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Author Topic: Old Yamaha Outboard  (Read 180 times)

Jim

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Old Yamaha Outboard
« on: September 27, 2020, 06:57:29 pm »
Saw this in a bait & tackle shop in town yesterday and snapped a pic on my phone. Not sure how old it is and the shop owner didn't know either.

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Jim

My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Blue123Heeler/videos


J.Jackson

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Re: Old Yamaha Outboard
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2020, 01:14:14 pm »
Nice find ! What was the asking price ?
Looks like maybe early 1960’s? Yamaha P3. Good motor.

https://www.crowleymarine.com/d/general/history-of-yamaha-outboards

Those small outboards can be a fun item to collect and display in a “game room” , garage, or a inside/outside home barroom. The ability to easily carry them and mount them to a sawhorse {or a wall or ceiling rafters} increases their desirability., even if they don't run.
I had an old 1930’s Evinrude given to me and after a few years displaying it by the river with some vintage fishing gear I was given (and offered) a whole lot of little outboards to go with it. Since the Chinese Wuhan Covid 19 Sars Virus the popularity of “safer” outdoor little gathering places has blossomed along our river-fronts and lakesides. Little carports and “tiki-huts” cabanas and tents are popping up with multiple spaced picnic tables for “safe distancing”  and get decorated with little outboards and vintage fishing/camping stuff etc etc. Big screen TV for sports and a little portable bar & grill is super popular here in middle USA now. Way for family and friends to get together again relatively safely.
Little outboards are a crowd pleaser on display. You can start them up in a bucket of water. If they run , they are relatively slow, so kids can use them on small boats to learn to be a “captain”.



Pic of one of the most popular “new” socially distancing restaurant and taverns in our area. They hauled up an old boat to dry land under the roof and turned it into a bar ! Decorated the outside with 1920’s boats/motor near picnic tables.

Jim

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Re: Old Yamaha Outboard
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2020, 05:22:08 pm »
Jasper it wasn't for sale.

Very striking with the yellow and chrome. I had a British Seagull 1.5hp Outboard that one of my brothers gave to someone to get running and I never saw it again.
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Jim

My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Blue123Heeler/videos


J.Jackson

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Re: Old Yamaha Outboard
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2020, 07:11:49 pm »
Jim,
I had under appreciated those little old portable outboard motors until recently .
Since my meager steam and old DC motor collection is displayed in the new house basement, due to the current plague few folk come over to visit. Few friends to see them. They might as well be in a vault.

I have a mint 1959  Kiekhaefer Mark78 “Inline Six- Tower Of Power” on a vintage boat . I keep it garaged. Again , few people to show it to. Too heavy to move by itself.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/the-other-mercury

As you may be seeing signs of Spring, we are getting a taste of Fall.
While working on raising the old cabin 12 feet into the air I unloaded all the old little outboards into the yard onto sawhorses. Had an old 1910 wagon in the yard that I put a few onto. I was working on fixing the roof when a few friends escaping the terror of the city dropped by the cabin. They thought the little outboards were some sort of outdoor mancave thing, and I fired up an old 52’ Johnson Seahorse just to see if it ran. The 2 stroke little motor sounded good and it was safe outside fun to have someone to share the sound & smell of a vintage 2 stroke with.
I have more than enough of the little engines, but my local Craigslist has good ones cheaper than new Communist Chinese model motors than I can find on Bangugood.
If I saw that old yellow P-3 Yamaha locally , I would be very tempted to .......

Jim

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Re: Old Yamaha Outboard
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2020, 07:53:55 pm »
I remember those Johnson Seahorses OB's they were very popular as soon as the old putt putt engine clinker/carvel launches had had their day and people turned to aluminium runabouts.

Here's a photo from 1986 of an old wooden clinker with an inboard front flyer putt putt motor, this boat was about 50-60 years old when I got it in the '80s I loved this boat!

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An aluminium boat has a lot less maintenance but not as nice fishing out of compared to a large heavy timber boat, fouling is still the biggest problem as we get a large barnacle, oyster and weed growth in as little as 6 weeks. The Johnson 15hp has been retired and the boat now has a Yamaha 25hp

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Jim

My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Blue123Heeler/videos


J.Jackson

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Re: Old Yamaha Outboard
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2020, 10:56:39 am »
Jim, Your water is so ‘BLUE’ and clear ! Our local rivers have always been “too thick to drink and too thin to plow”.
Your pics of that old inboard has jogged a few of my memories. That motor style is rare to survive here and I include a pic of one I saw a few days ago used as decoration at a popular outside tavern. The boat I saw is very old and must have been some sort of wood and aluminum hybrid construction. When I was a kid I saw the remains of a few riverboat steam engines and even an old stern wheeler on the river banks. But those style of gas/diesel inboards around here must have had a brief use, or didn't survive well. My riverside cabin is near an old 1700’s French portage, a latter 1830’s + steamboat landing, then a 1940’s marina. So I may try some magnet fishing to see what lays beneath the muddy waters.
https://steamboattimes.com/images/artwork/currierandives_woodinguponthemississippi_vers2_1267x741toadd.jpg

Your pic showing the large flywheel on that motor also reminded me that I have some old circa 1952 glow tether boats and motors in storage. I may just fire up an old Herkimer OK Cub .049 , or even the Mel Anderson Royal Spitfire .065 to get some little castor-oil-nitro fun memories.


Pic Royal Spitfire .065 glow