MOB Fall Meet 2004

Saturday, September 18, 2004

By Rick Eichrodt

Greetings,

On Saturday, September 18^th, the MOB held the last wet meet at North Webster, Indiana. Again it was held in North Webster, Indiana at the public park on beautiful Lake Webster. This was a large turnout many motors were on display or in the water. The parking lot was overflowing with cars, trucks and trailers full of items for sale or swap. It turned out to be a spectacular day, sunny skies, warm temperatures, and the smell of blue smoke on the water. The day started off with a unique demonstration on the submarine characteristics of a Lockwood Ace. The U-Boat captain was Terry Aeschliman and he was up to his neck in the demonstration. Terry was in good spirits after the wild ride and with the help of Chris Scratch, they got the Ace running again that afternoon. The parking lot was overflowing with items for sale, display and just plain parking. The local police showed up to remind everyone where the proper parking spaces were located. Most of the town’s people enjoy the display of old motors. The display area was full of motors and included the “Grandfather of All Outboards”, a 1906 Waterman Porto. This motor was one of only 25 built and it was air-cooled. The motor is in original condition and in such good shape that it quite possibly could have ran! Along side of the Waterman was everything from a Submerged Electric, Evinrude Rowboat Motor’s, Lockwood’s, Johnson’s, Caille’s, a Gamefisher, an Elgin, a Wizard, and Martin motors. Greg Schmidt had his carousel of motors on display. Greg has recast this iron display rack, if anyone is interested in one, contact Greg Schmidt. Quite a few motors made it out on the water with the oldest running outboard, a 1910 Evinrude Detachable, belonging to Chris Scratch. Chris had a great time taking members out for a ride. As I watched the motor run from out in my boat, I wondered what it would have been like, running that motor in 1910! I know one thing; time stood still when you were out in that boat. You could not be in any kind of a hurry with those motors. Things are sure different these days!

At this meet there is an award given to the best running “small iron” motor. The award is called the John Sudlow Award in honor of John who loved the small motors and it is for motors under 30 cubic inch displacement. The contest was between about 7 members and two members shared this year’s award, Chris Scratch for his 1910 Evinrude and Jay Walls for his 1917 Caille Liberty Single.

Around noon, the MOB cookout was held under the pavilion. Stuart Fillinger, again, did the grilling of the hot dogs. Everyone brought items for the pitch in and I doubt if anyone went away hungry. This cookout idea seems to be working out and is going to be used at the January meet along with the first wet meet in May. The voting on new officers and the next year events were part of the business meeting along with some ideas for future meets. The next item on the agenda was the auction. Several members donated motors and parts for the auction with the monies collected going into the MOB’s general fund. This year, two wooden boats were auctioned off, one was a picklefork hydro and the other was a runabout.

After the business meeting and auction, the members took to the water again. This year there was a Caille motor demonstration with three Caille outboards running on the water at the same time. Two of the Cailles were Model 79 versions with the other one a Caille Model 99. Some of the motors that were run that day were Sea King, Johnson RD, Lockwood Ace, Mercury KE3, Johnson A’s, and many other motors. It is great to see all the various outboards out getting their respective exercises. Around 3:00 or so, members started to pack up and head for home with the last of the bunch leaving around 5:00pm. 2004 was a great year for outboards and I am sure next year would be even better still.

See Ya On The Water!