Honda Outboards

[Bed Bug]

Does anyone here have an opinion on the Honda Outboard? I was looking at the 150 - 225 HP models, they are 4 stroke.

[Massbasser]

The 150 is a hole different bird than the 200-225 motors, it is a 4 cylinder. Honda makes a good product. I would consider a 2 Stroker for performance and weight reasons depending on the application. Fuel savings over a DFI 2-Stroke will be negligible. The biggest advantage would be longevity, 4-Strokes won't go boom as much.

[Bed Bug]

This is a fishing boat, I have an older Merc V6 150 I am rebuilding and am looking to upgrade. I was thinking of the 225 Honda, would'nt have to worry about oil and some articles I have read give it a thumbs up. I have been unable to get pricing yet though.

[Massbasser]

Valve adjustment on the Yamaha's has been reported as an issue, haven't heard if the Honda's have the same problems. The 2-Stroke will be less money and faster. Look at the new 225 HO ETec Rude. Honda is a reliable motor that will give you what you are looking for, but if initial cost and speed are considerations the Honda will cost more and probably be 4-5 MPH slower.;) I am not knocking Honda's or 4 Strokes, they both have a place but JMO I think 2-Strokes are the faster and cheaper without sacrificing too much else. Is weight an issue? The Honda's are 80-100 pounds more than a 2-Stroke V6.

[chris_lacey]

Just saw the Monster garage episode again the other day, where they put a Honda 225 on a 'toon. Honda rep said list on that engine was over $18K USD! Shoot, I didn't pay that much for my '04 Impala. I'd buy a 2 stroke.

[C-C]

MERCURY OPTIMAX,, FASTER, LIGHTER BETTER MPG,, ALSO LESS MONEY.... 4 STROKES ARENT READY FOR BASS BOATS YET.

[beer30]

A 2001 Honda 75 weigh 395lbs!!!!! What does a 225 weigh??? Merc's 2.5 series weigh less with 3 times or more the horsepower. Chuck.:)

[Massbasser]

588 lbs

That's the manufactures listed dry weight...put in some lube and hydraulic fluid and your looking at an easy 600.

[beer30]

My 300x is listed at 465lbs. I can't believe they can't make those Honda lighter. Is this the norm for all 4 stokes???? Chuck.:eek:

[chris_lacey]

600 lbs
Seems reasonable. They cost as much as a full size car, they may as well weigh as much.
They are quiet and smooth though.

[Massbasser]

Yes that would be the norm for all the v6 4-Strokes. I think Suzuki is the lightest plus they make a 250, the Verado is much heavier and the Yamaha is approx the same. They have a long way to go before they start challenging the 2-Strokes in value, performance or weight. The Suzuki and Yamaha are not availible in anything shorter than a 25" shaft.

[Bed Bug]

I was also looking at Suzuki too, does anyone have recommendations to an outboard dealer with good prices. I was looking at Alamers in DE. This boat is on 20' I do want to keep the weight down.

[Massbasser]

What type of boat? Is it a ocean boat or a bass boat?

[Bed Bug]

This is a Grady White 20' Fishing Boat/cuddy cabin - mostly bay and inshore ocean fishing. I was mainly looking at the Merc Optimax and Yamaha but started looking at others for ideas if I decide to upgrade.

[beer30]

Had friends deal with them about 4 years ago. Said they were nice people to deal with. Also don't they deal in 4 different brands? Would be easy to get the pros and cons of all the engines. And I know they have great prices with the way they bulk buy inventory. Chuck.

[captcarb]

put one on a Norris Craft bass boat for an evaluation.

The good news is that it burned 1/2 the fuel that a 200 Merc EFI burned and was so quiet that at idle the loudest noise was the water coming out of the telltale hitting the lake.

The bad new is that it was slower than a 200 Merc and was pretty heavy for the boat.

Jim

[MattGreen]

One major thing to consider when buying an outboard is who is going to service it for you. The days of doing it yourself, or the little shop at the local lake that worked on all brands are long gone. The training and special equipment necessary to work on the DFI 2strokes or the pudgy 4 strokes mean specialization is necessary for all but the largest shops. All the motors aout there are pretty good, but all have their weaknesses also. You would be very wise to consider buying the brand that has good local service - i.e a dealer with experienced, well-trained mechanics with the proper tools and sufficent patience to correctly troubleshoot a problem. Marine engines will break (this is a fact, they lead a rough life), so who will do a good job of fixing it, in a timely manner, at a fair price ?

Matt Green

[Riverman]

I have not seen any bull on this thread. One thing is for sure though - a 225 Honda will decrease your transom freeboard by a whloe bunch, they are very heavy.

The aluminum fishing boats produced locally (the Lund brand) have all grown a lot wider since the four strokes came out.

As for service, the likelyhood is that you won't need any. The local waterbus service runs them 6 months, daily, every day pretty well trouble free. But if you do need service, it WILL be more expensive than Johnson or Merc.

If I were you, I would seriously consider the Johnson E-TEC.

Jeff Couch

[joey jamz]

the suzuki 4 storkes kick ass. (dad is a dealer)

www.jensenmarine.com
631 226 9739

long island NY

[Rickracer]

I would try to test drive an ETEC before you make your final decision, the future is NOW at Bombardier. :D :cool:

[joey jamz]

suzuki was making four stokes for omc for awhile , not sure if they still are

[Jeff Akers]

Originally posted by smurf
suzuki was making four stokes for omc for awhile , not sure if they still are


Yes, Suzuki is making 4-strokes for Bombardier.

and the price just went up!!!

mostly in the hp that E- tec is offerd.

