TOPIC: Sea King Motor

Bought a boat with a Sea King motor. There is a "Forty" on the front of the hood. Model #GG18744B. What year is this motor and where can I find a repair manual?

Here's some info I found at iboats.com:

1961 Sea King 40 HP
GG18744

"This 40 horsepower Sea King outboard, manufactured in 1961, is a freshwater model. The engine weight is recorded at 136 lbs. This is a 2 cylinder model. The displacement for the pistons is 43.9. The bore for this outboard is 3.18 inches and the stroke is 2.75 inches. This engine has power steering and a electric-type starter."

Well, I dunno about the "freshwater model" and "power steering" (!) but the rest of it sounds like your garden-variety JohnRude (OMC) outboard.

A friend of mine has a 5hp Sea King with the same color scheme and the bottom half of the motor is identical to a similar-vintage Johnson or Evinrude 5-1/2hp.

OMC made special versions of Gale and Sea-King outboards for many years, starting in the 40's, all the way up to the 60's. These motors typically didn't have all the special features of the "fancy" OMC models, but were still a well-built, basic motor.

Other than the upper and lower cowlings, most other parts on your Gale would be interchangeable to similar vintage OMC Big Twin 40 or 35 hp motors.

A good place to look for parts & manuals is www.marineengine.com

You'll find lots of useful diagrams there.

Note that sometimes these "off-brand" motors used different combinations of parts than their JohnRude counterparts.

For example, the '61 Evinrude/Johnson 40 hp used what was called a "Super-Quiet" design, with a different exhaust tower and special shrouding, whereas I'm thinking your motor is not a "Super-Quiet" and you'll find the parts below the powerhead are more like a '58 35 hp, or a 1971 40 hp which was sort of a "throwback" motor.

Good things to be aware of when ordering parts. It would help to see a pic of the entire motor, then we could narrow it down.

Lots of parts are still available and the old Big Twins are very serviceable. At minimum you'll probably want to service the carb, install a new fuel pump diaphragm kit & replace the water pump impeller. This would also be a good time to check your gear oil for water intrusion & replace seals as required.

Likely you'll need ignition service, too. If you have spark issues, be sure to post for good advice in pulling the flywheel & retorquing the flywheel nut (very important on these motors!). Good News is that an inexpensive Tune-Up kit is available with points/condensers. Ign coils are also readily available and won't break the bank.

HTH & have fun with your Gale!..........ed

Ed mc thanks for the reply.

Here's a picture showing the entire motor.

north american,

WELCOME ABOARD.

There are several of us on FG who are fans of Gale Division of OMC.

yours, satx

For those that might come on this thread later, and see their Sea King is different. By 64-65 ish Chrysler was making Montgomery Wards 'Sea King' motors. Usually (most I have seen) actually say some where if the tag is still there 'by Chrysler'. Still good motors though. Most of the wearables like impellers are still available.

L98TPI,

The last of the OMC-made Sea Kings were made in Mid-1962 & some, I've heard, were still being sold new in 1964.

yours, satx