Old Merc Cowlings...

[BILLY.B]

I'm looking for 2 1960-61 4cyl Merc cowlings. They were black with white stripes. If anyone knows were I might be able to find some please let me know. They must be in good shape as they are for my resto project. 1960 Supercat with two 65hp Merc's. This boat is in the process of being completely redone and the cowlings will be the final touch to make it look authentic. Thanks for any info. :cool:

[old rigger]

billy b,
a supercat? never heard of that one.
Have you ever heard of 'power cat' boats? they were in bellflower before movong to texas in 62 or somewhere around there.
i don't have a source for the cowlings but there's a cool couple of web sites that might be able to help you out, both dealing with power cats.
the first one is,
http://www.powercatboat.com/.
its mostly a site dedicated to the history of powercats, done by the son of the guy that owned them. they do have a want add page that you could post an add on, but the other site...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PowerCatBoat/messages
is a dissucision site and i'm sure you could find what you need by posting over there. those guys are heavy duty outboard guys, a few of them anyway, and are really into the vintage stuff.
i'm not 100%, but i think a 60-1 merc cowling was all white, no black yet. there's tons of pics from those years on the first site. there's also some great pics of a 14 powercat with twin 80s, all white, from 1961 that ran just over 80 with that set up.
those things hauled ass for the times.
got some pics of your cat?

[HavasuDreamin']

One other place to try is scream and fly. They have a vintage section in their forums with lots of information.
Good Luck.

[Back To Havasu]

I raced Mercury outboards on Brendella hulls during that time, and the 4 cylinder cowling from 61-62 is indeed black with white stripes. However, the only four cylinders offered then were 44 cubic inch inline fours, in 35, 45, and 50 hp configurations. The 65 hp four cylinder Mercury debuted in 1962 when the Merc 1000 came out, and was essentially a Merc 1000 with two less cylinders. It was physically larger than the prior 4 cylinder offerings from Merc, and I don't think the cowlings were interchangeable. It sounds like you need 650 cowlings (65HP) from 1962-66 or so. You might want to check the fit before buying an older 4 cylinder cowling. Just a thought.:cool:

[old rigger]

back to havasu,
opps. I went back and looked at those old merc on that powercat and they are white and black.
Do you have any pics of your old brendella? I've seen several pictures of them from that time, 61-2, the wood ones, and they look almost exactly like my dads first flatbottm. His was called a 'catalina conquest' and built in the south bay. The guy that built them was a fireman and only built a dozen or so boats. My dads was an outboard too. There's a all wood Brendella in Huntington beach for sale, a v-drive, and that one looks the same as well. I was just wondering if there was a connection betwen the builders back then. Unfortuntly, my dad long forgot the builders name of his boat, only remembering the stories of them racing the boats in the catilina ski race's back then, hence the name. My dad ran a 75 Evinrude starflight or starfire, I can't remember which. Still my favorite boat. It went to my two uncles after my dad sold it and then I lost track of it. I wish I'd been smart enough to have kept it, if for nothing else, to use a patterns to build a new one. Of course I was only 15 or so when he sold it. I'm sure it was long ago used as a bonfire. Every now and then my brother in law, a cop, will run the numbers for me to see if it's popped up any where.
I'm trying to attach a pic of the powercat I was talking about above. Did you race against them back in the day?
http://www.powercatboat.com/7.jpg

[old rigger]

same boat on the gas..............http://www.powercatboat.com/7a.jpg

[BILLY.B]

old rigger, the Super Cat is almost a copy of the Power Cat. Mine is a 1960 16ft with a 2 step bottom. They were made in Azusa by a company called Viking Marine. I have had to put a new transom in it, and the trailer has been up dated to look nostalgic. The motors are 1963's 650's, but I thought the cowlings were interchangable so I was trying to put the same year cowlings on the engines to match the boat year. I'll have to investigate this alittle bit to see if I can do it. If not, I guess i'll just paint them to match. Thanks for your help.:cool:

[Back To Havasu]

