K&O Toy Outboard Motors :: Toy Boats

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There were many model boats and toy boats made in both inboard and outboard versions. The majority were made as inboards but there were many great looking boats that were outboard models too. The earliest toy outboard boats were made by Orkin Craft, Hubley, LePage, Sea Worthy, and Lindstrom. Later companies like Fleetline, Ideal, Sterling, ITO, Langcraft and many others took over.

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1. Hubley "Baby" all metal from 1920s. The originals are very rare and hard to find but there are thousands of reproductions floating around.

2. Pollywog by Ideal: with 1954 Evinrude. Model kit from 1940s. Not to be confused the Boucher Pollywog which used a steam powered outboard motor. This kit was made by Ideal.

3. B106 Hydroplane with 1955 Mercury Mark 55. Made by Craft Models, Inc. in 1950s. Great looking Hydro!

4. Monarch outboard runabout. 1955 Evinrude. 1950s model kit. A pretty nice looking boat for a model kit made by Monarch Corp.

5. Kellogg's cereal premium Hydro. This was part of a cereal premium offer from Kellogg's. You had to mail in 50 cents and a box top to get this boat kit.

6. Fleetline Sea Siren Plastic Hydro with rare K&O plastic Mercury.   This one is not painted. They are pretty rare and kind of neat looking with the little wings on the back. It's NOT the same as the Kellogg's Hydro above.

7. Racing runabout with Mercury Mark 55. Scratch built by Scott Smith. Another great looking boat made by Scott. This one has the racing numbers from the runabout he actually races.

8. Aristocraft. Lights and motor run. New toy boat made by the son of the founder of Aristocraft boats Bob Turner. These are still for sale from Aristocraft as well as several other models.

9. Fleetline Wizard in red with very rare 1961 Johnson 40 HP. Nice looking plastic boat. This same boat also came in a green color. Also, it was offered as the Wiz Twin with two outboard motors on it and dual wires coming from the battery box.

9a. Fleetline Wiz Twin. Neat boat. Same as the Wizard above but offered with two K&O outboard motors instead of one. The motors were usually twin Mercury Merc 200 tin motors or K&O Sea Darts. The only thing different about the boat from the standard Wizard was that there were two sets of wires leaving the battery box to the motors instead of one. It did have it's own Wiz Twin box, however. Pretty rare.

10. Fleetline Lark twin outboard catamaran with twin outboards. Pretty neat because of the two outboards, plastic 1960 Johnsons, and the wide footprint.

11. Chrysler Hydro Vee model kit. Very rare kit from 1960s. This model was offered by Chrysler when they were making boats and motors. I got my original one at the NY boat show as a kid. Some are static display and others have an electric outboard. The motor is the Chrysler 105 HP.

12. Evinrude Lark Boat custom built by Mark Fitch from a Dumas Chris Craft Cobra kit. This is a wonderful replica of the real Evinrude Lark boat which was introduced as a concept boat by Evinrude at the 1957 NY Boat show. Notice the working lights on the rear fins! Also, the cool looking airplane style steering wheel! Mark did an incredible job!

13. Wen-Mac Corvette Hydro with gas powered Atwood Wen-Mac 049 outboard: This is a cool looking plastic hydroplane from the 1950s that used the gas powered motors instead of the battery powered K&O motors. They were usually run from a tether or you could just set the motor to run in a big circle. The boat is 16 inches long. The box claims it will go 20 Knots!


14. Evinrude Lark Boat by Scientific. This is the 1950s model kit produced by Scientific Model Airplane Co. A little too flat looking but pretty neat anyway with the cool looking wings.

15. 1952 Lyman 16 foot with 1955 Evinrude 25 HP. Scratch built by Mark Fitch. This boat is truly incredible because all Mark had to work with was two black and white pictures I had of the boat from 1955!

16. 1952 Lyman 16 foot from the top.

17. 1952 Lyman made from solid wood. This was scratch built. This is not the same as the boat above.

18. Meteor with Mark 78A gas tank motor. Scratch built by Scott Smith. Scott did a great job on this boat! Scott has made them in different colors and it's a neat looking boat!

19. Meteor with Mark 78A gas tank motor. Another view. It looks fast standing still!

20. 1920s Orkin Craft boat and motor. Boat scratch built by Mark Fitch. This is a wonderful replica of the real Orkin Craft "Outboard" boat. I would love to find an original of these. Mark made this using only an old ad from the 1920s! Unbelievable talent!

21. Fleetline Marlin outboard boat with 1962 Johnson 75 HP. The best looking of all the Fleetline boats. Works on four "D" batteries. Easy to find but not cheap.

22. Chris Craft outboard runabout custom made by Mark Fitch from a Dumas Chris Craft Cobra kit. A black Fuji gas powered outboard is on the transom.

23. Allyn Craft Outboard boat Neat looking boat designed to be used with the Gas powered Allyn Sea Fury outboard.

24. Atwood Speedster with Wen-Mac gas outboard: Certainly one of the coolest gas powered toy boats ever produced in the 1950s. This replica of a hydroplane is very very well done and they were fast on the water for their times. The Speedster is actually a metal boat and not wood. Interesting to see the original box, paper work and gas cans for it.
Note: The motor is backwards on the lower leg. The gas tank should be facing in the same direction as the transom brackets. This is a blue top .049 gas motor.