Ole Evinrude - Don’t row, throw the oars away……..

by Bob Wonders on 11 Aug 2009 One of recreational boating’s enduring legends was born 100-years ago this month (August), in 1909 when Bess Evinrude, wife of inventor Ole Evinrude, penned the now-famous advertising slogan, ‘Don’t row! Throw the oars away! Use an Evinrude motor!’

In those early days, the term ‘outboard motors’ was unknown, the engines being referred to as ‘detachable row-boat engines’.

As legend tells it, Ole Evinrude, the Norwegian-born, self-taught mechanic and ‘tinkerer’ was upset when ice cream he had rowed across a river to obtain for his wife had melted by the time he re-crossed the waterway.

'Somebody ought to invent a motor to go on these rowboats,' is said to have exclaimed.'Maybe someday I will.'

Hard to believe that incident was to become the foundation stone for the eventual Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) which, prior to its take over by present owner Bombardier Recreational Products, became the world’s largest manufacturer of outboard engines under the Evinrude and Johnson names.

Although history would have us believe that Ole Evinrude was the inventor of the outboard engine, this was not really the case.

Ten years prior to ‘the ice cream melt’, an organisation called The American Motors Company. Based in New York, built and marketed what it termed a ‘portable boat motor with reversible propeller.’

It was a four-cycle, two horsepower affair and only 25 units were actually built and sold.

According to respected author and leading chronicler of the US boating industry, Jeffrey L. Rodengen (Evinrude, Johnson and the Legend of OMC), Ole Evinrude was born Ole Evenrudstuen, in Norway on April 19, 1877.

He arrived in the United States (Wisconsin) with his family aged five and when he turned 16 began working in machinery stores and studying engineering in his own time.

Ole became a qualified machinist and worked for several machine tool companies in Wisconsin, Pittsburgh and Chicago before co-founding a company in 1900 specialising in custom engineering and named Clemick and Evinrude (the family had anglicised the name some years earlier).

The ice cream legend arrived nine-years later when Ole and the lady he was courting and who would become his wife, Bess, were picnicking on an island three kilometres from shore on a Wisconsin lake.

With the temperature in soaring above 30 deg C (90 deg F), Bess decided a bowl of ice cream would go down rather well.

Eager to please the lady, Ole rowed back across the lake, obtained the ice cream and made the return trip only to find the ice cream had become ‘milk’.

Back in his workshop, Ole, ever the tinkerer, began experimenting with varied designs and eventually came up with a 1.5hp motor that could be attached to the stern of a row boat.

Two-years later, he was ‘sitting on’ orders for 1000 of them and the Evinrude Motor Company was destined for success.

By 1912, Ole’s company, then named the Elto Outboard Company (ELTO stood for Evinrude Light Twin Outboard), employed more than 300 staff.

The legend was about to grow; Ole faced tough opposition from an Indiana manufacturer named the Johnson Motor Company and a subsequent acquisition and merger led to the formation of the Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC).

Needless to say, today’s technologically-advanced outboard engines are way beyond anything Ole Evinrude could have imagined.

Sadly, the giant OMC, which at one stage held sway as the world’s largest manufacturer of outboard engines and an acknowledged industry leader, was to experience more than its share of ‘ups and downs.’

In 2000 the company was facing declining sales and difficulty in coming to terms with tough environmental controls and the announcement was made that shocked the industry - OMC filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations.

After a couple of take over bids and various challenges, the company was purchased by the Bombardier in 2001 and, thankfully, Evinrude engines today are making their mark on the industry.

To its credit, Bombardier Recreational Products has not forgotten Ole Evinrude and the history behind the name.

I was intrigued in 2008 when I attended the Miami International Boat Show to find free ice cream being handed out at the Evinrude display; it was the company’s way of acknowledging the approaching 100th anniversary and Ole Evinrude’s journey across the lake in 1909.

'When Ole Evinrude perfected that first outboard motor, it was akin to the leap from horsed and buggy to the motor car,' Roch Lambert, vice-president and general manager of Bombardier, explained.

Lambert admits that like most companies in the marina industry Bombardier is fighting the economic downturn to the best of its ability.

'Nevertheless, the future looks bright,' he declared.

'We admit to trailing industry leaders like Mercury and Yamaha for outboard sales, but we have been gaining market share since 2003.

'I feel we have strong momentum and with our new technology we like the direction in which we’re headed,' he added.

Ole Evinrude, the Norwegian-born American who would leave an indelible mark on recreational boating, passed away in 1934. He was only 57-years-old.

In 1988, the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) inducted Ole into its prestigious Hall of Fame.

I often wonder what would have happened if Ole had an ‘Esky’ on board and was able to return with frozen ice cream?

Perhaps we should all be grateful that the ice box had not been invented then, either?