The Gale division of OMC (Johnson and Evinrude) made “badge engineered” outboards for all kinds of stores (the most common may be Sea Kings, made for Montgomery Wards), and later sold under the Gale name as Buccaneer in the U.S. and bringing back the Elto name in Canada.

Your Hiawatha (there have been many brands over the years using that name) was made for sale by Gamble Skogmo stores (headquartered in Minneapolis?).

Like the pre-WW2 2.5 hp Gale models, yours does not have “reverse” (a power head that swivels 360 degrees, using the tower/lower design from a small Evinrude model).

Looks like the Gale model number for yours is 131, while the Sea-King 1946 64GG9005 was Gale model 133, and the 1946 Sea Bee (sold by Goodyear tires) was 135.

In 1947 Gale switched to 1W1 for Wards, 1H1 for Gamble, and 1G1 for Goodyear, later years bumped the second number (the leading 1 meant the 3hp model). In 1951 Gale switched the model number (for all brands) to 3D10, and again, bumped the second number for model year changes: 1963 (3D19) was the last year the Gale division made outboards.

I’m sure resident expert (and lover of Gale 3’s) Frank Robb can tell you more technical details, and what part swaps will work.

If you’re an AOMCI member, there are extensive Gale part diagrams in “Gary’s Dropbox”

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by Phil Budne. Reason: fixed a typo!

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