Outboard engines are very expensive pieces of kit. Not the kind of thing you should to be laying out pocket fulls of money on unless you are absolutely certain that what you are buying is right for your boat and for your needs. With outboard engineering quality generally high these days, it would be easy to lapse into a certain sense of security when buying a brand new engine from any of the main manufacturers, providing of course its size fell within the boats size compliancy recommendations. After all, an engine is an engine isn't it?. So long as it's reliable, economical, and pushes the boat along fast enough to get you out to the fish and back with a minimum of maintenance effort and associated costs, what more could you ask for. Yes, well, if only it was as simple as that. As I found out out recently, there is a great deal more to consider when buying an outboard motor than headline figure horse power ratings and price.

For some time now, Warrior (and the manufacturers of many similar sized angling boats) have been confidently fitting Honda 4-stroke BF-75's with a 17 inch pitch propeller to their ProAngler, a combination I myself have had for several years and have been more than happy with. But would the latest Honda 75 with its updated mechanics still present itself as an ideal partner. As the world’s largest engine manufacturer, the company has long employed technology developed for high-performance cars in the drive to give its outboards the most effective technologies for their power rating, and supposedly deliver unrivaled speed and acceleration at any revs. Completely redesigned for 2007, the new Honda BF75 only started arriving in the UK in good numbers mid way through the year. The word from Honda's engineers was that they had improved the low down torque equating to around 7 brake horse power more than the old model, which as a result would make it noticeably faster without any reported changes to the gear box. How this might present itself in terms of comparable performance was anybodies guess. Only field evaluation with a careful eye on both the rev counter and speed over ground function of the GPS could satisfactorily answer that question. With this in mind, I recently spent a day on the water with Paul Haynes of Warrior aboard a ProAngler fitted with a brand new Honda BF75.

From the onset we knew that even with a full range of propellers to be fitted and tried in the assessment, this was never going to be a full final reflection of the potential of the pairing. The reason for this is that a 4-stroke engine needs around 30 hours of running to loosen up its moving parts to the point where it offers optimum available performance. When fully run in, a 4-stroke engine should typically pull quite a few hundred extra rpm over a brand new model. This said, armed with comparable 'from new' test data for the now replaced BF-75, a pretty reliable direct comparison was on the cards. The new 75 is a particularly interesting piece of kit as it also provides virtually all the components (supposedly from a 1.5 liter V-4 Honda Jazz car) and body work for another of Honda's new outboard offerings, their BF90, the additional 15 hp coming from nothing more than the addition of variable Vtech valve timing. Both the BF75 and the BF90 should perform identically until they reach 5200 rpm, at which point the 90's valve modifications kick in. There are also rumours that Honda are looking to add EFI and another cam shaft to the BF90 uprating it yet further to 115 hp. Three different performance ratings in R & D cost terms almost for the price of one can't be bad. But that as they say is another story.

Ever since they started fitting Honda 75's, Warrior have recommended the use of a 17 inch pitch prop to provide the best overall performance combination of acceleration, top end speed and fuel efficiency. This is not the same as saying that it is best prop for the job in every department. Trials carried out by Warrior co-director Paul Haynes have led him to believe that a 16 inch pitch (the distance a boat is pushed forward by one complete revolution of the prop) on the now dis-continued BF-75 would probably have been a better option in terms of rpm achievement. But for a number of practical reasons, Warrior shyed away from fitting these as standard. In part this was down to pass forward cost. Honda only manufacture the 16 inch pitch in stainless steel which adds around £300 to the cost of a package. There are other practical advantages to having little or no flex in the prop blades, one of which is improved efficiency through a slightly higher rpm. But there is potentially a down side too. The main problem with stainless steel is potential damage caused by clipping solid obstructions such as rocks and concrete. Whereas an aluminium prop might get a bit 'chewed up' or at worst suffer repairable blade removal, the much more robust stainless steel prop is just as likely to transfer any impact damage elsewhere such as to the drive mechanism or the gear box, which is much more difficult and costly to rectify. Great for permanent water moorings. Less so for regular on/off trailering, though in recognition of this, some of the more recent stainless props are fitted with a sacrificial plastic insert which shears on impact preventing pass forward problems from happening.

Paul decided to kick things off with the 17 inch pitch prop which had been so successful on the previous model. This managed to get the engine up to around 5600 rpm, and when he was running the boat with just himself on board with quite a stiff breeze on his tail had the GPS registering close on 38 mph, which is pretty damn good in anybodies book. None the less, it was falling short of its quoted rpm capability, so the 15 inch pitch prop was then fitted. Again running with just himself on board, this time the rev counter topped the 6000 rpm mark, but with the GPS registering 4 mph less in the way of overall top speed. With performance levels as good as they were using the 17 inch pitch, and with the potential pit falls of the stainless steel blades already explained, it was decided not to try the 16 inch pitch. Paul was satisfied that he could comfortably send his boats out with the new 75 and 17 inch pitch prop, knowing that as the engine loosened up through use, the 6000 rpm target should eventually be reached, with a good combination of top speed and fuel economy into the bargain. But getting the best from an outboard engine isn't only about making the right prop choice. Trimming it correctly to suit boat specific weight distribution, plus size and number of passengers will also add or detract from optimum performance. This said, it is sometimes best not to pay too much attention to what the trim guage is saying, relying more on the feel of the boat which comes with handling experience.

On the drop down auxiliary pad we had an extremely small looking Honda 2.3hp engine. When carrying a backup outboard, most anglers fishing from boats in the 16 foot length category tend to opt for something around 4 hp as an absolute minimum (5 hp is you run anything much bigger or heavier). But as this little fella made such a lot of noise and threw about so much water when fired up in the run up tank, it was decided to see how that might translate into push along power out where it matters. As I hinted earlier, it was quite a breezy day with the wind running exactly the same line as quite a reasonable lick of tide. This provided an excellent opportunity to try the little auxiliary both with and against testing conditions. With Paul on the tiller, and me on the camera at the back of the boat, we did have a bit of difficulty keeping it running straight as the front was lifted high out of the water, something which under real auxiliary conditions could easily be cured by balancing the on board weight more sensibly, and having the optional extension tiller on board. With the tide, the GPS clocked us at 4.5 mph. Against the tide and wind it still managed a very creditable 3.5 mph. Okay, so the boat wasn't carrying much in the way of on board gear. But thats still pretty good going for a power unit so small. Equally impressive is its 5 year guarantee.

I have to say how impressed I was with the BF75, and the handling of the ProAngler. A case of hold on tight the instant the throttle was pushed forward, which made life difficult with the camera, particularly the video camera, as my first instinct was to try to stay inside the boat. The term 'Bat out of hell' springs to mind. Looks like Honda have got themselves the perfect replacement for the old BF-75, delivering an impressive turn of speed with good acceleration and decent fuel economy. Being lighter than its predecessor has obviously had some part to play in all of this, particularly the increase in flat out speed. And for most boats in the 15.5 to 17.5 foot range, the 17 inch pitch prop is going to be ideal, though an aluminium 16 inch pitch would be a nice additional option to have, particularly for heavier than average boats such as ProAngler. I would also like to say how impressed I was with the 2.3 hp model which well surpassed anything I thought an engine that size was capable of.

SEE VIDEO VAULT – Honda BF75