With the BF 80 and BF 100, Honda replaced its ageing BF 90 engine at the beginning of 2014. From the manufacturer's point of view, skippers now have the opportunity to "customise their boat-motor package even better to their own wishes and ideas" with the two new outboards.
Outboards in the 80 hp and 100 hp class are usually used to power boats with a length of 5-6 metres. The range of boat models in this segment includes aluminium fishing boats and open sports boats as well as wooden or GRP cabin cruisers.
In our comparison test, the two Honda engines were installed one after the other on the stern of an Open 530 from the Atlantic Marine shipyard. The Open is a sports boat with a centre console. The shipyard specifies its length as 5.39 metres and its width as 2.39 metres. Crews of up to six people and long-shaft outboards of up to 100 hp are authorised. With a deadweight of 697 kg, the Atlantic Marine Open 530 remains easy to trailer even with an engine and equipment (total weight around 950 kg).
The base engine for the new BF 80 and BF 100 is an in-line four-cylinder with a total of 16 valves. With a bore of 73 mm and a stroke of 89.4 mm, the displacement of the four-stroke engine is 1.496 cc. This makes the new Honda a 1.5-litre engine. The Asian engine manufacturer's technicians achieve the leap from 80 to 100 hp by means of intervention in the electronics and VTEC.
The latter is a racing technology that increases the valve opening at high engine speeds, thereby increasing the throughput of the fuel-air mixture and thus also the power output. For this reason, the full-load speed range of the BF 100 is between 5500 rpm and 6300 rpm. For comparison: According to the manufacturer, the BF 80 should be tuned to 5000/min-6000/min using a propeller.
The maximum speed of 5700 rpm achieved in our test with the 80 hp outboard motor shows that
the selected aluminium 3-blade propeller with a pitch of 15" fits the boat-motor combination very well. For its big brother (BF 100), the choice fell on an aluminium 3-x-13 1/2"-x-17" propeller. With this, the rev counter showed 6050 rpm at full load - also a suitable value for the BF 100.
THE ENTIRE COMPARATIVE TEST WITH ALLMEASURED VALUES AND TEST RESULTSCAN BE FOUND IN THESEPTEMBER ISSUE FROM BOATS THATFROM 20 AUGUST IN THE TRADE.
