Newsletter : Yellow Hats: The Roots of Yamaha Reliability Restored After 62 Years
May 26, 2025
Reproducing the Original's Performance and Passing Its Spirit on to the Next Generation
Yamaha outboard motors can be found in waters worldwide, and the cornerstone of the reliability the brand enjoys today was the 3 hp PC-3 released in 1963. It was mainly used in fishing villages in Japan before later being exported to various other countries, helping to establish Yamaha as a player in the outboard motor market. This pioneering model has now been restored and is proudly on display for visitors at the Communication Plaza, our corporate museum.
■Weaving Together the Hopes of the Engineers and
Connecting Them to the Next Generation
The PC-3 was carefully disassembled and the parts sorted to determine their usability. Those that could be reused were cleaned and repaired, and those that could not were replicated through thorough study of the originals.
"I used to work in our Marine Products business for overseas markets and would sometimes come across PC-3s on display at importers in South America and the Middle East," shares SUZUKI, Masafumi, president of Yamaha Marina Co., Ltd. The service department at the company spent about a year restoring a PC-3, which was first released in 1963 and won the nickname of "Yamaha's Yellow Hat." "People in other countries may actually place more emphasis on the origins and roots of our products than we do in Japan," admits Suzuki, his words conveying how strongly he feels about the product's significance.
Today, Yamaha outboards ply waters all over the world, but the product that laid the foundations for Yamaha's legendary reliability over 60 years ago has finally been beautifully restored and stands proudly on display in the Communication Plaza for visitors to enjoy. "For our 70th anniversary, we wanted to restore not only its looks but also its performance, and thereby weave together the hopes of its engineers, who must have worked incredibly hard on it, and then pass that on to the next generation," explains a Plaza representative.
Tsuboi checking the condition of the disassembled parts while referring to the original blueprints and service manual.
(From left) Uchida, Suzuki, and Tsuboi chat around the PC-3 after its engine start-up ceremony, reveling in the sense of accomplishment.
So, the Plaza approached Yamaha Marina Hamanako last spring with the idea. UCHIDA, Hisashi and TSUBOI, Wataru usually work to keep owners' boats at the marina in good condition, so while it was outside the scope of their duties, they were in full agreement to take it on: "It's a job worth doing and a job that should be done."
■Monozukuri Traditions Discovered through Disassembly
As a partner for coastal fishery, the PC-3 was a hit with Japanese fishing villages and also saw active use on waterways and canals for transportation. This photo taken in 1964 shows a bride-to-be.
As a partner for coastal fishery, the PC-3 was a hit with Japanese fishing villages and also saw active use on waterways and canals for transportation. This photo taken in 1964 shows a bride-to-be.
Although the two men accepted the task with a sense of mission, restoring an old and decayed outboard motor back to factory condition was no easy feat. "We sought advice from retired engineers with knowledge of the era and they also provided us with blueprints and other materials," says Uchida.
"There was nothing we could do about the deteriorated rubber and so on, but we still wanted to restore it using the original parts as much as possible [instead of making new replacements]," adds Tsuboi. The pair had plenty of stories of their struggles, like how it took over half a day to remove a single corroded screw or how the hand-drawn blueprints and remaining documents were difficult to understand. But both their faces light up as they share them, and one of the reasons for this is the many valuable discoveries they made during the project.
The PC-3 was later exported to overseas markets and its mass production led to repeated innovations in manufacturing, which became the foundations of outboard motor production at Yamaha in the years that followed.
"There was nothing we could do about the deteriorated rubber and so on, but we still wanted to restore it using the original parts as much as possible [instead of making new replacements]," adds Tsuboi. The pair had plenty of stories of their struggles, like how it took over half a day to remove a single corroded screw or how the hand-drawn blueprints and remaining documents were difficult to understand. But both their faces light up as they share them, and one of the reasons for this is the many valuable discoveries they made during the project.
The PC-3 was later exported to overseas markets and its mass production led to repeated innovations in manufacturing, which became the foundations of outboard motor production at Yamaha in the years that followed.
When Tsuboi opened up the engine, he was surprised to see that it had a sleeveless cylinder. "I was really amazed that the company had the machining expertise and precision to produce sleeveless cylinders way back then." Uchida, on the other hand, felt the engineers' commitment to unquestionable reliability. "If your outboard breaks down while out at sea, it can put your life in very real danger, so seeing the materials they selected and the ingenuity of the motor's layout revealed links to what we still do even today for Yamaha Reliability." Reflecting on the restoration project as a whole, they both agreed on the importance of knowing and preserving our roots and that they definitely felt the hopes and Spirit of Challenge those early pioneers had.
Communication Plaza
Message from the Editor
Our first outboard motor was the 7 hp P-7 released in 1960, but it suffered from reliability issues and did not win over fishermen. It was the 3 hp P-3 launched the following year-which featured a clutch for easier use-that put Yamaha outboard motors into ports all over Japan. The round yellow fuel tank was designed by a woman and made the PC-3 a friendly and familiar sight, and the story goes that Yamaha's yellow hats changed the face of Japanese coastal fishery.
MATSUO, Kaoru
MATSUO, Kaoru
