Glen-L.com

I know this subject is kicked around here from time to time. I saw some excellent examples of modern (or more modern) outboards made to look like the classics.

Check this out!

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Built the 17' Glen-L "Sea Knight"

here are a few more views of those outboards.

I would love to do this with mine!

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Built the 17' Glen-L "Sea Knight"

Smoke and Mirrors

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This is my first, last and only boat build.

http://www.gdzipbuild.blogspot.com

The Johnson fat 50 is a Yamaha V-4.....can't remember what HP....maybe 115

Saw it there a while back

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Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

i think all three of these examples look great! I would love to do somthing like this with my boat.

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Built the 17' Glen-L "Sea Knight"

From talking with the owner/modifier, this one took tons more work than other cowl conversions he has done.....to fit the OMC on a late model OMC is much easier

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Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

I ran across this while looking up something else. Why don't you just get a vintage motor and restore it like this.

Or like this.

Funny how this conversation pops up a few days after I've been trying to make my 1989 Mariner look more 'classic' myself.

I am not a fan of new outboards on vintage designs. I get why people use new motor, we are not all mechanically inclined to fix up old motors, and we are not all financially capable of paying someone else to fix up old motors for us.

I am a good example of that. I have a 1950's styled Malahini but a 1989 motor. I hated the modern look, with orange and red pin stripes to boot. I stripped those off immediately just out of spite and formulated a plan to paint the cowlings white and add chrome embossed lettering to make it look a bit more 'classic'.

However, I would have dropped a few hundred on a pre-made classic styled top (and still might do it), if one was available.

I think there is a market out there for classic looking outboard covers... particularly for us Glen-L builders. Its not a big market, and there might be a limited range of engine tops you'd want to make 'convertable' to classic (basically chromed look) tops.

I will show you how mine turns out once I get it closer to where I want it.

In the future, these new 3D 'printers' might make creating custom engine covers (amoung anything else) possible. The technology is out there to do that, it may just be a matter of time before they are enough of them out there to make it viable.

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Ian (aka Iggy)
My Malahini Build

This is a timely subject. I'd love to make my 77 Merc 500 look more like those white 50s Mercs pictured above. If there are conversions commercially available, I'll pay just about any reasonable price. If not, I'll eventually paint it white and have my buddy who owns a sign shop (the guy doing my boat name decals), make me some vintage style logos printed on chrome vinyl.

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Andy Garrett

"When all else fails, follow the instructions." -Dad

Thats what look like ! i have the face of a 53 year old and i look like 30 from the neck down but no those are very cool never thought of that great idea

My engine is a blueband it's an easy enough job to swap over the parts from any of the motors with a wrap around cowl but not so easy with the clam shell cowl.

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Malahini, SEAN-NÓS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd6vkPjEy4U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uDVzcVpdhc
crackerbox build http://s753.photobucket.com/albums/xx17 ... =slideshow

I thought I would bring this topic back up to see if there are any updates, new ideas, etc.

I am wondering how difficult it would be to basically modify the existing cowl on a fairly modern outboard so that it has that retro look. Since these cowls are essentially plastic / fiberglass (I assume) , it would basically be a matter of adding appropriate style pieces to get he shape your after and then repaint.

Obviously this over simplifies the amount of work involved, but I personally would very much like my boat to use an older styled engine, but have the parts availability of a more modern engine.

Iggy, if you read this, you mentioned in an earlier posting that you were attempting something like this. Any updates?

If any one has any links to businesses or people who have or are doing this, could you post them here.

Thanks.

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Carl
a.k.a. Clipper

Crafting a classically styled cabin cruiser named "Some Other Time"

http://veracruise.blogspot.com/

Carl, the housings used on the old Mercs are cast aluminum, with stainless steel used for the wraparound shroud. I haven't dug into an old Johnson or Evinrude, but the old Mercs have a ton of interchangeable parts.

-Mark Shipley

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A boat is just a wooden box with no right angles.

The 1958 Lark I posted earlier had an aluminum housing; but in 1959 Evinrude and Johnson went to fibreglass. The 1968 Sport Four had a fibreglass cowl. You can still get parts for just about any Evinrude or Johnson back to 1968 and most parts are still available for 1950's and early 60s models. Being somewha a purist about the outboards I like to try to get an old one and rebuild and restore it. If you have the tools or a fabricating shop nearby you can do just about anything though.