A spectacular 4-color pictorial history of early outboards. Tons of photos and information within, Alan is to be commended on the dedication and work that went into this book!

If you like antique machinery you gotta' have this book!

This book reads like a novel, I've read it twice and each time I can hardly put it down! Without doubt, the best "reading" book on outboard history that has ever been written.

If you hate your boss/job I guarantee that when you're done with this book you'll feel better about them. (And glad you didn't work for Carl!)

This book could be the reason I love old outboards! Read to me by my dad at an early age (My dad was a dead-ringer for the father in the book!) The Waterwich won't run and gets a new AC spark plug! A truly classic picturebook for children - I've still got my original copy and read it to my kids when they were young.

One of my favorite books to have dad read to me as a kid - my first exposure to outboards!

This book from 1926 chronicles Mr. Freeman's 1924 voyage from Milwaukee to New York City via a small boat. Power was provided by an Elto Ruddertwin, sail and sometimes oars.

There are some first-hand conversations with Ole Evinrude and lots of highlighting the Ruddertwin throughout the story. I'll be honest that sometimes the writer's language choice is a bit over-the-top, but the story is a good one and at times Mr. Freeman's exploits are quite thrilling.

What this book really needed is a map to show where the author traveled and where some of the exploits took place.

Here is a great collection of Popular Mechanics articles, first published in 1931, our edition is the 1935 second printing/update.

Build a boat, modify a boat, work on a motor - it's all covered here! Be sure to check out the article on building a Supercharger for Outboard Motor on page 255. Yep, with some shop leftovers and string you can build something that revolves at 20,000+ RPMs!!!!

Reference

A very nice "coffee table" book on the history of Evinrude, Elto, Johnson and Gale. Plenty of photos, many in color. I think this was the first book I owned on the history of outboards, a gift in the 1990s from a friend who worked at a Johnson dealership at the time.

A must have for any OMC fan!

First published in 1953 with several later printings, this book is an excellent primer in outboard design and layout from the 1920s to 1950s. It's interesting to note that many of the designs discussed were no longer common in the market by '53 - opposed twins, quads, pressure vacuum cooling, etc... There are great illustrations and photos, even quizzes at the end of the chapter to test what you have learned! Quite a few of these were sold - it was so successful it led to the Complete Outboard Boating Manual listed above.

Jim Webb was involved with management of Elto and Evinrude from the 1920s until the 1970s. He was a close friend of the Evinrude family and a first-hand witness to the early days of outboards. When this book came out in the late 1960s I believe it was the first ever published on outboard history. It offers a unique view from a person who was key to that era and has lots of B&W photos. Today this book is hard to find, not sure if there were a lot printed.

One of my favorite books on outboards - a must have!

These are kids books from the 1930s, there are 4 titles in this series: Mystery Island, Shadow Lake, Pirate Beach and Shark River. In the final title Shark River there is a mention of a 5th book Finding The Lost Treasure - as best as I can tell, this book was never published.

I enjoyed reading this series and so did my 12-year-old son.

In this 1960 book Captain Hogg chronicles both his 1925 voyage from Oregon to New York and 1959 cruise from New York to Oregon - each was made by outboard boat. (he did portage in Montana.) He claims to be the first man to travel across the country and back by outboard!

Very readable and well written - some excellent B&W photos of both the 1925 expedition and the 1959 cruise. This book includes a nice map on the end-papers showing the route taken on each journey.

A really fun tale from the early 1950s of Rube Allyn's voyages throughout Florida aboard his outboard-powered scow/houseboat Best Bet. While the outboards (1950-52 Evinrude Fastwins) are really only background characters, the over-all story is quite engrossing and, by today's standards, unbelievable!

Researching Mr. Allyn turned up some interesting stuff; he came from a colorful family and was a one-man publishing tour-de-force in Florida. Unfortunately he died in 1968, hit by a car while riding his bicycle. However, his company Great Outdoors still exists and several of his books are still in print. I can't help but wonder what ever happened to the Best Bet?

Non-fiction

Mr. Freeman's next book from 1927 discusses his 1925-6 voyages down the Ohio, Yellowstone/Missouri and Mississippi rivers. All were in a small boat with an Elto Ruddertwin and (often) oars.

Quite a bit of history and more lively adventures with his boat, Elto and the people on and around the rivers. There can be no doubt that Mr. Freeman holds the undisputed world record for hours at the helm and miles covered with a Ruddertwin!

Scott Atwater 7.5 or 10
'60 or '61 Johnson 40 hp

Hanging on rail in the background at marina
Seen on boat in background at the marina