Old Rigger...The Brendellas we raced were made by Alex Fragoso and his family in Lawndale California. They were fiberglass over wood. Irv Brendel was the retail dealer for the boats, and his place, "Sepulveda Boat Dock," was located in the San Fernando Valley. When the fiberglass boats started taking over in the early sixties, the Fragoso family made a few prototypes for Irv, and then decided not to continue. Irv went on to develop the Hondo Boats company with wife Peggy Ann.
We were part of the Brendella factory team that operated out of the Fragoso shop. We ran Western Outboard Association races once a month, and races at Pacific Lagoon in Long Beach once a month. We didn't run against the Powercats because most were twin engine and ran in the faster classes. Some of the top drivers at the time were Jack Ward, Jack Oxley, Danny Snead, Bob Kies. The top dog on the west coast was Chuck Mersereau, who lived in Norwalk. I bought a boat from him in 63 and we became friends. He was a top Mercury factory driver at the time and raced all over the world.
I have pictures of our race boat, but do not know how to operate the scanner I was just given just yet. As soon as I do, I'll post some pics. By the way our Brendella was 12 feet 2 inches down the middle, 212 pounds, flatbottom, powered by a modified Merc 45 hp engine. The largest engine in 1961 was the Merc 800, which one of our teammates with a 15 foot Brendella ran. Sorry for the long post, but I can get carried away remembering those terrific time. Still have the trophies, and the memories.:)

[Back To Havasu]

Old Rigger...to belatedly address your questions (sorry for the need for a second post), the powercat pictured seems to be the 15 foot model powered by twin Merc 800s. There were tons of boat builders in those times, and their boats tended to be very similar (I guess some things never change). Javlyn, Brendella, Arrowcraft, Regatta, Tweedcraft, Inferno, and Allen, to name just a few, all built fiberglass over wood small flatbottom outboards that looked similar. Over at the screamandfly website you can find in the Outboard Racing History section, many pictures of Powercats, and their website. Danny Ledger, the son of Powercat founder Ray Ledger, is very knowledgeable and posts quite often on that thread. On his website you will also find used Powercats for sale. Very cool stuff for an old guy like me.:)

[Rocket2003]

Try Posting over at www.screamandfly.com Or www.byuboyz.com Those are Outboard sites with a bunch of Ol' timers!:D

[Back To Havasu]

Old Rigger...Last addendum...the Fragosos built and Irv Brendel sold some V-Drive Brendellas. The one in the Boat trader looks like a Fragoso boat, but I can't be sure without seeing it. Most were powered by 283 Chevys.:)

[old rigger]

back to H,
yeah, I'm familiar with the PC history mainly because of it being a local, Belflower, shop. Also, that's where Dick Schuster got his start in fiberglass work, he was instrumental in setting up the glass shop for Ray Leger. Schuster went on to start Tahiti and that's how my dad got in the boat biz in '66, rigging for him.
Jack Oxley still lives in the Long Beach area by me, I've never met him, he races RC boats now and I see his name now and then in the paper and stuff like that. I also have several old boat mags that have stories on him.
That's Chuck Mersereau driving the all white PC above, I think that's what I read on the Powercat site.
My dads friend was the main wrench for Bob Massey when he drove the Switzer wing. A guy on the the Powercat message board just bought one of Masseys old wings and our friend, Roger Hoover's name is still on the side of the boat. I put the new owner in touch with Roger cause he wanted to find out as much history on the boat as he could. Roger was at Elisnore when Massey crashed his Mollinari and was killed too.
I'd love to see some of your pics and I'd like you to see the ones of my dads old boat. I wish he was still alive, the name of Alex Fragoso might of rung a bell with him. Could be the same guy, Lawndales close to the South Bay. Do you remember if Alex was a Fireman, or someone in his family? My dads boat was
glass over wood. All Mahogany skined plywood, sides and deck. Beautiful boat. Maybe we could hook up some time, I love hearing old stories about the boat builders back then. You're in Corona, I know the area a little, I worked for Warlock when they were off Surfas club drive. Made the drive everyday from Long Beach, it sucked big time.
Do you know Pat Murphy? He use to race outboards back then, although I'm not sure he started as early as you.

[Back To Havasu]

Old Rigger...love to hook up with you. Let me know where and when. I am a recent transplant to Corona, as my work is now in Yorba Linda. I grew up in Torrance, and am familiar with the Long Beach area. It looked like Chuck in the pics, but I couldn't tell for sure, so I didn't comment. Chuck died of a heart attack at 36. What a loss. None of the Fragosos were firefighters, but as I indicated in my former posts, splashing was as popular then as now. Many flatbottom and cat outboards brands to choose from. Pat Murphy's name doesn't ring a bell, and although I didn't know hime personally, Bob Massey was an extremely well-respected racer. Incidentally, Chuck set the outboard drag record in 1963 of 91.09 at Long Beach Marine Stadium, driving a Powercat hydro with twin Merc 1000s. Bob Kies was a McCullough factory driver, usually in a 13' Powercat powered by twin Scott 60s.

