This web site is dedicated to the Arnolt Sea Mite marine engine. The purpose of which is not limited to but includes;

 

~ Preservation of remaining Arnolt Sea Mite marine engines.

 

~ Discover and publish accurate history of the Arnolt Motor Company.

 

~ Provide a forum for owners of Arnolt Sea Mite marine engines.

 

~ Provide useful information and links for free access to all visitors.

 

~ Maintain an Arnolt Sea Mite registry of owners.

 

    My interest in the Arnolt Sea Mite engine began August 2004. I was searching for a vintage four cylinder marine engine around which I could build a small inboard runabout. The internet is a valuable tool especially when on a search for such an obscure item. I found the web site oldmarineengine.com which had a link to classified ads and I saw this ad for a NOS (new old stock) Arnolt Sea Mite and it was located within close geographic proximity as well. I traveled to central Indiana and purchased the motor which is fairly complete, has never been in a boat and is still in the original shipping crate. 

    The story of how the motor came to its previous owner deserves a bit of attention because it is the history of this little engine which has led me to publish this web site. For legal reasons I will not present any full names or addresses on this site so we will refer to the previous owner simply as Gary. Well Gary who has had this motor sitting in his garage for many years inherited it from his father (Bill). It seems that Bill worked as a maintenance supervisor for State Plating out of Elwood, In. When State either purchased or leased an industrial building in Pierston, In. sometime in the late 1960's or early 1970's Bill was sent to prepare the plant for occupation by the plating company. Upon his arrival Bill discovered three of the Arnolt Sea Mite engines still in crates in an obscure room in the building along with various engine and boat parts. Bill kept the engines in the hope of using one of them for an airboat. Luckily for me, he decided to use an air-cooled Lycoming engine instead and just kept the engines around in storage. Gary does not recall what has happened to the other two engines as he only ended up with one of them. 

    Along with the engine I received a NOS Zenith S168B Carburetor, (2) NOS original size (2-1/2") pistons w/ wrist pins, a 3 blade 9x8 L.H. 3/4" bore Brass prop and a 2 blade 10x8 bronze prop a 1:1 transmission and a 3:1 reduction transmission (with cracked housing) all taken from the building that State Plating was to move into. 

    Prior to my trip to central Indiana, I did a web search on the Arnolt Motor Company and found very little helpful information. Since the day was young I decided to detour to Pierston and Warsaw prior to my return home, just to see what I could find out about the company. Gary had told me where to find the old Arnolt factory in Pierston, which I found with relative ease. The building looks to be privately owned now. There are a lot of automobiles in and around the plant. The roof has caved in and the building is in a state of ill repair. Looks to be a two story brick building probably in the range of about 50,000 sq ft. There is a blonde brick smoke stack which doesn't match the red brick of the building about 30 yards away from the building. Assumption is that it probably serviced power and heating for the plant at one time. Incedentally, there is a street in Pierston aptly named Arnolt Drive. After taking a few photos I left Pierston for Warsaw to see what I could find. The historical society located in the Kusciusko County Museum was closed so I didn't get any help there. I went to the library and found a period book about life in and around Warsaw in the 1940's and 1950's. There I found an article about Stan (Wacky) Arnolt and his contribution to the area, check out the Arnolt History page. I also found the Arnolt Warsaw plant and took some photos of that as well.

 

    Through subsequent information searches I have discovered that Arnolt purchased the base engine from Waukesha Engine Company out of Waukesha, Wi. The Arnolt Sea Mite is a marine conversion of the Waukesha ICK series engine. Arnolt was not the only marine engine manufacturer to utilize this tough little engine. Red Wing Motors out of Red Wing Minnesota used the ICK as a base engine for its Meteor 20 model. Whereas Arnolt coupled the reverse gear to the flywheel end of the engine, the Meteor 20 had the reverse gear coupled at the timing gear end (similar to most marine engines of the period). Take a look at the Waukesha ICK page for more information on the ICK. Here is a nice site which describes the EDO life boat equipped with Red Wing Meteor 20; http://delcoremyhistory.com/Museums/afmuseum.htm

 

 Arnolt, Waukesha and Paragon manuals are available at this site; http://sites.google.com/site/arnoltdownloads/

 

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e-mail me at; ramounteng@gmail.com

 

 

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 Remains of Arnolt Pierston Indiana plant                                     Arnolt Warsaw plant                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Armolt offices were in a building on this corner in Warsaw

 

 

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Latest update 01/15/2012