TOPIC: First Major Catastrophe...

Well, I finally got a chance to take my '57, 12hp Gale out on the lake... I picked it up a couple years ago, fired it up in the barrel, it ran and pumped water, it then sat on the back burner until this summer. I went through the ign, new coils, points, condensers, plugs & plug wires. I ran it several times in the barrel, ran perfectly! I couldn't wait to try it out. I mounted on my '56, 14' Feathercraft, took it out to the lake. Started first pull, idled perfect. After warm up I took it up to full throttle, wow! Ran better than my '55, 15hp. Flying across the lake ran great, until it abruptly quit, and couldn't pull the cord... Of course this was the first time all year, that I didn't bother to bring along one of my 3hp motors.... so I rowed all the way back to the launch... If my pics come through, you can see the results... I apologize for the cell phone pics, but the top piston rod failed and came apart...

The pic of the motor running, was seconds before it came apart.... Now I have about a'53 15hp 'Super Fastwin' parts motor, I'm wondering if the powerhead would bolt up to the '57 12hp? Looks compatible, except the 12hp has 'stud' mounts on the side, and the older 15hp has bolts instead...

They say even a bad day on the lake is better than a good day at work, but that may be the exception. Bummer :-/

Bummer very sorry to hear that!

Bob