Chief Technology Officer – Bill Mohat

Howdy! Bill Mohat here, the Technology officer for the Western Reserve chapter of the AOMCI. By way of introduction, I grew up in South Euclid (about 10 miles east of Cleveland, and a little land-locked). I had a father who always seemed to own one small boat after another, so I grew up with boats under 19′ long, and was exposed to many outboards over the years. I spent most of the summers of my youth either fishing for perch or water skiing on Lake Erie. My father insisted that if I was to use any boat, I had to help maintain it, so I learned to do basic outboard maintenance at a VERY early age.

Fast forward about 50 years, where I spent most of my time working as an electrical Engineer for Bailey Controls and TLS Corporation days, while going to school nights…..and very little boating during all that time. I collected degrees in Electronic Technology, Electrical Engineering, Programming (Computers and Information Science), and CISCO networking. My profession specialized in designing high-reliability industrial computers and networking systems. My career spanned the microcomputer revolution, starting long before Personal Computers or the Internet were invented. Out of necessity, I had to learn to master both, and deal with Information Technology problems as they arose.

Shoved into early retirement by “globalization”, I found myself wanting to return to my small outboard, boating and fishing roots……only to discover the high cost of boating on retirement funding. How I met Gary Orloff I don’t remember, but he was willing to help me find an older affordable boat and fix it up. Hanging around in his garage, I was introduced to the AOMCI club, and several members of the Western Reserve Chapter. They turned out to be a REALLY nice groups of guys, who were always more than willing to help me with any outboard motor problems I had……in return for me helping them with their ignition systems. Next thing I knew, I was a AOMCI member, and a regular contributor to the Antique Outboarder magazine, writing articles on magnetos, early CDI ignitions, test equipment, and similar electronics topics. And, somehow, I also wound up providing assistance for this Western Reserve Chapter website…..and before I could object I discovered I had also been drafted as the Technology / IT officer for the chapter.

So, I’m now the resource you contact if your WiFi doesn’t work….or if you have a screwy ignition system that nobody can get to run…..or if you have a video in WEBM format you need converted to a MP4….or …. or …. (you get the idea.) Contact me through the Western Reserve Chapter, or at any local AOMCI meet. I’ll be glad to assist you in any way I can!

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Here I am, giving a technical presentation on testing magneto condensers at a local AOMCI chapter meet.

And, here’s my dog, Lilly. Lilly is the Western Reserve Chapter mascot, and she travels with me wherever I go, including all AOMCI meets. So if you want to contact me, find Lilly, and she’ll take you right to me!