at the top of the driving shaft, which extends beyond the top of the upright column for this purpose. Carbureter and lubricator are attached directly to the motor, which exhausts through a muffler at the back.  The circulating water is discharged from the the top of the water jacket through a downwardly curved pipe.  Such an outfit, complete with muffler, can be bought for only $50.  A similar device in which an electric motor run by storage batteries carried in the boat furnishes the propulsive power, has been on the market for a number of years.

The rest of this article which does not refer to outboards can be read on Google Books.