Bail-O-Matic

[johnpnorth]

Years ago my Dad had a Scott-Atwater 33.3 HP...though the engine always ran great in the test tank it cause my Father to use a lot of fancy language...but when we really need it to start it always started and got use home.

Ahh great memories...but another cool thing this motor had was the Bail-O-Matic. I was wondering if any one has tried to make one of these and why haven't "modern" engines continued with this option?

John

 

[JimS123]

Re: Bail-O-Matic

Interesting idea, probably poorly engineered.

They used an impeller similar to the cooling water pump. If you ever ran your OB out of the water and had your impeller destroyed due to lack of lubrication, you'd understand. If you had a leaky boat and it was pumping all the time, the feature worked well. If you had a dry bilge, the pump didn't last very long.

 

[pecheux]

Re: Bail-O-Matic

Way back then (lol) I owned a 9 hp McCullogh OB (ex Scott Atwater) that also had that Bail-O-Matic pump. It was a great option and alllowed me fishing under the rain with the motor idling thus keeping water from accumulating in the boat and better still would allow me emptying the boat from water accumulation by simply starting the motor and let it run idling for while. Wish all my other OB would have had that gadget (option) and I also wondered why it was never used by other mfg's.

 

[F_R]

Re: Bail-O-Matic

Way back then (lol) I owned a 9 hp McCullogh OB (ex Scott Atwater) that also had that Bail-O-Matic pump. It was a great option and alllowed me fishing under the rain with the motor idling thus keeping water from accumulating in the boat and better still would allow me emptying the boat from water accumulation by simply starting the motor and let it run idling for while. Wish all my other OB would have had that gadget (option) and I also wondered why it was never used by other mfg's.

One reason was that the Bail-O-Matic had such a terrible reputation. Why would anybody want to copy it and inherit the bad reputation? Besides, it may have been patented (?). Actually, it wasn't such a bad idea in the days of leaky wood boats. Fiberglass boats and electric bilge pumps pretty well eliminated the need.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Bail-O-Matic

Most likely it IS (was) patented, but if you do a search it will be found under "Bail-A-Matic".