[OMC-Boats] OMC Electric Shift Trivia

Depending on the edition of your Seloc manual (most were written after 1969) the N-S starter inerlock (5-wire) probably doesn't exist on most OMC owner's boats on this list.

This feature didn't appear on any OMC remote shifters until the 1969 model year. So most of have the 3-wire (non-interlocked) setup which will allow for rather interesting, FULL-THROTTLE, IN-GEAR (FORWARD or REVERSE) dock-busting starts, if you aren't paying close attention.

At least OMC engineers didn't copy the Big Mercury, Karl Kiekhaeffer, outboards of the late fifties. They had FIXED-drive, lower gear cases which had NO neutral or reverse or shifting ability.
You had to shut-down the engine for neutral. The engine had a bi-directional starter motor for reverse! These got a deserved reputation as the original "Dock-Busters."

Supposedly this was done so the Big Merc's could handle the additional torque of the first "Tower of Power" inline 6 cylinder outboards, without designing a higher-torque, true mechanical F-N-R gearcase.

Elegant "Quicksilver" engineering or foolish blunder -- you decide! OMC's electric shift was on the market only a couple years later and was handling similar power loads.

Also, on a side note --I've often wondered why Evinrude and IBM didn't get into a legal squabble over the use of the name "SELECTRIC." Both were developed and introduced in late 1961.
Received on Monday, 24 August 2009