Anyone remember the Bearcat outboard? I remember a few Foster Lake in Sweet Home Oregon around 1972
https://everythingaboutboats.org/bearcat/

You bet!

I remember seeing a couple in the 60s. They were a huge beast and never caught on.

Do you remember the Italian made diesel outboard? Ruggerini or some such sold by a guy in Anchorage

My dad had a 5 horsepower monkey Wards with a horseshoe-shaped fuel tank ....it would run then it wouldn't then .... lol

Bearcat had a tie with Boston Whaler

I am going to have to scrape the memory a bit
But maybe were owned by them for a while and when you bought a Whaler it’s what you got

Quite a long time ago
Hank

The linked article lays out the relationship with BW. I thought it was an interesting read.

That would be a Sea King motor. They were quite common in MN. Like most outboards of the day, they were quite unreliable.

Reliability in outboards improved greatly in the 50s with OMC Johnson and Evinrude twin cylinder engines.

I spent a lot of time dockside keeping those motors running for folks in the early 70's