CONTINUOUSWAVE

Hello. I'm currently running a pair of Bearcat 55-HP outboard engines on an Outrage 21. I have been keeping an eye out for any Bearcat 85-HP engines. I'm aware that the 85 had limited production and was junk out of the box, which will certainly make finding and setting up two of them a challenging project. With the 55-HP engines on the Outrage 21 I've had a maximum speed over ground of 24-MPH. They run great and troll all day without a hiccup, but a 30-MPH cruising speed would be a lot nicer. Any information [about the BEARCAT 85-HP engine] or leads [to one] would be greatly appreciated!

Have you looked [at the top page of the Antique Outboard Club website]?

I found nothing on the top page of that Antique Outboard Club's website about a BEARCAT 85. It seemed to be a page soliciting people to pay to join an organization, not a source of information on a BEARCAT.

The BEARCAT 85-HP four-cycle outboard engine is mentioned in my article about BEARCAT outboard engines. I just recently heard some more information about the BEARCAT engine project by FIsher-Pierce. I don't think you can find this information anywhere else:

As I have mentioned before on many occasions, it takes a lot more capital investment to get into production of an outboard engine than it does to get into boat building, and entry into the outboard engine business has always been a much harder path to success than making boats. That is why there are hundreds of boat builders in the USA and only two outboard engine makers. The BEARCAT 55-HP engine was not selling as well as hoped for, according to some sources I spoke with recently, and part of the problem was pressure from the other established outboard engine makers discouraging dealers from taking on the BEARCAT line. I don't have anyone on record saying this, but that is the recollection of some people in the business back in the Fisher-Pierce days of Boston Whaler. A great deal of money was spent trying to make the BEARCAT four-stroke-cycle outboard engine a success, and when sales did not materialize, there was a financial strain on Fisher-Pierce. One might speculate that there was some debt, and that may have played a role in the selling of Boston Whaler to CML. Again, so far just some speculation, but certainly interesting speculation.

One fan of the BEARCAT 55-HP engine used to have an old AOL homepage with some pictures. I don't know think that webpage is still around. I used to link to it in the article about Bearcat, but it turned into a dead line several years ago.

It is not very hard to find information about the BEARCAT. A search at GOOGLE turned up this page about the 85-HP engine:

http://www.bearcat55.com/Bearcat_85_Photos.html

A much simper way to get a pair of BEARCAT 85 engines on the transom of your Boston Whaler OUTRAGE 21 would to buy a pair of E-TEC 90-HP engine and repaint them to look like a Bearcat. Add some Bearcat decals and cowling decorations. You'd have the look you want, and the modern outboard engine power and reliability you could never get from the original Bearcat engines.

Yes, a pair of E-TEC 90-HP engine would be great on this hull. I definitely want to go a little faster and I have no problem with two-stroke-cycle engines. But as for reliability, the Bearcat 55 engines I've been running for the past three years have been incredible, and considering that they're both 1968 engines is even more amazing.

I run the BEARCAT 55-HP engines a lot in my four month season, one or two days a week; wide open for close to an hour each way to get to where I fish, then shut one down and idle the other at 800-RPM, usually for eight hours--that's eight-hours non-stop. Afterwards I can't stuff $30 of gasoline into the tank. After solving cooling and carburetor problems with one motor a while back, I haven't changed a spark plug or water pump impeller since last year, and one motor burns a pint of oil in a full day. Pretty hard to beat that.

The BEARCAT 55-HP engines are heavy, slow, and probably on borrowed time after nearly 50 years of service, but I have spare motors and more parts than I need. If I don't stumble across a couple of the 85's, I may try to locate [a different engine].