- 95 Hp “K” engine
One of the first major things to come out of the boat was the engine. It’s a 95 horsepower Chris Craft “K” engine, weighing in at 660 lbs. The block is a flat head six cylinder style engine built by the Hercules Truck Company. Chris Craft marinized it by adding their own intake/exhaust manifold, adding a raw water pump, and turning it around 180 degrees, so the “front” of the engine faces aft. This last was done to get a”right hand” rotation of the prop (make the propeller rotate in a clockwise direction if you’re looking at it from the rear facing forward). So now the flywheel, which in a truck would be at the rear of the engine, connected to the pressure plate of the clutch, is on the front of the engine. A special casting was made to accommodate the generator and the starter motor at the front of the engine. Also, Chris Craft added an oil pan with a slanted bottom to allow for the correct mounting angle of the engine in the boat. The oil pan is cast iron, not pressed steel like on a modern engine.
Next step is to continue stripping the boat of as much as possible to get it ready to flip over, and to rebuild the engine. Onward!