We recently participated in the first meet of the season for the South Florida Gator Chapter of the Antique Outboard Motor Club, which was held on the Caloosahatchee River in La Belle. We brought the canoe with the 1936 2.5 h.p. Johnson outboard and even launched it to be part of the short demo race. We were honored that we ended up receiving the blue ribbon award for best running motor of the day!
Here are a few more boats and motors on display during this event. Someone even copied Dave's idea for a motor stands made out of old walkers.
The highlight of the show, besides our win 😉, was that we met 15 year old Levi, who was already buying, fixing, selling, and trading antique outboards. His knowledge and enthusiasm was amazing, and we need more younger people like him to continue this tradition. We also got a kick out of a very excited 8 year old boy who bought his first motor..."start 'em young!" We also commend the man who sold his outboards to the kids for next to nothing, to help get and keep the kids involved. Levi's boat and motors (before he bought a few more)...
😎