Matching the right horsepower to your boat is crucial to ensuring a safe and balanced boating package. In most cases there is a choice of engine size for a particular hull with a minimum and a maximum rating within the safety guidelines. These recommendations should be strictly observed.

There are very real dangers in choosing the wrong horsepower engine. Excess power can mean excess weight: hulls have been known to break up, or refuse to turn one way. At full power they have been known to flip over backwards or ride on their chime and capsize.

Hulls of similar length, but of different design and purpose, may well be fitted with different sized engines. The power recommendation for one 5.5m boat may be between 90 and 200 hp; on another craft between 75 and 115. One may be designed for speed, the other for cruising.

If you follow the diagrams below they will act as a general guide for each HP band our engines are supplied in. For each engine it has the maximum boat length recommended for each hull style. If you are still confused with matching information please contact your local dealer with details of your current boat and they will assist.

Boat Size Recommendations

Please click on engine model to see action shot and boat size recommendations.

Measurement of Horsepower

The horsepower rating of Honda engines is taken from the propeller shaft of the gearbox and is usually calculated at maximum rpm, after the machine has been run in. Much older engines are rated at the engine so the figure may be much higher than if the measurement was made at the propeller.

So, for example, you should not be surprised to see a new Honda 50hp outperforming an old 60hp model