...Jeff Akers...

[Bed Bug]

A lot of good advice here, I think the price for the Honda is out of my range right now. I am looking at the Optimax 225 or V-Max Yamaha 225. I have not looked at Suzuki or Johnson yet but will soon. I have to get my Merc back together and see what I can get for it first.

[beer30]

Good luck, keep us posted on what you end up buying. Chuck.:)

[dale robertson]

My brother has a 225 on a 23 Seacraft. He has over 600hrs on it and so far has only changed the oil, filter and gear oil. Real quiet, real smooth and real big. This is a salt water boat and the engine still looks like new. He does flush it after every use. I am a 2-stroke guy by nature but you have to give credit where credit is do. They make good stuff.

Down side is I am not sure how good their dealer network is. He has been quoted some real high prices for replacing the water pump. I think Honda recomends replacing the pump at 400hrs.

[Bed Bug]

and there is not many dealers near me, there is one boat dealer I don't have much faith in so that is keeping me away. I hvae found some sites with the Honda 225 at the same price as the optimax so this is getting interesting.

[captcarb]

What price are they advertising for the Honda?

Jim

[Bed Bug]

I saw one post here at 18K and i found a site that had it for 12,500.

[captcarb]

called the 200 classic. It's a 2.5 so it is light (407). There are some left over non currents around. It would save you a bunch of money and weight.

It appears to be the same traditional workhorse that you can work on. If I were looking for a 200, that's what I would go with. I have not run one, but the dealer I talked to bought a bunch of them ane liked them. All sold I believe. Muddywaters Marine in New Athens IL.

Jim

[theErudeman]

I have run a set of twins (115s) on a commercial vessel for sometime now. I am absolutely amazed at these motors! These motors take a beaten like nothing I have seen. They are fat, very heavy and are not the best for top end speed but they will out live us all. The current motors have 1500 hours on them of nothing but torture. I have personally run them for 18 minutes at full speed in an emergency, without missing a second at full throttle. I have seen these things fly off of waves were I had to look back to see if the engine sheered off because we landed so hard. They are full throttle 5500 rpm+ for 95% of their life. On the right boat that can take the weight a honda would be a first choice. Just my 2 cents

[merklebob]

in the 200hp range the merc 200xs is hard to beat. fuel economy very close or better the 4 stroke. i'm getting very close to 7.0 mpg on a 20 voyager xt. plus it weight on 400# vs 600 for a honda.

[blkmtrfan]

merklebob what kind of speeds are you seeing with the 200xs Voyager XT combo?

[JW]

I happened to stop into a local Honda dealer when looking for some water toys. I told him that I was going to buy a Merc 15 two stroke at the end of the week, as I had just sold my 8 horse Merc. The Merc 15 was for sale at the Merc dealer for $1800. I had dreamed of owning a 15 Merc since I was 10 years old. He asked if I would consider a Honda, and I told him no way I'd pay $2600 for a 15 Honda when I could buy a Merc 15 for $800 less. He came back with a price of $1840 for a brand new still in the box 15 Honda. That wasn't a hard decision for a row-boat! 15 two stroke or 15 four stroke? Hours of idle time? I wrote him a check that minute and took my new Honda 15 home...............

It's been a great motor. The rev limiter really does kick in around 6200 rpm as advertised :D
And I have idled it for hours, with zero 'loading up' like my little merc always did.

[blkmtrfan]

JW how come so cheap? Was it a left over or something?

I other words, how does someone else score that deal :D

[jonn]

www.honda-racing.co.uk/marine

[Superbender]

I think the v6 four stroke are going to be too heavy for your boat they put the scuppers under water,but the 150s4stroke should be fine,may have to add a little weight in the nose to comp.

[Jeff_G]

Personally I don't like the Honda. I have some long time customers that have them so I get to service them. Most of them are the inline 4's. We have a lot of problems with the electrical system, The connectors are not waterproof but are the same as on the cars. This leads to corrosion in our salt water environment. The voltage regulator on 2 different motors has literally burned up from internal shorts, in both cases the potting material melted and smoked almost cought fire, and no fuses blew!
We also see a lot of rust on the steel components of the motor. The motors are essentially car motors on their end.

Any of the 4 stroke motors will be more expensive down the road to repair. Outboards went from reletively simple motors with few moving parts to motors with 10X the moving parts. Add to this valve train adjustments etc. You get the picture. If you think boat owners were bad about changing gear oil wait until you see what the engine oil looks like. You will be lucky to get out of the dealer under $200 for routine service.

Before you buy make sure the boat can handle the motor. The added weight can cause loss of freeboard and can cause swamping. The weight of the motor can also cause the boat to not ride level if swamped and can drastically reduce the carrying capacity of your boat. You may have to leave someone at home to compensate for the added weight. I have no problem with a boat designed for a four stroke but to retrofit is a problem.

The suggestion has been made to have the CG requirements changed as to load capacity to specify the load capacity, horsepower and the maximum transom weight. Such a mess.

I'll still stick with 2 strokes.

[runpasthefence]

Thread is 1.5 years old