1953 Evinrude FastTwin 15hp
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I heard somewhere that the 1956 15 was kind of a "turkey", not nearly as powerful as the 1957 and up 18’s. How do the early 50’s 15’s compare to the later 50’s motors?
There’s one aspect to the 15012 that I think is a weak spot: the pin that spins the impeller: it’s just a steel rollpin, pressed into the shaft that catches the keyway slot in the impeller.
Rollpins, by their very design, are made of hardened steel, and as such rust much faster than mild steel. I’ve had 3 of these engines, and all 3 showed signs of significant erosion of the pin. One engine had the pin completely gone, leaving the impeller to spin (or not) freely on the shaft.
At the very least, I would take a close & serious look at that pin and make sure it’s in great shape and is engaging the impeller as fully as possible. It’s the only thing standing between boating fun and an overheated block.
On one of mine, I went the extra step of having a machinist friend broach a keyslot into the shaft so I had a real key turning the impeller. Call me "type A", but at least I could sleep at night!
Dave, do you remember the Duplicolor number?
quote Theodore:I heard somewhere that the 1956 15 was kind of a “turkey”, not nearly as powerful as the 1957 and up 18’s. How do the early 50’s 15’s compare to the later 50’s motors?I’ve heard that too, but haven’t had any problems getting my ‘56 to go. It runs about 25 on a 13’ duranautic with a speed prop and about 22 with the stock prop. I did run against a ‘53 on a 12 foot aluminum boat a few years ago. He was a little quicker but not much and my boat is heavier. Funny thing is he was so proud because he thought he was beating an 18, wasn’t so thrilled when I told him my was 15 also. I was told the big difference is that the ‘56 and later have a muffled exhaust and there is some restriction. I’d like to get and earlier one myself someday and do a better comparison on the same boat. Until then, there all a great motor based on the same good design.
quote Theodore:I heard somewhere that the 1956 15 was kind of a “turkey”, not nearly as powerful as the 1957 and up 18’s. How do the early 50’s 15’s compare to the later 50’s motors?The 1956 Fifteen was the last 15hp of that run. No comparison to the 53 and 54 models. Later Fastwins we’re 18hp. Different critter altogether.
quote david bartlett:quote Theodore:I heard somewhere that the 1956 15 was kind of a “turkey”, not nearly as powerful as the 1957 and up 18’s. How do the early 50’s 15’s compare to the later 50’s motors?The 1956 Fifteen was the last 15hp of that run. Later Fastwins we’re 18hp. Different critter altogether.
Not completely a different critter, the 18was just a bored out version of the the 15. Same basic design overall.
When I was 12 years old, I used to ski double with my next door neighbor behind a 1958 18 HP on a model F ALumacraft (rated for 16 HP), with the driver sitting in the middle seat with a mid-deck and steering wheel. It pulled us both up on skis out of the water. Another neighbor pulled a lot of skiers one at a time with a 1955 15 on a model F with the driver at the front seat/front deck – I don’t remember if he ever pulled two. His brother-in-law pulled skiers all the time with an 18 HP Mark25 on a model F, driven from the tiller. The 15 and 28 OMCs had more low end torque for gettin’ the skiers up, while the Mark25 had more top end once the skier was up. The good old days when salesmen didn’t tell people they needed 100 HP+ to pull one skier. This was all usually done with one person in the boat – still legal now on most lakes in Minnesota if you have a mirror.
Davequote david bartlett:Great motors. Parts are available, they are easy to work on, and go like Stink on the right boat. Will troll very nicely also. I searched for one for quite a while and got one in a box, but it turned out great.My Grandkids will inherit this one.
My son Kevin picked up a 53 for free on a craigslist add. It was very much like the one in your photo Dave. It came in 5 boxes, but unfortunately the power head was rusted beyond repair. Thankfully Al Lockhart sent him one. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, but he has it together. I still have not done the paint work, but hope to get to it this year.
Steve
We have a 56 FD-10 that is also a 15 hp, and a real nice motor. Very much like the Super Fastwin.
quote NJ-boatbuilder57:There’s one aspect to the 15012 that I think is a weak spot: the pin that spins the impeller: it’s just a steel rollpin, pressed into the shaft that catches the keyway slot in the impeller.Rollpins, by their very design, are made of hardened steel, and as such rust much faster than mild steel. I’ve had 3 of these engines, and all 3 showed signs of significant erosion of the pin. One engine had the pin completely gone, leaving the impeller to spin (or not) freely on the shaft.
At the very least, I would take a close & serious look at that pin and make sure it’s in great shape and is engaging the impeller as fully as possible. It’s the only thing standing between boating fun and an overheated block.
On one of mine, I went the extra step of having a machinist friend broach a keyslot into the shaft so I had a real key turning the impeller. Call me “type A”, but at least I could sleep at night!
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