New 225 HP Honda

[gss036]

Finally got my 1989 Seacraft 23WA back this past week with the new Honda motor. That is one big motor to say the least. They ended up with a 15.25 X 17 prop, said it takes it right up to the top end with the boat pretty much empty and when I get all my gear back on the boat that should hold it down a little, but I don't run that fast. I was scared that the boat would not do well w/that much more weight, but to my surprise it sits great in the water, scuppers are still above the water and no water into the splashwell. It has awsome power and very smooth running. The boat has the cut out for twins, I don't know if they did anything different when designing for twins, but everything seems great. Barley have 2 hours on it since yesterday. Now just a matter of getting familiar with it. I had a Sea Ray fin on my old Merc 200 hp motor, don't know if I will need it or not, I will try w/o it for a while, I would rather not put it on. The boat does jump on plane easy enough. I thing it might take, maybe, 2 mph more now, but then again, a lot of extra weight back there. I have no idea what fuel usage will be (any ideas?), hopefully at least twice that of the old 200 hp Merc carbed engine. Appears that cruising speed is going to be about 28MPH, which is plenty fast for our waters here with all the junk floating around.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: New 225 HP Honda

if you think you need the fin. go with smart tabs instead.

 

[gss036]

Re: New 225 HP Honda

I have bennet trim tabs already. I ran the SeaRay fin on my old 200 hp Merc since 1989 and it did seem to help lift it up faster and keep the boat on plain at slower speeds. I will have to experment some. I do not want to start drilling on my new Honda, plus the fin doesn't seem to mate up as well as it did on the Merc.

 

[Outsider]

Re: New 225 HP Honda

Forget the fin! If motor trim and tabs don't do the trick, you've got much bigger problems than a fin will fix.

I've found (with my Honda 225) that engine position has a greater effect on fuel than the tabs. All else being equal, I trim the motor for max RPM, then bump the tabs as needed to optimize the ride ...

 

[gss036]

Re: New 225 HP Honda

Outsider, thank you fir the info. I am curious though, what kind of fuel consumption are you getting? What RPM are you running/cruising?
This will be a whole new ball game for me with the big four stroke engine. I had a 200 HP Merc on before and that was plenty of power for me, BUT, only got around 2 miles per gallon cruising at 4100-4200 rpm. The way fishing is here, I don't like to keep large quantities of gas in the boat, I would rather put fuel in on the way to the harbor. I have 115 gallon tank, that is a lot of gas to sit for 2-3 months at a time.

 

[William Neal]

Re: New 225 HP Honda

Even though I really like my 2007 Honda 225, here are some lessons learned after 250 hours.

1. Whenever you check the oil level, look down the opening with a flashlight and look for "sparkles" from metal flakes. This is an indicator that you may have an engine maufacturing problem. Confirm that with an oil change by inspecting the magnetic drain plug for any metal flakes larger than talcum powder, and by running a magnet through the drained oil. A few of these engines have required that the block be replaced because of metal in the oil. It happened to me. Fortunately, Honda covered the repair, but the motor was out of commission four weeks during peak fishing season, and now I'm going through a new break-in period.

2. After break-in, run the engine at WOT as much as possible to seat the rings and bearings. When they tore down my engine, there was traces of oil on top of the pistons, indicating the rings had not sealed completely. Dealer observed that I was "babying" the engine too much (which I was), since the HDS read-out indicated only 2 hours at WOT.

3. The older Honda 200's and 225's (2006 and earlier) had a real problem with water ingestion through the exhaust ports, which would blow the HO2 sensors, and could ingest water into the pistons, under certain conditions. Although your engine has likely been modified to mitigate the problem, it is still a good idea to take these precaustions:
a. Avoid coming off plane too abrubtly
b. When starting the engine, key the starter until the engine kicks over and starts.
c. Make sure your exhaust ports at lease 5.9 inches above the still water line of your fully loaded boat.
All of this is covered in Honda Service Bulletin #56.

3. I run in saltwater, so I need to flush the engine after every use. The Honda flushing system where you need to unscrew the fitting and then screw it onto a hose is a serious pain, especially if you use a boat lift as I do. I intervened the connection with a T fitting, and ran a separate 1/2" hose off the T to a bracket on the top of my transom, there it is fitted to the end of the hose with a garden hose cut-off valve and a quick-connect fitting that mates with the flushing hose on my dock.

4. If you have Honda digital gauges, you'll find that the voltage reading is likely not accurate - it reads low. That's because the voltage is taken off the ECM, and not directly off the alternator. I attached a separate meter directly off the main cranking battery.

Good luck with your engine.

 

[dingbat]

Re: New 225 HP Honda

What prop do you have on the boat? A good high performance prop will make all the difference in the world.

Went from a 3 blade aluminum to a 4 blade SS. Better hole shot, better cruise and it bites significantly better in the sloop than the 3 blade.

 

[gss036]

Re: New 225 HP Honda

Surprised to see this pop back up after a year. I am running a Power Tech 15 1/4 X16, 4 blade, stern lifting prop. This prop gives really good mid range performance and keeps on plane at slower speeds. I use a NorthStar fuel flow gauge to check on consumption. I posted a couple of times and guys jump and say that it is wrong, I don't think so because I just replaced the fuel tank and getting set up to get back in the water in a couple of weeks. When I pulled all the old gas to remove the tank, the fuel flow gauge said I had 26.5 gal. I pulled 26 gallons of gas out. Had a 75 gallon tank made and it is in the boat now.
I don't run mine hard and cruise at 36-3700 RPM which the motors seems to like and shows I am getting around 5 gallons per hour consumption. Of course you increase the RPM the thing just loves the gas.
I only done one oil change so far, oil looked good, no flaking for 25 hours, just over 50 now but will probably put that many more on in the next few weeks.
So I have to agree with DINGBAT.