[likwidsukr]

Originally posted by old rigger
back to havasu,
opps. I went back and looked at those old merc on that powercat and they are white and black.
Do you have any pics of your old brendella? I've seen several pictures of them from that time, 61-2, the wood ones, and they look almost exactly like my dads first flatbottm. His was called a 'catalina conquest' and built in the south bay. The guy that built them was a fireman and only built a dozen or so boats. My dads was an outboard too. There's a all wood Brendella in Huntington beach for sale, a v-drive, and that one looks the same as well. I was just wondering if there was a connection betwen the builders back then. Unfortuntly, my dad long forgot the builders name of his boat, only remembering the stories of them racing the boats in the catilina ski race's back then, hence the name. My dad ran a 75 Evinrude starflight or starfire, I can't remember which. Still my favorite boat. It went to my two uncles after my dad sold it and then I lost track of it. I wish I'd been smart enough to have kept it, if for nothing else, to use a patterns to build a new one. Of course I was only 15 or so when he sold it. I'm sure it was long ago used as a bonfire. Every now and then my brother in law, a cop, will run the numbers for me to see if it's popped up any where.
I'm trying to attach a pic of the powercat I was talking about above. Did you race against them back in the day?
http://www.powercatboat.com/7.jpg
This is the first time I been to the outboard section! I have to say that this boat is badass!!! How fast is this boat?
Sorry to highjack:D :cool:

[Back To Havasu]

Danny Ledger over at the screamandfly.com site would know how fast the Powercat in the pic was. The 13s with twin 45hp Mercs and speedmasters would routinely run in the mid sixties (that's with only 90 horsepower total). The 15 in the pic has twin 80s which with speedmasters would probably be in the high 70s, or even low 80s, but that's just a guess. Jack Oxley, Danny Snead, and Bob Kies briefly ran twin Scott 75s on a 13, and those rigs were fast also.:) :)

[old rigger]

likwidsukr,
back to H is right, that 15 C above ran in the low 80's in I believe 1960 or 1961.
Also, when the Switzer brothers built their first wing (sorry I don't have a picture to post. I need a scanner, because they were beautiful boats) they rigged it with twin 80 mercs as well. It too ran a tad over 80 but they thought there was more to be had. Some changes were made to the bottom and they shoved the speed to 120! These were stock merc 80 powerheads with speedmaster legs on the engines. That is mind numbing to think that they ran 120+ with 160 horse's. It also spelled the end of PowerCats dominance in outboard marathon racing.
Pat Murphy was an OMC guy. His brother is Mike Murphy of water ski fame, his other brother has a 18 PC for sale on the powercat site and his mom is featured at least once a year in the local Long Beach paper for water skiing to Catilina every summer. She's well into her 80's now. Pat worked at Javalin boats when he started out building boats. I met him when I was very young at the Tahiti shop. He also helped a dumb kid (me) rebuild his first outboard engine after the dumb kid wouldn't listen to his dad and install a water pressure gauge on his first boat, an old Weiman. Lost the water pump and destroyed the poor V4. First time in the water, and I didn't even have sense enough to go UP stream to make sure everything was happy with the boat.
Back to havasu, have you checked out Danny Legers Powercat site? the address is above in this thread. Lots of cool pics.
Billy B, sorry to hijack your thread so bad.

[BILLY.B]

Originally posted by likwidsukr
This is the first time I been to the outboard section! I have to say that this boat is badass!!! How fast is this boat?
Sorry to highjack:D :cool: Wait till you see this Super Cat finished. It should look BITCHIN when it's all done. I'm going to make a center console kinda like a 61-63 T-BIRD, put the controls for both engines in there along with cup holders, side tanks that will be custom fit to the sides and hidden. I plan on painting it white & black with a silver & gold old time graphic, pinstripped in red. Engines will be completely redone with new stickers, and the new medallion's on the center cover plate. Trailer is lowered with street rod looking rims(stainless beauty ring, red rim and small moon), and a light smoked cut down windshield, replacing the old tall plasctic clear one. Can't wait to cruise around in this unit. Do any of you know what kind of speed I can get out of this boat with the 2 650's???.

