Running Honda 90 outboard at full RPM for long periods of time?
The manual states to not run my Honda four stroke 90 HP (2001 model) for
more than 5 minutes at full RPM. The throttle actually backs off
automatically after about 1 minute of full RPM action.Anyone know if running at full RPM can really affect the engine? When I have
14 people on my 25 foot Bennington pontoon boat, running on anything but
full RPM is slow (below 13 MPH according to my GPS) (especially when I go
against the current on the river that I am on). The reason I bring this up is that when I use my Honda lawn mower to mow the
lawn, that thing runs at full RPM from start to finish, which is sometimes
hours - the mower has been working like new for the last 3 years. |
Dan
Jun 27
2006
|
| It's usually just me and 12 females going to Blarney Island on the fox ;) |
Dan
Jun 28
|
| You really need a larger outboard. It will be temping to want to run
that 90 at WOT. I bought a bennington 20 ft with a Merc 50 a few years
back. After the first year, I traded up to a 90. I am SO MUCH happier
with the larger engine. and the 50 is much happier on the piece of crap
bass boat it wound up on. My original thought was that we would just need a big enough engine to
put-put around the lake on... <grin>... I knew I had screwed up after
the first time out.. db |
D-unit
Jun 27
|
| Yeah good idea. Only issue is that this bad boy has only 150 hours on it,
and runs like top. Plus, another Honda 130 or so is like $20k. If I am going
to be buying a new engine, maybe I should just run this one hard, kill it,
and then get the 130. |
Dan
Jun 27
|
| That appears to be 17 females, with no other gear on board. Those are
*small* people at 135 lbs each! Does the 2300 lbs not include gear,
furniture, coolers, etc, etc.?
--
John H ***** Have a Spectacular Day! *****
|
JohnH
Jun 27
|
| Ouch.. Surely you could get something for the 90. I sold my 50 merc 2-stroke (50
hours)
for like $2500 and bought a brand new 90 merc 2 stroke (same hookups) for
something like 5K. That didn't hurt so bad. Im sure the 50 would be worn
out by
now. We realized that we liked to ski/tube/wakeboard once we got out on the
water
and the 50 had to work overtime to pull this off.. (no pun intended). The 90
will pull
just your ass out of the water no prob. Btw, we love our bennington 2050LX.
It
still looks brand new... wish I could say the same thing about the piece of
junk
trailer it came with... oh well. The boat is only rated for a 75 but after
a call to
Bennington, the tech said I could put a 90 on it and adjust the head count
down
by one. One more thing, If you do trade up on the engine, you might have
to
play around with different props to get it right. I went through 3 props
before
finding the "right one". The dealer who sold me the engine was very
helpfull
in exchanging props. "Good luck with all that" db |
D-unit
Jun 27
|
| 17 half naked females... Arent boats wonderfull?? :) db |
D-unit
Jun 27
|
| You gotta love 'em! LOL!
--
John H ***** Have a Spectacular Day! *****
|
JohnH
Jun 27
|
| Ok the honda lawnmower has a governer that stops it at around
3600rpm. That is NOT full speed for the lawnmower but a
comfortable zone. If you have that many people on board using a 90HP motor
your nutz. You want to cruise at a decent speed with a
severely underpowered motor. Either buy another motor
or just buy a twin. Dan J.S. wrote: |
BocesLib
Jun 27
|
| Dan Your lawn mower is running with a very light load on it, and it does
have a govenor. Running your outboard for extended periods of time at
or near wide open throttle will greatly reduce it's life. Your best bet
is to invest in another prop with less pitch in it as the one you have
now is no good when you have a lot of people on board (is it really
safe to have that many people on board?). Or you can swap propellers
when needed, but doing what you are right now, start saving up for that
next engine, you'll need it soon. |
Capt
Jun 27
|
| It has a governor. With the boat motor, I'd suspect that they want you
to have maximum RPM's available to get out of the hole, get a skier up,
etc. but then run at a comfortable (to the engine) RPM. |
basskisser
Jun 27
|
| OK thanks! The bennington is rated at 17 people or 2300 lbs... its a pontoon
boat, and there are many here like it. Good suggestions. I guess I will just
run at below 4000 rpm when cruising, and only move up to 6,000 or so when
going short distances. Thanks!! |
Dan
Jun 27
|
