Who made a Wankel outboard?

Some years ago I acquired a truly oddball outboard motor. It was missing the cowling, prop, and fuel pump. The only identification information I can provide is it has a Sachs powerhead and a "Made in Italy" sticker on the tiller handle bracket. It's green(ish) and it has one sparkplug. I'd guess it's in the 15Hp area, maybe 1970s, but those are nothing but ballpark guesses. Anyone have any ideas???

Re: Who made a Wankel outboard?

OMC experimented with rotary engines for outboard use back in the 70s. The one I saw operate was the right size for a 15 but was rated at 35hp. The noise was terrible.<br /><br />It could be that they were using Sachs engines for their research, but I think they were basing them on their rotary snowmobile engines.<br /><br />Don't know if this will be of any help, but it's all I could come up with.

Re: Who made a Wankel outboard?

Thanks for the info.<br /><br />The gearcase closely resembles the Johnnyrude design, but it's not. Kinda like a metric version. It looks like it'd use one of those little square fuel pumps Johnnyrudes do. The powerhead is proportionally smaller than the snowmobile engine they used. About half the size. It has a sticker on it "6V-17W", also on the tiller handle bracket. Otherwise no numbers anywhere. The tiller handle design is similar to OMC's, but again like a knock-off version.<br /><br />I believe the powerhead is air cooled. There's a pick-up pipe that'd pick up water off the prop...probably just to cool the exhaust. All of the swivel bracket components are similar in basic design to OMC's as well. Oh, and it has a Bing carburetor.<br /><br />Anyone ever hear of an Italian boat motor manufacturer?

Re: Who made a Wankel outboard?

Sachs is a German company, so someone did a hybrid product in Italy.<br /><br />Here is a bit of info on the rotary engines they built.<br /><br />Eng. Yrs Application cc x rotors Comp BHP/rpm, Torq(lb-ft/rpm)<br /><br />KM 3 72 lawnmower 110 x 1 = 110 3/3300<br />KM 24 72+ snowmobiles 294 x 1 = 294 23/6000 21.7/4800<br />KM 37 65+ stationary 108 x 1 = 108 6.6/5500<br />KM 48 65+ stationary 160 x 1 = 160 8/4800<br />KM 914A 67+ station. aircool 303 x 1 = 303 16/4500 18.8/3500<br />KM 914B 67+ snowmobiles 303 x 1 = 303 19/5500 20.3/4000

Re: Who made a Wankel outboard?

Sachs/DKW made a lot of Wankel rotary motorbikes and misc. stuff in conjuction with the Italians in the late 60's through the mid seventies anyway. Check out this link to the Antique Outboard Motor Club website: Sachs wankel

Re: Who made a Wankel outboard?

Even though this site is German, the pics are interesting and covers plenty of applications - even the outboard:<br /><br /> Wankel

Re: Who made a Wankel outboard?

Most Excellent information, Gentlemen. That's the motor. So that's what it should look like.<br /><br />Trippy stuff on those sites. I especially liked this page... http://www.der-wankelmotor.de/Wasserfahrzeuge/TES/tes.html <br /><br />I'll post on the AOMC forum and see if anyone has parts.<br /><br />Many Thanks to all!