Anyone other than me running a Honda 250 on their Bass Boat?

[BassinBarrister]

After I sold my Champion due to a bad knee (just didn't feel safe out fishing by myself) I bought a Playcraft pontoon and put a 250 on it along with an Ulterra. Love the Honda and love the Ulterra. Pontoon catches the wind more than the Champ but I feel a lot safer.

[dbassman]

I'm running a 90 four stroke on my pontoon. Great motor.

[Martin_80]

How many mph are you loosing with the hondas and what was faster?

[Rick H]

If you want to be the fastest on the lake get a Yamaha or Merc but if you can deal with being a few ticks slower and be more assured you'll get back to the dock go Honda is my understanding.

My next motor repower or new boat will more than likely be powered by Honda or Yamaha heck at this point you can put Suzuki in there then Merc v-8 is way to new for me today we'll see but that's my order of power today. Whats an Evinrude? still dealing with one of them not by my choice. But I like my XB if I could do it again I would but its not a choice today for repower.

[Jdw2920]

I have a 225 on my 06 z-20 was iffy about it being Honda to begin with after always having mercury but I’ve been very impressed. Just need to play with it and get some little more speed. The guy had a whale tail on it as it likes to porpus when you get down to about 25-30 need to play with that some.

[bamabassmaster]

How many mph are you loosing with the hondas and what was faster?

Went from a 200 Johnson running 67-68 to a 225 Honda with a three blade 26p prop 74 and a slower hole shot. Running a 24p 4 blade now with great hole shot and 70 mph.

[GEEBASS2000]

How many mph are you loosing with the hondas and what was faster?

I have found the Honda to be 3 to 4 mph slower then other outboards on the same hull with the same load. I am now running a 21 foot Phoenix 721 in the heat of summer with a massive full tournament load at 67 mph and if I'm light 70mph. The same hull with the same load when I ran a Yamaha SHO was 69 full load and 74 light.

The odd thing with the Honda is it takes some time to prop it right due to the 2:1 gears. I have owned and or run Evinrude, Mercury, Yamaha and now the Honda. The Honda is by far the best Outboard have owned. The Honda is very reliable, only requires regular 87 octane gas, is dead silent and is great on fuel at cruising speeds "45 mph / 8gph"

[Jdw2920]

What prop and stuff are y’all running. What shaft and stuff do the Honda’s run do they run same props as the mercury

[JoePA]

I always liked the Honda outboards but they just seem so damn heavy. Whats the 250 cone in at..over 600?

[basscat tyler]

#611 for the 20” shaft model per the Honda marine website

[GEEBASS2000]

Yes I run the short shaft and yes they are a heavy outboard "part of the reason for the 3 to 4 mph speed loss". Still my favorite outboard I have owned by far.


For a prop I have ran several on my Phoenix 721 Honda BF 250 combo and yes most of them were Mercury props. I keep going back to a Tempest plus that I had worked it is worked to a 24.89 ptich "call it 25 lol" with a LOT of cup added so I can run it as high as I want. This prop will come up on plane with even the heaviest of loads and still run 67 mph with a full load and 69 to 70 mph light. I had a Fury 26 pitch that would run 68 to 71 mph but it would not want to get on plane in hot August temps with a full load. The only prop I have not tried but would like to would be a Bravo 26.

The Honda with the 2.0:1 gears is hard to prop because it's like the outboard wants a 26 pitch or more for wot speed, but it wants a 24 or 25 pitch to come out of the hole. Every other outboard I have owned is not like that I always would find a prop that at wot I was 200 off the limiter with a full load and that same prop would get out of the hole just fine. With the Honda I find I need a prop that is very close to the limiter with a full load if I want to come out of the hole year round with a full load.