[likwidsukr]

Billy.B:
Can't wait to see the finished product sure to be sweet!!!
old rigger: Thanks

[Boatmaster]

Can't help you on the cowls, but I can't wait to see your finished rig. I knew it would'nt take you long to go full blown clamp-on. :D

[BILLY.B]

Originally posted by Boatmaster
Can't help you on the cowls, but I can't wait to see your finished rig. I knew it would'nt take you long to go full blown clamp-on. :D That will make it 2 outboards, 1 alcohol flat. I guess the O.B's win. I didn't just type that out loud did I????:( :D

[Kindsvater Flat]

Originally posted by BILLY.B
That will make it 2 outboards, 1 alcohol flat. I guess the O.B's win. I didn't just type that out loud did I????:( :D
Chiefy... say it ain't so!!! :D

[Kim Hanson]

Originally posted by BILLY.B
Wait till you see this Super Cat finished. It should look BITCHIN when it's all done. I'm going to make a center console kinda like a 61-63 T-BIRD, put the controls for both engines in there along with cup holders, side tanks that will be custom fit to the sides and hidden. I plan on painting it white & black with a silver & gold old time graphic, pinstripped in red. Engines will be completely redone with new stickers, and the new medallion's on the center cover plate. Trailer is lowered with street rod looking rims(stainless beauty ring, red rim and small moon), and a light smoked cut down windshield, replacing the old tall plasctic clear one. Can't wait to cruise around in this unit. Do any of you know what kind of speed I can get out of this boat with the 2 650's???.
I knew you were a wacker guy also, cool sounding boat your doing...........( . )( . ).....If it's anything in quality to your V-Drive I seen in this video I have, should be sweet and tit's!:cool:

[old rigger]

Originally posted by BILLY.B
Trailer is lowered with street rod looking rims(stainless beauty ring, red rim and small moon)
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! That's going to look bitchin.
BillyB, we have some mutual friends, from the river mostly. If we ever hook up, I'll see if they are bull shitin' me or if you really know 'em.
steelies and beauty rings............. god damn, I love it. Thinking of doing the same thing on my lowered surburban.

[old rigger]

Originally posted by Back To Havasu
Jack Oxley, Danny Snead, and Bob Kies briefly ran twin Scott 75s on a 13, and those rigs were fast also.:) :)
BtoH,
I have a friend that bought a glass over wood boat, a Kennedy, I think it's another local builder from back in the day. He's had if for about 10 years now and not done anything with it. But the cool thing is it came with 2 75 hp scotts. It was set up for one, but came with a spare. Neat little engines. With all the intrest in the vintage stuff, I'd think that would be a rippin' little combo too. On a old cat, not so much that flattie.

[Back To Havasu]

Old Rigger...a cat with twin Scotts would be awesome. Love to see that rig brought back to life.:)

[BILLY.B]

Originally posted by Kim Hanson
I knew you were a wacker guy also, cool sounding boat your doing...........( . )( . ).....If it's anything in quality to your V-Drive I seen in this video I have, should be sweet and tit's!:cool: I've caught a bunch of ribbing about this boat, but what could be cooler for my 2 kids to cruise around the river in then this classic. Can't wait till it's done, probably a year from completion:( . Like fine wine, it takes time.....:cool:

[v-drive]

I apologize for breaking into your guys post but I love hearing about old outboards. When I first came home from vietnam I traded a 35 mm camera for an old witchcraft with a 65 (ithink) merc. I sold it a few years later to buy a house. In 1979 I bought a 16' tri hull boat called Glassmate I had a friend that had an old 110 merc that I paid $200 for and promptly had rebuilt by a guy on alondra in Bellflower. That was my first fast boat, I guess it was to much engine for the hull because with just my wife and myself in the boat it wouldn't stay in the water. I had a wellcraft after that and now i'm finishing an old lavey with an olds but my heart is definately outboard. How do you handle the laws against the old 2 strroke engines?........ :cool: v-drive

[Kindsvater Flat]

Originally posted by BILLY.B
I've caught a bunch of ribbing about this boat, but what could be cooler for my 2 kids to cruise around the river in then this classic. Can't wait till it's done, probably a year from completion:( . Like fine wine, it takes time.....:cool:
Blondes, brunettes, and redheads.......its all good chief!!
Same applies to boats but I think my first sentence is better:D

[likwidsukr]

How about a 22' (TOAD) with twin 250's to "leap" with..........

[chiefyg]

their are many old O/B's kicking around the small marinas around here, I will look for you.

[HavasuBarney]

Old Mercs.com :)
If they don't have, they'll have a link so you can find em.
http://www.oldmercs.com/index.htm