Trade-A-Boat - July 2018

THE SILVER CLAD HONDA IS AN HONEST PERFORMER FOR A REPUTABLE

BRAND NAME

Seven year pitch

I

s a seven-year warranty

enough to encourage

punters to spend their

newly released tax

dollars on a Honda

engine? From Honda’s

point of view it should be,

because it says a lot about

their faith in their product.

As a comparison, most

other manufacturers have a

three or five year maximum,

although some dealers are

stretching it to six when tied

to a service contract.

THE TECH

The engine of choice

on the Blackdog Cat 6.3

WHT is the punchy BF200

Honda and it was a fine

match of performance

and economy. The 200 is

a V6 with a meaty 3471cc,

which is the second biggest

capacity in 200 territory.

In a pissing completion

where size matters, the V6

Suzuki beats it with 3614cc,

but the rest fall short by a

fair margin. Suzuki’s L4 is

2867cc, Yamaha’s L4 weighs

in at 2785, the Verado L6 is

2600cc and the two-stroke

Evinrude is 2744cc from its

V6.

Honda has pumped a

swag of technical wizardry

into the engine to give it the

zing needed to compete in

this very competitive sector,

which is hotting up even

further with Mercury about

to introduce a new range of

engines.

The BF200 is a single

overhead cam, 24-valve

configuration with Variable

Valve Timing, computer

controlled electronic

fuel injection, lean burn

technology and their Blast

or Boosted Low Speed

Torque for better power

from low revs.

THE

PERFORMANCE

The Blackdog Cat has a hull

weight of about 1200kg

and a twin-hull design that

presents a lithe profile to

the water. The air assistance

under the hull had us

planing at a respectable

14kph at only 2500rpm and

a fuel burn of 12.2lph.

Spinning a three-blade

Solas 17” prop, we saw

66kph at 5800rpm from the

fresh engine which isn’t

bad from a boat that isn’t

highly aerodynamic and in

conditions on the choppy

water that weren’t ideal for

getting maximum speed.

At WOT, the 92 octane

disappeared at 64lph. Hole

shot was brisk and mid-

range acceleration was

impressive, so it would seem

the prop is well matched.

Best fuel economy

showed when cruising at

100 tradeaboat.com.au

outboard

test

THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BOATS

Honda BF200

STORY & PHOTOS JOHN FORD