This all started back in February of 2018 when I found an odd looking rowboat motor advertised on line.
I watched it for a while and then was able to buy it. To see it on my computer monitor it looked really rough and corroded. I couldn’t see any trace of paint and the motor had no name on it, was missing a thumb screw, tiller, timer lever and the gas cap so I knew I would have to research it some when it arrived. The seller said it turned over but was very sticky and on the photo I could see that the sparkplug had been replaced with a pipe plug with a grease fitting in it. The steering was all froze up also and wouldn’t turn.
Here are a front and rear view upon arrival:
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The seller had bought it at an estate sale. He told me a man had a lodge in Maine and had this hanging inside for a conversation piece. When the lodge was closed in the 1970’s the son of the owner had brought it home and it had sat ever since. I thought it had to be a Spinaway. I knew that Chris Scratch had restored a Hiawatha that looked about the same so I called him. Chris told me that his motor had letters and numbers stamped on the cylinder above the mixer valve and also the back of the crankcase.
My next step was to check for any numbers in those areas. I had to wire brush rust in the spots the numbers were supposed to be and low and behold, there were letters and numbers. This motor was
WM 760 and the Hiawatha Chris had was WM 590.
My motor had a nice exhaust manifold on it but lacked any name or numbers like Chris’s Hiawatha. Chris had told me that Spinaway made motors for Montgomery Ward who was the seller of the early Hiawatha, but that didn’t explain the WM 590 on his motor, and why would my motor have a WM number but not a Hiawatha manifold. More digging. I went to Jack Carib’s site and also Arlan Carters book American Rowboat Motors.
In the meantime, I disassembled the engine and marked everything because I knew it would be a long restoration project. My flywheel was the first thing that didn’t add up. I could see traces of nickel plating on it and the school of thought is that Spinaway motors had painted flywheels so I called Jack Craib to tell him of my findings and he also had a tiller for me so I bought that. I also told Jack about the numbers on my motor and he went to his garage and looked at a Spinaway he had and there were no numbers present on it. Jack also thought his flywheel was never plated. Jack said he and Arlan had a theory that Spinaway sold motors to Wilcox McKim and also a theory that Wilcox McKim must have sold some of their Spinaway motors to the other badge motor companies. That did explain the WM numbers on some motors like Chris’s Hiawatha.
Here are 2 photos of the motor coming apart:
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With everything apart I found some paint that was green so I had a color and I took the flywheel to my lathe to knock the rust off and to my suprise there was still a lot of nickel on it.
I took the cleaned up flywheel to a plater to be re-nickeled.
Back to the powerhead. With the lower unit off I made a large puller to go back and bolt on where the lower unit was and by applying some propane heat I was able to free up the downtube and get everything apart.
I polished up all the brass and walnut shell blasted the powerhead parts and painted them. I was actually starting to re-assemble. Here is a photo of the WM 760 number on the cylinder right above the mixer mount. This same number is on the back of the crankcase and also on the top of the flywheel by the flywheel nut.
With re-assembly coming along the motor started to look like something again. Here are 2 shots, one before I painted the tank and one after the tank was finished and back on:
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I wanted to use everything I could of the original motor so I cut the new thumbscrew casting I got from Art DeKalb and only used what I needed to fix the thumbscrew. The motor was coming along very nicely and now it was time to make a timer. Chris Scratch sent me a timer to use as a pattern to make a casting and I sent that to Art DeKalb. Art made 3 castings for me. There was a lot of fitting and machining to get the timer right and another AOMCI friend Al Nackie provided me with a few sets of points that were used on elevators that could be adapted to the timer.
With the timer done and flywheel back on, the motor really looks nice and I really wanted to know who sold this motor new. I started studying old rowboat motor ads and it finily came to me, this is a Nichoalds Rowboat motor. My reasoning is as follows:
1. This motor has numbers on it as being sold to Wilcox McKim.
Click on image to view large photo.
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2. Wilcox McKim motors have a primer cup on them and a tag on the cylinder with identification where this motor was never drilled or a primer cup.
3. This motor has a nickel plated flywheel but Spinaways were thought to have painted flywheels.
4. This motor has a water exit line that looks like the water lines on Wilcox McKim motors and and waterlines in the ad for the Nichoalds motor with a square tank in Arlan Carters book.
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5. This motor’s short fuel line looks just like the Nichoalds ad used in Arlen Carters book.
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6. Above: This motor has the grounding attachment on the mixer valve side of the clamp assembly and the other badge motor manufactures seem to have the ground attachment on the exhaust side.
7. This motor has 2 piece thumbscrews. The handle parts are pinned in with an 1/8 inch brass pin.
8. It is not a Clay because they show a different lower unit in their ads.
9. This is ovesiousley a Spinaway Badge motor since Spinaways do not have the WM numbering system on them.
10. The Hiawatha owned by Chris Scratch proves that motors with the WM______ numbering system on them were badge motors since Montgomery Ward sold the Hiawatha.
My plan is to run this motor as I really want to hear the sound of the under water exhaust.
To the best of my knowledge this motor and the Hiawatha motor Chris Scratch has are the only examples of these Spinaway badge motors.
Now that you know where to look, check your Spinaways out. You may have a badge motor.
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