Thread: Honda 100 Outboard Prop - Surtees 5.5 Hardtop

You will likely find that with the 16p 3 blade on and four divers (bubblehead math - 4 divers = the same load as 6 people so for a 5.5m boat that's a lot of lardarse) the boat will feel sluggish and not want to run up onto the plane hard. From the sounds of it it's not far underpropped, and you can control how hard the engine is working with the funky handle thingy so if it's hitting redline just back off a touch on the loud setting.

Unless you want to be changing wheels every other trip, it pays to set up for your heaviest/worst condition so if you are set up for max load and can tolerate the odd time where you're 90 seconds slower to destination it's probably good as is. Consider that if you're out and the weather cuts up unexpectedly, you'll be slowing RIGHT down and be needing to increase/decrease speed to get in around holes and big chops so setting the boat up to play wave dodge is a good place to be. Makes a lot of sense now if the previous owner was running bars for a stainless four blade prop to be fitted - they are around double or 2-1/2 times the cost of the garden variety 3-blade ali. On the subject of that, the stainless props tend to not break if they thwing a log in the water (technical term there) but they may bend the shaft which can give the gearbox shaft seal arseholes. Be aware of that if you do strike a prop, as dropping right back to minimum possible speed and checking the prop for wobble at the first opportunity could save your lower unit.